Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2025 unveiled iOS 26, the latest version of its iPhone operating system. This update brings a wealth of changes, from a striking new “Liquid Glass” design language to powerful new features powered by artificial intelligence (AI). However, while many iPhones will be able to install iOS 26, a significant suite of the most advanced capabilities requires the latest and most powerful hardware.
If you have an iPhone released in 2019 or later (iPhone 11 series and newer), you’ll generally be able to download and install iOS 26 when it arrives later this year. This means models like the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max, all released in 2018, will not be compatible with the new OS at all.
But simply being able to install iOS 26 doesn’t guarantee access to all its headlining features. Many of the most groundbreaking additions, particularly those leveraging Apple Intelligence, are restricted to Apple’s newest and most powerful devices.
Apple Intelligence: Why Newer iPhones Get More Features
The core reason behind the feature disparity is Apple Intelligence. This on-device AI processing capability requires specific hardware found only in the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the upcoming iPhone 16 series (and likely future models). Older iPhones, even recent standard models like the iPhone 15 or iPhone 14 Pro, lack the necessary chip architecture to run these complex AI tasks efficiently on the device.
This means if you’re hoping to experience the full scope of iOS 26’s innovations, especially in areas touched by AI, you’ll need one of the latest high-end iPhones.
Exclusive iOS 26 Features Requiring iPhone 15 Pro or Newer
Here are some of the key iOS 26 features powered by Apple Intelligence, meaning they are only available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPhone 16 series:
Comprehensive Live Translation: This powerful feature offers real-time language translation across various communication methods. It works during Phone calls, translating conversations as they happen, and provides live captions in FaceTime calls showing translations while you hear the original audio. In Messages, it can automatically translate incoming text into your preferred language and translate your outgoing text into the recipient’s language as you type. This full, integrated translation suite relies heavily on Apple Intelligence.
Expanded Visual Intelligence (Screenshot Search): Apple’s Visual Intelligence capabilities are broadened significantly in iOS 26. While some object recognition features existed before, the new version extends this to analyze screenshots. Taking a screenshot of a poster, recipe, product, or event information allows the system to use AI to understand the content. It can then offer context-aware actions, such as suggesting where to buy a product online, extracting event details to add to your calendar, or copying text/information seamlessly.
AI-Powered Reminders & Suggestions: The Reminders app gets smarter with AI integration. Based on your activities in other apps like Mail or Messages, Apple Intelligence can proactively suggest tasks you might need to add. It can also automatically organize your reminder lists into relevant categories without manual input, streamlining your planning.
AI Actions in the Shortcuts App: Shortcuts becomes much more powerful with new AI-driven capabilities. Users on compatible devices can create automated tasks that leverage AI for actions like summarizing text documents, generating images, or providing AI-generated responses within complex workflows.
Enhanced Genmoji & Image Playground: Apple’s creative AI tools receive significant upgrades. With Apple Intelligence, you can blend two existing emojis to create a brand new “Genmoji” or generate detailed Genmojis using text descriptions, even specifying appearance or clothing. The Image Playground app gains expanded capabilities, supporting various artistic styles (like anime, vector art, oil painting) for generating images based on your prompts, all powered by the latest hardware.
AI-Powered Messages Features: Beyond universal updates like group chat polls and typing indicators, Messages gets exclusive AI touches on newer hardware. This includes smart suggestions for polls based on conversation content and the ability to generate custom backgrounds for your chats using AI, adding unique personalization.
AI-Powered Order Tracking in Wallet: The Wallet app can now leverage AI to scan your emails and automatically identify and add order details for recent purchases. This enhances the reliability and usefulness of tracking shipments directly within the app, even if the merchant doesn’t explicitly support Wallet integration.
These seven features represent the most prominent examples of capabilities gated behind the Apple Intelligence requirement of the iPhone 15 Pro/Max and newer.
Other Hardware-Specific Features in iOS 26
While Apple Intelligence is the main driver for exclusivity, other features might have different hardware requirements:
Lockscreen 3D Effect: Accessing the new three-dimensional depth effect on the Lock Screen requires an iPhone 12 or newer.
Adaptive Power Mode: A new battery feature designed to automatically conserve energy based on usage patterns. While specific hardware requirements aren’t fully confirmed, early testing suggests it may not be universally available on all compatible devices and could potentially rely on specific chip capabilities, possibly related to AI processing, even on non-Pro models featuring recent chips.
Beyond Exclusivity: Other Notable iOS 26 Features
iOS 26 brings many other improvements that are expected to be more widely available to compatible iPhones, including:
The major Liquid Glass design overhaul, bringing translucent, adaptive elements across the UI.
Enhanced Battery settings with a redesigned menu, detailed 7-day usage history, per-app comparison statistics, and estimated Time to Charge display.
Updates to the Phone app like Call Screening (automatically answering unknown calls to transcribe before ringing) and Hold Assist (detecting hold music and notifying you when an agent is available).
Improvements to Messages group chats (typing indicators, polls – basic poll creation is widely available).
New Travel Tools in Apple Maps and Wallet (enhanced navigation, visited places, updated digital boarding passes, potential digital ID storage in supported regions).
A new integrated Games app.
Improvements to Camera and Photos app navigation.
Enhanced Spam Filtering.
While these features add significant value to iOS 26, the AI-powered capabilities listed earlier are the primary ones requiring the latest iPhone 15 Pro series or newer.
Checking Your iPhone’s Compatibility
To summarize:
No iOS 26: iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max (and older).
iOS 26 (Basic Compatibility): iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15 (and their standard/mini/Plus variants) – will get the core OS update and many new features.
iOS 26 (Fullest Feature Set, including Apple Intelligence): iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 series (and newer Pro models).
Ultimately, whether you get the headline-grabbing AI features depends directly on the iPhone model you own. However, updating to iOS 26 is still recommended for eligible devices, not only for the broadly available new features and design changes but critically, for the latest security updates that protect your data.
