There was no sign of the improved Apple Intelligence in this week's launch of iOS 26.5, which must've been a relief to Google as it talked up its apparently new but seemingly very familiar AI features in Android.
We've long suspected that Apple will save its Apple Intelligence and especially Siri features to iOS 27, since that's shortly due to be announced at WWDC 2026. But the lack of any improvement with iOS 26.5 does mean that Apple has now left Siri broken for more than a year.
That said, it's now practically a year since iOS 26 came out, so it's time to review what we had. And then it's time to look ahead to iOS 27.
But if we're all expecting great things from Apple's next announcements, so is Google. That could just be for bragging rights since the new Apple Intelligence will lean heavily on Google Gemini, yet it seems to be more.
Google has announced a slew of Gemini-based features coming to Android, seemingly just to get in ahead of Apple. Peculiarly, though, you're going to recognize a huge amount of what Google has announced, because you've already got it on your iPhone.
But then also this week, the Trump T1 Android phone is reportedly about to ship, and Apple has added a way for us to save on annual App Store subscriptions. Or at least some of them.
BONUS: Subscribe via Patreon or Apple Podcasts to hear AppleInsider+, the extended edition. This week, one thing we did get with iOS 26.5 is a beta of RCS messaging, which turns out to have not solved the complaints from iPhone and Android users trying to text each other.
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Links from the show:
- No signs of upgraded Apple Intelligence as iOS 26.5 arrives for all users
- Large-scale testing of encrypted RCS texting starts in iOS 26.5
- How to save on annual Apple App Store subscriptions, with a catch
- RCS & encryption haven't fixed the green bubble problem
- iOS 26 review one year later: Liquid Glass complaints hide the real problem
- iPhone & Android interoperability enhancements highlighted at Google I/O preshow
- Safari 27 will use AI to automatically group your browser tabs
- Liquid Glass won't get killed in macOS 27, expect a tune-up instead
- Easy to predict changes rumored for iOS 27 apps like a customizable Camera
- Intel Inside and out: Apple's 40-year relationship
- Indigo for Bluesky & Mastodon
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