Latest news with #iPhoneUpgrade
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Yahoo
iOS 26 — do you need to upgrade your iPhone this fall?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Getting an updated operating system can be like getting a brand new phone sometimes, especially if that update brings vital new features to your old device. And certainly, the recently previewed iOS 26 promises big changes, starting with an entirely new look for your iPhone. But as we've previously noted, not every advertised iOS 26 feature is going to reach every iPhone capable of running the software update. Several major additions depend on Apple Intelligence, meaning you'll need an iPhone 15 Pro or later to reap the full benefits of iOS 26. And that means anyone with an iPhone that's been out for two years or more will have to make a decision come the fall: Is it worth upgrading to a new iPhone capable of supporting all that iOS 26 has to offer. It's the same question iPhone owners had to ask themselves a year ago when Apple Intelligence first debuted as part of iOS 18. Certainly, the answer was a bit more clear cut back then. While Apple Intelligence introduced some promising new tools, there was no can't-miss feature, making it easier to hold on to your current iPhone if you weren't fully ready to upgrade. Will iOS 26 yield a different answer? It's hard to say at this point, as the software is only available as a developer beta. The iOS 26 public beta follows in July, and by then, we can get a better sense of what the new features bring to the table, including the ones that require Apple Intelligence support. Still, it doesn't hurt to start thinking about these things now, especially if you're on the fence about upgrading to a new model once the iPhone 17 arrives in a few months' time. With pricing up in the air, you're going to want time to prep — and potentially save — to cover the cost of an upgrade, should those iOS 26 changes requiring Apple Intelligence prove to be irresistible. I've been spending a little bit of time with the iOS 26 developer preview, though I've yet to install it on a test device that supports Apple Intelligence. Nevertheless, I have gotten a sense of which Apple Intelligence-powered additions to iOS 26 figure to be the most noteworthy — and the ones you're going to want to pay attention to as beta testing picks up steam this summer. As a quick reminder, here's a rundown of the iOS 26 features that require Apple Intelligence. To use these capabilities, you're going to want an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, any iPhone 16 model including the iPhone 16e, or one of the new models Apple introduces later this year. Visual Intelligence: It was an Apple Intelligence feature before, and it remains so in iOS 26, as this visual recognition tool gains the ability to search for information contained in screenshots. Live Translations: You can get translations in phone calls, FaceTime sessions and Messages conversations, but only if your phone support Apple Intelligence. Image Playground: The AI-powered image generator gains new art styles and ChatGPT integration. Genmoji: Another Apple Intelligence exclusive that expands its toolset, Genmoji now lets you combine two emojis into one. Shortcuts: Apple's automation app adds support for AI features like text summary and image generation, but only on Apple Intelligence devices. Reminders: The to-do list manager will be able to suggest tasks and grocery list items by letting AI skim your email and texts. Messages: There are AI components to some of the Messages additions, like turning to Apple Intelligence to suggest poll options or generate background images for conversations. That's just a list of features where Apple Intelligence support is specified. There are other iOS 26 capabilities that may only work on the iPhone 15 or later. For example, iOS 26 Maps is adding a capability where on-device intelligence recognizes the routes you take regularly so that it can alert you to conditions like traffic — it's unclear if that requires Apple Intelligence support, but it sure sounds like it to me. A quick glance at this list tells me that not all of these features are going to swing the needle toward an iPhone upgrade. If the initial release of Genmoji didn't move you to get a new phone, I'm going to guess expanding the kinds of emoji you can generate with text prompts isn't going to up the ante. Other additions, like incorporating Apple Intelligence into Reminders, sound a bit more promising, but the basic functionality of that app will continue to work just fine on your older iPhone. To my eye, there are two potential Apple Intelligence additions in iOS 26 that could spark serious upgrade talk — Visual Intelligence and Live Translations. Visual Intelligence is already the best of the Apple Intelligence features in my book. It essentially turns your camera into a search engine of its own, as you can snap photos and then have Apple Intelligence scour the web for more information online. I particularly like that I can point my iPhone's camera at a restaurant's sign and have Visual Intelligence pull up information like the menu. I can also capture info from a flier to auto-populate a calendar entry. The iOS 26 update brings those capabilities to your iPhone's screen. Now you can take a screenshot and perform those same actions you would from capturing an image with your camera, including filling in calendar dates and times for an event mentioned in an email someone sent you. To put it another way, Visual Intelligence is already a very useful feature, and iOS 26 is expanding those uses. Live Translations is a bit more up in the air. Certainly, the concept is promising (and familiar to anyone who's spent time with a recent Pixel phone.) When you place a call to someone who speaks a different language