- Apple is adding a dedicated Siri Camera Mode in iOS 27 that moves Visual Intelligence from a hardware button into the camera app itself.
- The feature will let users scan nutrition labels and contact details, and includes a shutter button redesigned after the Apple Intelligence logo.
- The shift transforms the camera from a passive capture tool into an active AI interface—and puts Apple in direct competition with Google Lens and Gemini.
Apple is planning its most significant camera app overhaul in years. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iOS 27 will introduce a “Siri Camera Mode” that embeds AI capabilities directly into the camera interface—moving Visual Intelligence out of the hardware button and into software where more users can find it.
The change addresses one of Apple’s awkwardest product decisions with iOS 18. Visual Intelligence—the feature that lets you point your camera at a restaurant menu, a foreign sign, or a dog breed—was tied to the Camera Control button on iPhone 16 models. If you didn’t have an iPhone 16, or didn’t know to hold the side button, the feature might as well not exist. iOS 27 fixes that by making it the third option alongside Photo and Video modes.
“Apple Inc. is planning to embed artificial intelligence more deeply into the iPhone’s camera app, adding a new Siri mode alongside the standard photo and video options in its upcoming iOS 27 operating system,” reported Gurman. The feature will connect to ChatGPT and Google Image Search for answers.
Visual Intelligence Gets a Redesign—and New Tricks
Siri Camera Mode won’t just move the existing feature into a new home. Apple is also redesigning the shutter button itself, styling it after the Apple Intelligence logo—a signal that the company wants the brand association to stick. Beyond the interface refresh, iOS 27 will add the ability to scan a nutrition label on food packaging and log dietary information, and scan contact details from business cards or flyers directly into the Phone app, according to 9to5Mac, which first covered the details alongside Gurman’s Bloomberg report.
The nutrition scanning feature puts Apple in direct competition with Google Lens, which has offered similar food and product recognition for years. But Apple has a structural advantage: tighter integration with Health app data means a scanned nutrition label could log directly into a user’s dietary log without switching apps. That’s the kind of friction reduction that Apple makes look easy but Google still struggles to match.
The contact scanning feature solves a problem that sounds trivial until you try to remember someone’s name after a conference dinner. Point, scan, done—Apple handles the rest. It’s the same philosophy behind Visual Intelligence’s original design: don’t make the user switch context, bring the intelligence to where they’re already looking.
Apple’s AI Camera Strategy: From Hardware Button to Everywhere
The Siri Camera Mode rollout reflects Apple’s broader AI strategy for iOS 27. Rather than confining Visual Intelligence to a button that requires specific hardware, Apple is betting that making the feature central to the camera app will drive usage among the 70%+ of iPhone users still on older models. iOS 27 is expected to be announced at WWDC in June and released in September alongside new iPhone hardware.
This matters for Apple’s competitive position. Google has been aggressively expanding Lens capabilities, and Samsung’s Galaxy AI features already offer similar real-time translation and object recognition. By moving Visual Intelligence into the default camera interface—and adding genuinely useful new features like nutrition scanning—Apple is acknowledging that AI features buried in hardware buttons don’t get used. The camera app is the most-visited utility on any smartphone. That’s where the AI needs to live.
The overhaul is part of a series of AI-related updates coming to iOS 27. Engadget reported that Apple also plans new AI-powered photo editing tools for the Photos app that can extend, enhance, and reframe images—functionality that competes directly with Google’s Magic Eraser and Samsung’s Generative Edit. The company is expected to detail the full iOS 27 feature set at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.