Apple is preparing a major overhaul of photo editing on the iPhone, with artificial intelligence set to power a new generation of tools aimed at catching up with Android rivals. Four key features - Enhance, Extend, Reframe and Clean Up - are expected to debut this autumn with iOS 27.

As part of its broader push into AI, Apple is reportedly developing a suite of editing tools that will roll out across iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, according to Bloomberg. These features will rely heavily on the company’s Apple Intelligence platform.

The new tools are designed to let users expand, enhance and reframe images using on-device AI, with processing completed in just a few seconds.

The update will be integrated into the Photos app, marking a significant step forward in Apple’s effort to modernise its imaging capabilities.

The move clearly targets competition from Google and Samsung. Google already offers features such as Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur and generative image expansion on Pixel devices and other Android phones.

In recent years, Samsung has largely kept its camera hardware stable while focusing on AI-driven enhancements and resolution improvements.

By contrast, Apple currently offers only one AI-supported editing feature: Clean Up, which allows users to remove unwanted objects from photos.

Four AI-driven tools

According to Bloomberg, Apple will introduce a new “Apple Intelligence Tools” section within the editing interface, featuring Enhance, Extend, Reframe and upgraded versions of Clean Up.

Enhance will use AI to improve colours, lighting and overall image quality.

Extend will generate additional content beyond the original frame, similar to generative AI tools already available on Android.

Reframe is designed for spatial photos - a 3D image format developed for Vision Pro - allowing users to adjust perspective after capturing the image.

Meanwhile, Clean Up is expected to receive improvements, addressing inconsistencies seen in its current version.

Development, however, has not been without challenges. At present, Extend and Reframe are said to be unreliable. Still, Apple has several months to refine the features before iOS 27 is released later this year.

It remains unclear whether the new tools will incorporate any Gemini models as part of Apple’s AI partnership with Google, which is also expected to power a next-generation Siri.

Du Lam