Apple is overhauling its Photos app with AI — because it has to | Tech Radar

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Apple is overhauling its Photos app with AI — because it has to

A new suite of editing tools shows Apple is responding to years of pressure from Google and Samsung

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Apple is planning a major AI-powered overhaul of its Photos app across i Phone, i Pad, and Mac.

New tools like Extend, Enhance, and Reframe aim to match advanced editing features already popular on Android devices.

The move reflects Apple’s need to compete in one of the most visible areas of AI.

Apple is getting serious about AI photo editing, and not a moment too soon. The company is preparing a significant overhaul of the built-in Photos app across i Phone, i Pad, and Mac, according to a Bloomberg report. introducing a new set of tools powered by its Apple Intelligence platform. The update, expected to arrive with i OS 27, i Pad OS 27, and mac OS 27 later this year, is designed to bring the best i Phones closer to features that Android users have had for some time.

The timing is not accidental. Apple is adding AI to Photos because photo editing has become one of the clearest places where its rivals are undeniably ahead. Google and Samsung have turned image editing into a showcase for what AI can do. Apple’s more restrained approach fits with its culture, but as people become more comfortable with AI tools, the gap between Apple and other smartphone makers is increasingly noticeable.

The Apple Photos update will reportedly center on a new Apple Intelligence Tools section within the Photos app. Users will see the new Extend, Enhance, and Reframe tools alongside the existing Clean Up feature.

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Extend allows users to pull outward on the edges of an image and generate new content beyond the original frame. A close shot can be widened, with AI-generated details based on what seems plausible. Enhance uses AI to improve a photo's color, lighting, and other details using more than the traditional amount of machine learning. Reframe is the most imaginative, actually changing perspective in a photo after it's taken, recomposing the photo entirely.

Collectively, they represent moving from subtle correction to active creation, allowing the software to invent parts of an image rather than simply refine it. The upcoming Photos tools suggest Apple has decided it cannot sit on the sidelines of that transition any longer.

Google’s Pixel devices have spent years demonstrating what AI editing can look like when it is treated as a core feature rather than an add-on. Tools that remove unwanted objects, sharpen blurred faces, or expand scenes have moved from novelty to expectation. Samsung has followed closely, integrating similar capabilities into its own ecosystem.

That matters more than it might seem. Photo editing has become one of the most tangible ways people experience AI. Apple’s Apple Intelligence AI label needs moments like this to land convincingly. Photos grab attention even from people who have no interest at all in a chatbot. If Apple wants to demonstrate that its AI approach is competitive, Photos is one of the clearest places to do it.

That urgency explains why the company is pushing into more ambitious territory, even if the results are not fully polished yet. Apple is famously reluctant to push out features that aren't polished. But it needs to move faster to keep pace with competitors. So there is a lot at stake for Apple as it accelerates its release despite rumors of unfinished AI tools.

The Photos updates will also likely be tied to the new, AI-infused Siri assistant coming out at the same time. The voice assistant will supposedly be more conversational, able to handle multiple commands in a single request, and have more flexibility in accomplishing tasks.

All of that matters, but it is also abstract compared to what happens in Photos. Editing an image is immediate and personal. It is something users do regularly, often without thinking about it. That makes it an ideal place to showcase what AI can do when it works well. Apple needs users to feel that its devices are as capable as anything else on the market, and preferably more so.

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Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for Tech Radar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as Open AI’s Chat GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.

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