Quick review of iOS 27: Should older iPhones be upgraded?

(Dan Tri) - iOS 27 brings a series of improvements from artificial intelligence, image editing to security.

On the night of September 15, Apple officially released iOS 27 to iPhone users. On the new operating system version, the company continues to perfect the Liquid Glass interface, optimize performance, and bring artificial intelligence deeper into daily tasks.

The review below is based on PV Dan Tri's personal experience during the first period of use. The effectiveness of each feature may vary depending on the iPhone model, language, region and individual habits.

The content focuses on some familiar features, from the interface and Siri to image editing and password security.

iOS 27 focuses on artificial intelligence, improving performance and adding many new tools to serve daily needs (Photo: collected).

Users with compatible devices can update by going to Settings > General > Software Update, then selecting to download and install iOS 27.

Liquid Glass is nicer, but doesn't make much of a difference

Liquid Glass is a design language introduced by Apple from iOS 26 and continued to improve on iOS 27. Instead of changing the entire interface again, Apple mainly adds customization capabilities for users to be more proactive with transparency effects.

The Liquid Glass interface on iOS 27 allows users to customize the level of transparency according to preference (Photo: Doan Thuy).

On the new version, the system provides more options for the display level of the Liquid Glass effect. This helps users balance the characteristic transparency and readability of content, especially in areas where many interface layers overlap.

During my experience, this change did not make a big difference in how I use my iPhone every day. Whether you prefer a more or less transparent interface depends largely on personal preference.

Siri is smarter but sometimes "doesn't understand"

Artificial intelligence is one of the contents emphasized by Apple in iOS 27. Apple Intelligence has also expanded Vietnamese language support. However, a rather unfortunate point is that Siri still does not support complete communication in Vietnamese.

Siri AI on iOS 27 is capable of understanding context and making more complex requests than before (Illustration: Doan Thuy).

Actual experience with the new Siri also gave quite mixed results.

When trying a very basic task like asking to call a contact, Siri sometimes doesn't perform the expected way. Instead of calling using the Phone app, the assistant asks the user again who they want to call in Messenger.

It is worth mentioning that with the same command habits as before, the old iOS version can understand the request correctly. So, at least in this test, the new Siri doesn't feel more reliable yet.

On the contrary, Apple's assistant works quite well with tasks with clear context.

When requesting to create an appointment and add it to Calendar, Siri can handle it directly. Familiar tasks such as creating events and setting alarms are also performed quickly without the user opening each application.

In practical testing, Siri can perform familiar tasks such as creating events and setting alarms without users needing to go into the application (Photo: Doan Thuy).

The ability to search based on location is also more useful. For example, when asked to suggest beautiful coffee shops near your current location, Siri can offer suitable options. The assistant also handles requests to find directions from the user's location to a specific location well.

Siri can also make suggestions about places to hang out when asked, making the search process more natural than having to manually open a browser or map and enter each keyword.

Overall, iOS 27's AI capabilities feel smarter and more proactive than before, especially when it comes to requests related to calendar, location, and system tasks.

However, Siri still has situations of misinterpretation even with relatively simple commands. This makes the experience not really consistent.

Photo editing is the most worthwhile upgrade

Among the features experienced on iOS 27, the photo editing toolset is the most impressive change.

It can be said that after many years, the iPhone finally has powerful enough AI editing tools to get closer to the experience that is familiar on many Android phones.

AI photo editing tools are one of the upgrades that make the most obvious difference in the iOS 27 experience (Illustration: Tuan Anh)

In the Photos app, Apple added three notable tools including removing objects, expanding the frame, and reshaping the frame. Through practical testing, all three gave relatively convincing results.

First is the ability to delete objects. To increase the difficulty, the writer experimented with a photo with a background containing many vehicles.

This is a situation where simple object removal tools often leave blurred areas, duplicated details, or unnaturally reproduced backgrounds.

