Apple will put artificial intelligence front and center in the iPhone camera with a dedicated Siri camera mode coming in iOS 27, according to a new report. The move signals the company’s push to make on-device AI feel less like a hidden feature and more like a core part of the iPhone experience.
Apple adding Siri camera mode and expanded visual AI in iOS 27
Apple plans to fold its existing Visual Intelligence feature directly into the Camera app, where it will appear as a selectable Siri camera mode alongside familiar options like Photo, Video, and Portrait, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Previously, Visual Intelligence was tied specifically to the Camera Control button — a hardware shortcut introduced on the iPhone 16 — making it easy to miss for many users.
The revamped mode will carry the Siri branding and will feature a redesigned shutter button styled after the Apple Intelligence logo. Pressing and holding the Camera Control button will still trigger the feature. But it will open the Siri mode within the camera rather than launching a separate, standalone interface.
What Siri camera mode can do
NEW: Apple plans to launch a Siri mode in the Camera app in iOS 27. It’s an overhaul to Visual Intelligence that will also add the ability to extract nutrition labels and contact info. Details here — https://t.co/XMmFKzNp6D
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) April 29, 2026
The feature builds on what Visual Intelligence already offers today. Users can point their camera at virtually anything — a storefront, a plant, an animal, a concert poster — and tap into services like ChatGPT or Google reverse image search to get instant information. A flyer can become a calendar event. A business sign can surface a phone number or menu.
iOS 27 adds new capabilities on top of that foundation. Users will be able to scan nutrition labels on food packaging to automatically log dietary data, and capture contact information directly from what the camera sees — no manual entry required.
The bigger picture
Photo: Apple
The camera AI upgrades are part of a sweeping overhaul Apple prepares across its software platforms. They should come out at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June for fall release to consumers.
Siri should see significant improvements. They include a new chatbot-style interface and a dedicated standalone app. Apple also works to improve performance, battery life and stability system-wide, along with a revamped Photos app featuring AI tools for enhancing, expanding and reframing images.
Looking further ahead, visual AI becomes especially strategic for Apple. The company is reportedly developing a line of wearable devices — including new AirPods, smart glasses and a pendant — built around a version of Siri capable of analyzing the user’s surroundings.
These camera enhancements lay the software groundwork for that hardware push, which is expected to complement the iPhone 18 Pro this fall — said to feature some of the most significant camera hardware upgrades in the iPhone’s history.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
