Image: Apple
Apple’s iOS 26 is officially on the horizon, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most feature-packed iPhone updates in years. Announced at WWDC 2025, iOS 26 brings a major visual refresh alongside deeper AI integration, new accessibility options, and upgrades to core apps like Safari and Messages. Here’s a breakdown of the biggest changes coming to your iPhone later this year.
A New Look: Liquid Glass UI
The most immediately noticeable change is the new Liquid Glass aesthetic — a sleeker, more fluid interface that uses translucent elements, glass-like app icons, and motion effects. While the design draws comparisons to Windows Vista’s Aero look, Apple seems to have learned from the past, executing the visuals with smoother performance and better hardware optimization. Icons appear like glossy gems, drop-downs and menus float with a frosted-glass effect, and the whole OS feels more polished and dynamic without sacrificing usability.
Apple Intelligence: Smarter System-Wide AI
iOS 26 debuts Apple Intelligence, Apple’s long-awaited answer to system-wide AI. It brings enhanced Siri capabilities, on-device summarization, auto-reply suggestions, smart photo and file organization, and even AI-assisted writing tools for Mail, Notes, and third-party apps. Siri now feels more contextually aware and supports more natural voice interactions, all while keeping your data private thanks to on-device processing for most tasks.
Revamped Safari
Safari gets a big usability upgrade, including full-screen browsing that hides toolbars until you scroll or tap, making better use of the iPhone’s display. The address bar shrinks out of sight when not in use and smoothly reappears when needed. Tabs are easier to manage, and Apple has improved tab grouping and syncing across devices.
Smarter Notifications and Accessibility
Notifications in iOS 26 are now more useful and less chaotic. Live Activities can now display real-time progress bars for food deliveries, ride-shares, and other apps directly in the notification shade. Multiple alerts from the same app are now grouped intelligently to reduce clutter. On the accessibility front, iOS 26 introduces expanded support for LE Audio hearing aids, clearer audio routing, and a streamlined Accessibility hub for customizing the device experience.
Better Photos and Camera Features
Photographers will appreciate iOS 26’s advanced photography toolkit. There’s smarter automatic night mode detection, improved color temperature tuning, and support for HEIC and UltraHDR image formats. Video gets a professional boost too, with support for the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, bringing studio-level video quality and editing flexibility to iPhones.
Privacy and Security
All of Apple’s security features are now tied together under a new unified Privacy & Security dashboard, which offers one-tap protection from scam calls, malicious apps, and harmful websites. The update builds on the scam detection tools announced earlier in the year and includes improved controls for app permissions and location tracking.
Which iPhones will be able to upgrade to iOS 26?
A handful of older iPhones that currently support iOS — including the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max — won’t make the cut for iOS 26. However, if your iPhone was released in 2019 or later, you’re in the clear and eligible for the upgrade.
- iPhone SE (second generation or later)
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
Release Timeline
iOS 26 is currently available as a developer beta, with a public beta expected to arrive in July. The final version will roll out to supported iPhones — likely those from the iPhone 12 and newer — this fall alongside the iPhone 17 lineup.
Whether you’re excited for a more expressive UI, eager to see Apple’s take on device-integrated AI, or just happy about smarter notifications, iOS 26 is packed with meaningful upgrades. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into each feature in the coming weeks.
