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Apple iPhone receives significant upgrades for RAW photos with iOS 27

Apple's RAW engine is getting a major upgrade with iOS 27 and macOS 27.
ⓘ Apple
Apple's RAW engine is getting a major upgrade with iOS 27 and macOS 27.
For the first time in nine years, the Apple iPhone is getting a brand-new RAW engine, which is expected to significantly improve the image quality of RAW photos developed on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Apple iPhone

With Core Image, Apple offers a range of tools that allow both Apple Photos and many third-party apps to edit images without requiring each developer to create their own image-processing engine. Since 2017, Apple has been using RAW 8, the eighth version of its in-house engine for processing RAW files.

With the release of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 this fall, Apple is introducing RAW 9. Nine years after the release of RAW 8, the new engine is expected to bring significant upgrades. First and foremost, Apple now supports RAW files from more than 784 camera models, a complete list can be found on Apple's website. Probably the most significant new feature is the improved noise reduction. As demonstrated by Apple using a photo taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III at ISO 51,200, RAW 9 can visibly and more effectively reduce image noise while preserving more detail.
 

RAW without noise reduction
RAW 8
RAW 9


Apple also promises more accurate colors and sharper photos overall. Since RAW 9 relies on machine learning models, this RAW engine requires more hardware resources than RAW 8. However, Apple emphasizes that the basic image processing can be stored in a cache and does not need to be re-run for every adjustment when editing photos, so even on an iPhone 17 ($745 on Amazon), performance should still be acceptable.

Further details on RAW 9 are available in a free developer session. RAW 9 must be supported by the respective app. Professional apps like Adobe Lightroom or Capture One use proprietary RAW engines, but on the iPhone in particular, many third-party apps rely on Core Image, so they should benefit from the improvements of RAW 9 after an update.
 

RAW 8
RAW 8
RAW 9
RAW 9

Source(s)

Apple, via 9to5Mac

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2026 07 > Apple iPhone receives significant upgrades for RAW photos with iOS 27
Hannes Brecher, 2026-07- 9 (Update: 2026-07- 9)