iOS 27 rumors, App Store changes

Welcome to 9to5MacDaily for Wednesday, April 29th, 2026. I'm your host, Chance Miller. We are sponsored this week by Bitwarden. Leading off today, a couple weeks ago, we talked about a change in iOS 26.5, hinting at new App Store subscription options. Now, Apple has made that official. Developers can now set up and test monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment. This will give users a way to split annual-style plans into smaller monthly payments, but while still requiring users to commit to the full term. So you'll be able to pay a lower price like you generally can with an annual plan and split that payment into 12 months with the requirement that you must make all 12 of those payments before you can cancel. Apple also says that to provide transparency, people can easily view the number of completed and remaining payments for the subscription in their Apple account, and that it will send emails and push notifications when applicable to remind the user of the upcoming renewal. So you can proactively cancel the renewal at any time, but you have to finish out that 12-month commitment. But with that said, there's an interesting asterisk to this. Apple says the new subscription type will be available worldwide once iOS 26.5 is released next month. However, that does not include the United States or Singapore. The feature will be unavailable in those two countries. Apple's press release doesn't mention why monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment won't be available in the U.S. or Singapore, or if or when the feature will roll out in those regions. It could be something to do with regulatory rules around click to cancel laws or it could just be that there not demand for this feature in those regions Again this will roll out everywhere but Singapore and the U as part of iOS 26 next month We are sponsored this week by Bitwarden You can get started with the powerful Bitwarden Password Manager right now, including a free plan with unlimited passwords, by hitting the link in the show notes or visiting bitwarden.com. Bitwarden helps you create and store strong, unique passwords, passkeys, and more across all of your devices so you're not reusing the same login everywhere. It also makes things easy with autofill for passwords, cards, and identities, plus Vault health reports to help you spot weak or compromised passwords fast. With end-to-end encryption, phishing protection, and trusted security used by over 10 million users and 50,000 businesses, Bitwarden makes staying secure simple. With World Password Day coming up on May 7th, now's a great time to make sure your passwords are actually protecting you with Bitwarden. In other news today, a new report from the Financial Times explores the two critical decisions that incoming Apple CEO John Ternus will have to face once he takes the helm. First, how to respond to a massive increase in memory prices, with Apple's costs reportedly increasing by more than 400%. Apple is used to being such a dominant player in the market that it can essentially dictate terms to suppliers. But with memory and massive demand for AI servers, that's no longer the case. The Financial Times says that memory has until recently represented around 10% of the materials cost of an iPhone, but that this will increase to as much as 45% by next year. That will leave Ternus facing an uncomfortable decision. Does Apple absorb that huge increase in cost, thus accepting a corresponding reduction in margins? Or does it increase prices at the risk of reducing sales? Apple holds its quarterly earnings call with analysts tomorrow and this is likely to be a major topic of discussion The second key question that the Financial Times says Ternus will face will be how the company reshapes its manufacturing profile across China India, and the United States. One of Tim Cook's diplomatic victories so far is staying on the right side of Trump, persuading him that manufacturing iPhones in the U.S. is not a realistic proposition, but at the same time giving the president PR victories in the form of other investments in U.S. manufacturing. Meanwhile, Apple has also at times walked a very difficult tightrope in China, with the government there responding aggressively to the increasing shift of iPhone assembly from China to India. This report says that Ternus will have to make supply chain decisions that will impact Apple for many years ahead. One analyst said that U.S. investment will be one of the critical drivers of Apple's strategy over the coming years. John Ternus will have to answer the question of how does Apple stay on the right side of both America, Beijing, and India. This, of course, is all stuff that Tim Cook can help with in his role as executive chairman. But these are the looming questions and the biggest things hanging over Apple's head as John Ternus is set to take over in September. Next up today, iOS 27 will include multiple new AI-powered photo editing features. Bloomberg reports that iOS 27 will update the editing interface in the Photos app to add a new Apple Intelligence Tools section. Inside this menu, there will reportedly be three options that can make changes to your photo in just a few seconds. An extend option will let users generate additional content beyond the original frame. For example, someone could take a close-up photo of a landmark and use the Extend tool to fill in the surrounding scenery. Users can control how much is added and where it's added by expanding the edges of the image with their finger A new Enhance option will use AI to automatically improve color lighting and overall image quality A new Reframe option is designed primarily for spatial photos which is Apple's 3D image format built for Vision Pro. It allows users to shift perspective after the shot is taken. For instance, a photo of a car could be adjusted from a front-facing view to emphasize the side. This could also be applied to the spatial features that you can use for lock screen wallpapers. However, Bloomberg says that development of these features hasn't gone entirely smoothly. The Extend and Reframe tools, in particular, haven't performed particularly well during internal testing. Apple could theoretically delay or scale back these features depending on improvements to its underlying models. These three new options would join cleanup in the Photos app. Cleanup allows you to remove specific objects or parts of a photo, but it's been widely criticized for producing inconsistent results, sometimes leaving behind artifacts or distorting images or filling in removed areas with inaccurate details. Finally, Bloomberg reiterates that iOS 27 will focus on two main priorities, improving Siri, the voice assistant itself, and expanding Apple intelligence to more apps. Second, Apple is seeking to refine its operating systems, including iOS 27 and macOS 27, to help extend battery life and reduce bugs. iOS 27 and macOS 27 will be announced at WWDC on June 8th, before being released to the public, likely in September. That wraps up another episode of 9to5Mac Daily. As always, you can find all of the latest Apple news on 9to5Mac.com, follow along with me on threads at Chance H. Miller, and we'll be back tomorrow for a new episode of 9to5Mac Daily.