The results on iOS 27 are quite surprising. After selecting the object to be removed, the system not only deletes the object but also uses AI to recreate the obscured background.

Compared to the previous tool, the image area after editing has less obvious blurring or distortion. Surrounding details are filled in relatively naturally, making it more difficult to recognize the area that has just been interfered with without careful observation.

Of course, the results depend on the complexity of each photo, but this is one of those upgrades that is immediately noticeable when used.

The second tool is frame expansion. This feature is useful in cases where the user takes a photo too close up or realizes after taking the photo that he or she needs more space on the sides or above or below the photo.

Instead of just zooming or cropping photos like traditional editing tools, iOS 27 uses AI to create additional parts of the image outside of the original frame. The system analyzes what is in the image and then predicts and recreates the missing space.

In testing, the feature worked best when only moderately expanding the frame. If the AI ​​is asked to create an area that is too large, the new details may no longer accurately reflect the actual space at the time of capture. So this is more suited to "loosening up" the composition a bit rather than turning a close-up photo into a completely wide-angle photo.

Finally, reshape the frame. This tool is especially useful for photos that have an unsatisfactory layout, such as a character that is slightly skewed, a subject that is too close to the edge, or users who want to change the relative position of the subject without cutting off too much content.

Of the three tools, object removal is probably the easiest to use and provides the most immediate value. Meanwhile, expanding and reshaping the frame opens up more editing possibilities that previously required users to rely on third-party applications.

Password warnings are a small but practical change

In the Passwords app, the system can warn about accounts with security issues, such as passwords that are too weak, easily guessed, reused, or appear in detected data breaches.

The Password application warns accounts that use weak passwords, reuse them many times, or are at risk of being exposed (Photo: Doan Thuy).

This is a feature that doesn't make a difference in the interface or make the iPhone more interesting immediately after the update, but it has long-term use value.

For someone who owns dozens of online accounts, remembering which passwords have been reused or which passwords are at risk of being leaked is almost impossible.

Does iOS 27 cause battery drain after updating?

The fact that the iPhone gets hotter or the battery drops quickly in the first days after the update is not an unusual phenomenon and is not enough to conclude that iOS 27 causes battery drain.

Apple recommends that if users notice a decrease in battery life after an update, users should wait a few days and then check again.

Apple said some tasks related to the update process continue to run in the background, which may temporarily affect battery life and device temperature (Illustration: Tuan Anh).

Therefore, if you have just upgraded to iOS 27 and see that your iPhone is hot or the battery drains faster, users should not rush to conclude that the new version is causing battery drain.

In the writer's actual experience immediately after the upgrade, no serious battery abnormalities were recorded. However, because iOS 27 has just been released, more usage time is needed to accurately evaluate long-term power consumption.

Does older iPhone upgrade to iOS 27 lag?

One of the concerns of older iPhone users is that the device may be slow or lag after upgrading to iOS 27.

Apple tested the app launch performance of iOS 27 on iPhone 11 Pro Max, a model launched in 2019. When comparing devices running iOS 26.4.2 with the pre-release version of iOS 27, the company noted that app opening speeds can be up to 30% faster.

However, "up to 30% faster" was recorded under Apple's testing conditions and does not mean that all older iPhones achieve the same level of improvement.

Apple used iPhone 11 Pro Max in testing app launch performance on iOS 27, recording speeds up to 30% faster than iOS 26.4.2 (Photo: CTV).

With iPhone 11-15 that have been used for many years, the battery may be a more concerning factor than iOS 27 itself.

Lithium-ion batteries aging over time not only reduce their usage time but also reduce their ability to provide instantaneous power.

Therefore, an iPhone that has been used for a long time and has not replaced the battery may quickly run out of battery or operate less smoothly, not entirely due to the new iOS version.

At the present time, there is no basis to confirm that older iPhones will slow down just because of upgrading to iOS 27. Users should also not evaluate battery and performance in the first few hours after the update, because some tasks related to the upgrade process may still continue to run in the background.