iPadOS 27, currently in developer beta, ships as a refinement release after iPadOS 26 delivered the foundational redesign and Mac-like multitasking. The headlining additions include Smart Safari tab organization, a persistent desktop-class menu bar, Magic Keyboard automation triggers, Siri AI with on-screen Visual Intelligence awareness, full touch controls in Sidecar, and External Display Control Center support. Fernando from 9to5Mac tested this on an M4 iPad Pro.
The Magic Keyboard automation section, starting at 10:50, is worth your full attention. Apple has added shortcut triggers that let users build genuinely powerful keyboard-driven automations, which pushes the iPad closer to a legitimate productivity machine without requiring a Mac. Siri AI's on-screen awareness, which lets it read and act on what is currently displayed, is the other feature that changes daily use in a concrete way.
This is a developer beta, so shipping performance and battery life numbers are preliminary. The video tests supported device lists for Siri AI specifically, which matters because not every iPad that runs iPadOS 27 will get every feature. If you want to know exactly where your hardware lands in Apple's feature segmentation, the first 90 seconds give you that answer directly.
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