iOS 27 Adds Siri Camera Mode on iPhone 15 Pro and Newer

Q: Why is Apple's new AI camera launching globally but skipping Europe and China?

Apple’s new AI camera is skipping Europe and China for regulatory reasons, not technical ones. In the European Union, the main obstacle is Apple’s dispute with regulators over the Digital Markets Act. Apple says the new Siri and Apple Intelligence features rely on a deep on-device index of personal data such as messages, email, photos and calendar entries. Under the EU’s interoperability rules for major platforms, Apple argues it could be forced to give rival assistants broader access to those system layers. Apple says that would weaken the privacy and security protections it built into the product and could create conflicts with Europe’s data-protection standards. EU officials, however, say the law is meant to preserve competition and user choice, and that Apple must offer a compliant version rather than delay the launch. As a result, these features are initially absent from iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch in the EU. In China, Apple has said it is still working through local regulatory requirements before launching Siri AI and related Apple Intelligence tools. The company has not publicly detailed all of those hurdles, but China’s rules for AI services, data handling and approvals are stricter and often require additional compliance steps. So while the feature is rolling out globally in beta, Apple is holding it back in those two markets until it can satisfy local legal and regulatory demands.

3 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Jun 26

Apple’s iOS 27 developer beta adds a Siri mode inside the Camera app, letting users identify objects, ask follow-up questions, run Google image searches, translate text and add detected events to Calendar without leaving the viewfinder.
The change streamlines Apple’s earlier Visual Intelligence feature from iOS 18.2, which required launching a separate tool instead of staying in the camera while examining a subject.
On a test iPhone 15 Pro, ZDNET’s demo correctly identified a pigeon as a rock dove, recognized the Statue of Liberty and a Van Gogh work, but misidentified two museum paintings and sometimes responded slowly or failed.
The feature requires an Apple Intelligence-capable device — iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 or 17 model — plus the iOS 27 developer beta and access to the Siri AI waitlist, which took nearly a week in the test.
Apple is expected to ship the new Siri with iOS 27 in September, though the report says the current beta remains unstable enough to avoid installing on a primary phone.