Apple announced iOS 27 on Monday at WWDC.
They said it runs on the iPhone 11.
That’s all well and good.
Except it doesn’t get Siri AI.
The Hardware Wall
The keynote spent 25 minutes on privacy and platform improvements.
Then nearly double that on Apple Intelligence.
Most of that time was dedicated to Siri.
But here’s the catch.
Apple Intelligence is still locked to the iPhone 15 series and newer.
Some features even require 12GB of RAM, which means only the iPhone 17 lineup or the new Air will see the full menu.
If you own an iPhone 11. Or even my iPhone 14 Pro.
You’re watching from the sidelines.
“The company seems to be ignoring people who… don’t have access to these features.”
I installed the developer beta on my 14 Pro yesterday.
It felt like nothing happened.
Well. The slider has that new Liquid Glass look.
That’s it.
The Maps icon changed slightly if you really stare at it.
But otherwise?
Boring.
I wouldn’t have noticed if my phone updated secretly.
Empty Promises
What else is in the update?
Smaller network handoffs.
More child safety filters.
These are nice.
But they aren’t the headline grabs I expect from a major version bump.
Craig Federighi claimed iOS is about sweating the details.
Fine.
But the detail that mattered — who actually gets the shiny toys — seemed rushed.
Does Google do better?
Probably not. Their I/O events have become AI echo chambers that push other useful things aside.
Apple is following the same script.
What We Actually Need
Here is a better idea.
Give us a system-wide clipboard.
Let us split the screen.
Fix the bugs that have persisted for five years.
These don’t need neural engines.
They need engineers.
The more Apple obsesses over AI.
The less the “supporting older devices” PR means.
iOS 26 was weird with its glass aesthetic, but at least everyone got it.
This feels different.
Like an update only for people who just bought a new phone.
What about the rest of us?
