Apple’s iOS 27 Upgrades Enhance Connectivity, Outpacing Siri AI’s Utility

enhancements to foundational technologies are always welcomed – and potentially more useful – than the flashier ones.

Though AI-powered Siri upgrades were the underlying theme of nearly every new feature announced during WWDC, some of the more interesting perks were much less talked about. Apple announced two small but meaningful enhancements to your iPhone's performance that will be included in iOS 27, to be released this fall. Also: Every iPhone model that supports the iOS 27 update (and which older ones don't) Improvements to device network transitions and how your iPhone will prioritize sending messages over weak cellular networks are far more exciting to me than Siri AI. Here's why. Apple said that iOS 27 includes advancements in device performance, including swifter network transitions. Typically, switching your iPhone between Wi-Fi and cellular networks requires opening the Control Center to manually turn off Wi-Fi. Doing so can reduce the risk of a connectivity lapse. This connectivity lapse happens to me often when I'm on a hands-free phone call with my AirPods connected to my iPhone and trying to leave my house to run an errand. In my garage, my phone is still connected to my home Wi-Fi network, but as soon as I pull out of my driveway, my call drops because it loses Wi-Fi connection and doesn't default to cellular quickly enough. As a result, my call fails, and I have to redial. Also: I tested iOS 27's new AI photo editing tools as a skeptic – and the results surprised me Instead of proactively turning off my phone's Wi-Fi and making a call over cellular before leaving my house, more intuitive network transitions may minimize or eliminate this pain point for me. Sending a large file over iMessage, such as a video, when your connection is weak or unstable, can derail the flow of a message thread, especially if you want to send a text immediately after. Usually, when you send a large file over a weak connection, your phone will prioritize sending the large message before the smaller, more easily transmitted one. During Apple's keynote, an animation exhibited an improvement to this issue, showing that larger messages that take longer to send will not supersede smaller ones. Therefore, you can continue to text an individual or in a group chat while your larger message uploads.