One of the more interesting elements of this month’s Surprise and Shine launch event was Apple’s subtle blurring of the boundary between hardware and software upgrades.
Many of the new health and audio AI features showcased for the Apple Watch Series 12, for instance, felt more like changes Apple would normally discuss in the context of the watchOS update at WWDC. Customers were naturally curious to know what new features they would be able to enjoy on older hardware, and Apple didn’t exactly rush to clarify the situation.
It does now appear, however, that one compatibility pledge has been reversed. Apple initially claimed that new texture and grain controls in the Camera app would be available for anyone with an iPhone 16 or later, provided they update their handset to iOS 27. But as spotted by the Twitter/X user CID, the same page now indicates that these features are exclusive to photos taken with the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, and Duo.
“The new texture and grain controls in Photographic Styles will be available on iOS 27 on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro…” begins the quoted text in what the poster claims is its original form before an update on September 11. Whereas after the update the same section indicates that the new controls “will be available for photos captured on iPhone 18 Pro models and… iPhone Duo.”
I haven’t been able to find exactly the same wording but I can confirm the change as indicated in a separate document.
At time of writing, Apple’s press release for the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max contains an endnote (4) about compatibility: “The new texture and grain controls will be available for photos captured on iPhone 18 Pro models and the Ultra Wide, Main, and Center Stage cameras on iPhone Duo.”
Apple
When I use the Wayback Machine to view an archived version of the same page from September 10, the wording of this note changes drastically: “The new texture and grain controls will be available in iOS 27 on iPhone models that support the latest generation of Photographic Styles. See supported models.” Those last two words are a link to this list which clearly, even now, includes those older handsets.
David Price / Foundry
Indeed Apple appears to have decoupled latest-gen Photographic Styles, a general feature which is still something offered on iPhone 16 and later, from the specific subset of texture and grain controls. These latter features now have a separate compatibility list, and this only contains the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, and Duo. However, that list pertains to the phones’ camera rather than the specific Photographic Styles tools.
I contacted Apple to seek official confirmation of the change and to ask why this has happened. In a background statement, Apple reiterated the footnote saying photos need to be “captured” on one of the newest iPhones to use the new photographic styles but indicated that older phones will have access to the same editing tools for photos taken with an iPhone 18 Pro or Duo.
So it appears photos need to be taken by one of the newer phones in order to apply the new styles, but the tools themselves will technically be available on the older phones originally listed. Theoretically, you’ll be able to take a photo with a new phone and AirDrop it to an iPhone 17 for editing.
It’s unclear why they would be restricted to the newer phones, since the iPhone Duo essentially has the same camera as the iPhone 17 and 17e. In its press release for the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple says the new A20 Pro processor “features a new Dual 16-core Neural Engine, which accelerates on-device AI models and computational photography,” so it could be related to the new chip, which is only available on those three phones.
