macOS 27's New Features Hint at a Touchscreen Mac and Foldable iPhone

We are in the thick of beta season for macOS 27. Things are getting pretty wild. The second beta brings dozens of major features, from deeply integrated AI to massive interface upgrades that heavily hint at future Apple hardware. Let's dive in.

Clues for a touchscreen Mac and foldable iPhone

Apple is quietly laying the groundwork for some major hardware changes. Sidecar now supports expanded touch controls, making your iPad feel exactly like a touchscreen Mac. You get single-finger scrolling, hot corners, and system gestures. More interestingly, iPhone Mirroring now lets you resize the virtual iPhone window on your Mac.

This seamless resizing strongly suggests Apple is preparing iOS apps for a foldable device that changes screen size on the fly.

Here's how to try it

1. Open an app like Apple Podcasts in the iPhone Mirroring window.
2. Click and drag the corner of the window to expand it to near iPad size. The app reformats automatically.
3. Go to View > iPhone Size or press Cmd + 9 to snap it back to standard size.

A massive brain boost for Spotlight and Siri

Spotlight is now powered by Siri AI, bringing much better indexing and predictive features. You still have your standard shortcuts like Cmd + 1 for apps and Cmd + 4 for your clipboard history. Spotlight now steps up to answer general knowledge questions directly.

How it works

1. Open Spotlight and ask a question like "how tall is Ryan Gosling".
2. Review the Show Results drop-down for web and Wikipedia entries.
3. Hit Return to have Siri AI generate a direct answer with an accompanying photo.

Pro tip: You can also search within specific apps. Type an app name like Pixelmator Pro, hit Tab, and search directly for a specific file name inside that app.

Siri understands your files and personal context

Siri is now available in contextual menus throughout macOS. You can ask it to analyze multiple files or parse long documents without opening them. It also dips into your personal data to answer complex logistical questions.

Compare long documents in seconds

1. Select two long PDF manuals in Finder.
2. Two-finger click and select Ask Siri.
3. Type a prompt like "compare the surround sound formats across these two receivers".
4. Siri generates a breakdown and a comparison table in its dedicated app.

Siri also handles personal context seamlessly. Ask "What time should I leave for the airport this weekend?" and it pulls your flight details from your emails. Follow up with "If I want to arrive two hours before departure and I'm leaving from home, when should I leave?" and Siri calculates the exact departure time based on live Apple Maps data.

All of these interactions are saved in the dedicated Siri app. You can pin conversations or click the + icon to manually attach photos and files to a new prompt.

Screen-grab your way to visual intelligence

You can now invoke Siri's visual intelligence on any image or text visible on your Mac. It works like the standard screenshot tool, but it processes the content for immediate action.

Put visual intelligence to work

1. Press Shift + Cmd + 6 to bring up the visual intelligence crosshairs.
2. Click and drag over an image, like a photo of a bird.
3. Click the Ask Siri button that appears next to your selection. Siri identifies the subject and provides key facts.

This works for text too. Highlight a list of tour dates on an Instagram poster, wait a moment, and click Add to Calendar to generate individual events for all of them at once. Highlight a recipe's ingredient list and tell Siri to "Add these items as reminders to my Grocery list".

Safari gets smarter tab organization and website tracking

Safari is packed with quality-of-life updates, including a touch-friendly pull-to-refresh gesture. It also brings new tools to track website changes and manage out-of-control tabs.

Let Safari do the heavy lifting

1. Click the symbol in the Safari address bar and select Notify Me.
2. Describe the change you want to track, like "Price Drops". Safari will check the page daily.
3. For tabs, go to Safari > Settings > Tabs.
4. Next to Organize tabs, choose Automatically Create Topics. Safari groups your open tabs into named categories on the fly.

You will also find a new Describe an Extension option in the address bar. It summarizes what third-party extensions do and suggests native App Store alternatives.

Full video support in Apple Podcasts

The Podcasts app on Mac finally gets proper video playback. When you play a video episode, the video loads right inside the app window. For supported shows, you get full chapter markers and a follow-along transcript that highlights the active words as the hosts speak.

A few more quick wins

• Automatic file names: Go to Finder Settings > General and check Suggest file names. Click once on an unnamed file and macOS suggests a descriptive name based on the image content.
• Cleaner Control Center: Hide suggested controls by going to System Settings > Menu Bar and toggling off Show suggestions in Control Gallery.
• Menu bar overflow: If you have too many icons, a >> arrow automatically appears to hide and reveal the extras that push past the notch.
• Freeform drawing: Draw shapes directly with your trackpad. Hold your finger at the end of the stroke to snap imperfect squiggles into perfect circles or rectangles.
• Liquid Glass slider: Head to System Settings > Appearance to adjust the transparency of system windows using the new Liquid Glass slider.

Over to you

macOS 27 is shaping up to be a massive leap forward. It begins to blur the lines between desktop computing, touch interfaces, and AI automation. These beta features are still being polished, but they give us a crystal-clear look at where Apple's ecosystem is heading. Get updating and try these out for yourself.