than you do, Apple Intelligence will provide on-the-fly translations so that you can have a relatively seamless conversation. FaceTime conversations should work the same way, and if you text with someone who's using a different language in Messages, you'll get automatic translations of the messages you're sending out and receiving. The value of Live Translations will depend on how much you interact with people who speak a different language than you. Travelers and people who do a lot of cross-border business figure to reap the largest benefit. But whether or not Live Translation is worth the upgrade will depend on just how well the feature performs — and that's something we'll get a better idea about as more people use the beta. There's one other possibility would-be upgraders need to keep in mind — that there may be an Apple Intelligence addition in iOS 26 that Apple won't disclose until the iPhone 17 launch in the fall. The aforementioned Visual Intelligence started out life as an iPhone 16 exclusive before a subsequent iOS 18 update added iPhone 15 Pro compatibility. The nice thing about a summer-long beta process is it gives you a chance to see how new features perform and whether or not they get fine-tuned ahead of the arrival of new hardware in the fall. That's especially helpful with something like Apple Intelligence, which continues to be a work in progress. A lot of factors go into deciding whether to upgrade to a new phone or not — the status of your current model, whether the hardware itself makes compelling improvements and how much that new handset is going to run you. But Apple Intelligence features also figure to play a role in that decision, and the iOS 26 beta will give us some idea of how Apple's AI efforts are progressing. I just broke my iPhone — here's what I learned about the durability of today's phones iOS 26 Messages: The 7 biggest changes iOS 26 has brought yet another Photos app overhaul for your iPhone — here's how it's different
The Sun
14-06-2025
- The Sun
Find hidden discounts with brainy new phone trick that instantly slashes cost of shopping – I've already tried it out
Sean Keach, Head of Technology and Science Published: Invalid Date, WHO doesn't love a discount? Sadly they're hard to find – but a new iPhone trick has you covered. Apple has just announced a clever upgrade for millions of iPhones that may be able to help you bag a top deal, and I've already seen it in action. I took a trip to Apple Park HQ in California this week, where I was able to check out some of the new iPhone upgrades coming in iOS 26 later this year. One of the big changes was an improvement to Visual Intelligence, which is an iPhone feature that 'scans' what you're looking at through the camera. With the new update, you can now 'scan' what you're looking at on screen. That means you can take a screenshot of an object you like the look of, and have it 'scanned' by Apple Intelligence AI tech. HOW NEW VISUAL INTELLIGENCE WORKS Imagine you've seen a lovely lamp in the background of a picture. You can screenshot it, and then use Visual Intelligence by scrubbing your finger over the lamp (or circling it works too, I found). Your iPhone will then surface that exact lamp and/or ones that look exactly like it. It'll list them alongside their prices on Google, Etsy, and other supported shopping apps on your phone. So you can then find the exact type of lamp you're looking for, and nab it from wherever is offering the best price. It won't just work with lamps: you could do this with a pair of trousers, or a drinks coaster, or even a sofa. Apple interview with Greg Joz Joswiak on new artificial intelligence, screening, hold assist, carplay, liquid glass and ios updates And even if you don't want the exact item, you can find similar ones – making it the ultimate "dupe" hunter. I tried it out at Apple HQ and it managed to track down a specific bird feeder almost instantly. And it offered very similar alternatives – all of which were varying in price. It was quick and easy, and took me from seeing the item to finding it on sale in a matter of seconds. 7 7 7 You can imagine this being a godsend for trying to find a nice jacket that you saw a celeb wear, or snapping up a nice bowl that you saw at a hotel on holiday. HOW TO ACCESS VISUAL INTELLIGENCE TODAY So when can you use it? Well Visual Intelligence is already available now, but it's only for telling you about items you've snapped a pic of – like identifying a dog breed, for example. The new screenshot-scanning feature is coming in iOS 26. IOS 26 SUPPORTED DEVICES – THE FULL LIST Here are the iOS 26 supported devices... iPhone 16e iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhone 14 Plus iPhone 14 Pro iPhone 14 Pro Max iPhone 13 iPhone 13 mini iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 12 iPhone 12 mini iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone 11 iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone SE (3rd gen) iPhone SE (2nd gen) Picture Credit: Apple If you want to use Visual Intelligence with your camera today, you'll need to press the Camera Control button. That's the button on the side of the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. If your iPhone doesn't have that, you can instead customise the Action Button or Lock Screen to do Visual Intelligence instead – or you could add it to your Control Centre. That's what you'll need to do if you've got an iPhone 16e, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max. If you have an older iPhone, this feature won't work – as it relies on Apple Intelligence. Then just snap a pic and you'll be able to get info about what you're seeing. When iOS 26 lands later this year (likely in September), you'll just need to take a screenshot of an image, rub your finger on the item, and then search it using the built-in tool.
