While WWDC 2026 is months away, more information is leaking about iOS 27 and the other releases. A strange internal change has occurred — OS 26 codenames have shifted mid-development.
It is no secret that technology firms love their internal codenames, which almost never hold any real connection to the final product they represent. That's especially been true of Apple, but they tend to stay the same for each OS during development.
In one small section of the most recent Power On Newsletter from Mark Gurman, he mentions a strange shift in internal naming for iOS 27 and macOS 27. Their code names were Buttercup and Honeycrisp respectively previously, but now they are Rave and Fizz.
The code names themselves are meaningless to any outsider and convey nothing about their projects. However, changing the codenames mid-development cycle is significant and could show a strategy shift.
Or it could show nothing. That's the problem with the anonymous sources speaking to an individual. There's no way to tell if the rumors were right the first time, or this time for that matter, and the leaker can't provide more detail without blowing their source.
So, we're left with this one tidbit and a load of speculation. Also, the other codenames were revealed: watchOS 27 is Orchid, tvOS 27 is Lotus, and visionOS 27 is Eclipse.
What's in store for OS 27
The rest of the newsletter is focused on Gurman's previous reporting around Apple Intelligence and its new partnership with Google Gemini. While it is still colored by his overall doom and gloom angle, it still represents a fairly comprehensive overview of what has transpired in the past year.
Apple's AI moves are all pointing to future product plans
Even as it attempts to paint a picture of internal AI team struggles, brain drain, and failures, it also shows how Apple's strategy has always been multi-pronged since the initial delay. The end result is still the same and reflects what AppleInsider has been reporting this whole time — Apple Intelligence will be powered by Apple Foundation Models on device and in Private Cloud Compute.
That said, the shift in code names does seem odd and stands out. This partnership with Google was never guaranteed, so perhaps the operating systems were going one way for OS 27 until the deal was struck, and now they're going another.
According to the newsletter, Apple's focus for the OS 27 releases is an even more powerful Siri running Apple Foundation Models trained by a Gemini 3 equivalent. Apparently, the power required to run such models server-side will need Google's own TPUs.
Google made this portion of the deal clear in its limited press release, though details are scarce. From what I can gather between that two-paragraph press release and Gurman's leaks, it seems Apple will be leasing Google's server-side equipment for some functions.
Apple has already been known to use Google Tensor hardware for AI training. Apple utilizing third-party hardware is nothing new.
Regardless of what this report says, Apple continues to state openly that its products will run Apple Intelligence powered by Apple Foundation Models which also runs via Private Cloud Compute. So, I continue to push back against this characterization that Apple is simply rebranding a Gemini model, and instead is doing what it has always done with third-party technology stacks.
Apple has full control.
Apple's position in the AI race is about to get interesting with iOS 26.4
So, like how Apple uses Google cloud, AWS and Azure to store iCloud data securely without Amazon, Google, or Microsoft having access to user data, it will likely use Google's AI servers to run its more powerful, Gemini-trained, Apple Foundation Models without any involvement from Google itself.
Apple is clearly working on getting more of its own servers online, and everything about this Google partnership is set up to be temporary. The problem is, industry-wide shortages and time itself are against Apple on this project, so the partnership was prudent and necessary.
The company continues to churn out AI research papers from its giant AI division, its processors are industry-leading, and its ability to provide private, local AI across the ecosystem is still unique to it. So, if we look past all of this doom and gloom reporting, we see a functional Apple AI team on the verge of releasing years of work to the public to power their devices and Siri.
A public reveal is expected in February alongside initial betas, while a final release with iOS 26.4 should arrive by April. The newly codenamed OS 27 releases will be revealed during WWDC 2027 in June.
