Apple to focus on 'quality and underlying performance' with iOS 27 next year

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Snow Leopard nostalgia and hopes for iOS 27

  • Many compare the “quality and performance” focus to OS X Snow Leopard and welcome a cycle with fewer features and more polish.
  • Others note Snow Leopard itself took longer than a year, was initially buggy, and required many point releases—arguing that Apple would need multiple such cycles to dig out of today’s technical debt.

Perceived decline in overall quality

  • Numerous reports of lag, stutters, freezes and app crashes across iOS, macOS, and watchOS, even on new hardware.
  • Some users avoid upgrading beyond certain macOS versions, saying things “just work” now and newer releases are too risky.
  • A minority say their Macs are stable, suggesting experiences vary by workload and app mix.

Design and UX backlash (especially Liquid Glass)

  • macOS “Tahoe” and its Liquid Glass/glassmorphism are widely criticized as unreadable, gimmicky, and sacrificing information density for fashion.
  • Complaints about oversized icons, excessive animations, confusing Safari/Notes/Finder layouts, and “Fisher-Price” styling.
  • A few defend Liquid Glass as visually fine and limited in scope; they see UX, not the transparency effect itself, as the real problem.

iOS keyboard and text handling

  • The iOS keyboard is described as one of the weakest parts of the platform: poor autocorrect, mis-learned typos, broken text selection, and frustrating multi-language behavior.
  • Several users say they thought they were “getting old” or “stupider” until seeing widespread complaints and demos; some switch to Gboard or external keyboards.

Ecosystem, hardware, and switching considerations

  • Disappointment with Apple’s software pushes some toward Linux or Windows, but many feel non-Apple laptops are far behind in trackpads, speakers, displays, and battery life.
  • Others argue ThinkPads and similar machines are good enough, especially for coding, and that hardware concerns are overblown.

Feature bloat, AI, and internal incentives

  • Many question the need for annual major releases, saying the “ship new features every year” treadmill causes regressions.
  • Frustration that even this “quality” cycle will still carry new AI features, which some see as marketing-driven bloat rather than user value.
  • Several speculate that resume-padding, management culture, and weak bug follow-through let long-standing issues persist, eroding the once-simple, approachable iOS—especially for older or non-technical users.