Apple's Liquid Glass makeover and expanded Apple Intelligence tools arrive this fall, but not every phone can make the leap.

Apple has confirmed iOS 26’s public launch this fall, following the release of beta 4 to developers and testers with major UI and Apple Intelligence updates.

With the iOS 26 public beta now out, you may have chosen to give the new software update a try ahead of its general release in the fall.

What these changes mean for you is that your technology experience may differ drastically depending on which type of phone you buy in the coming years.

Looking at the home screens, the primary difference you'll find is that in iOS 26 the background of the dock and the search option that sits in between the dock and the home screen icons are more transparent and have a sheen to the edges, whereas in iOS 18, these are slightly darker.

Assuming you're enrolled in the Apple public beta program, you can now grab the public beta directly on your iPhone. Just go to Settings, tap on General and select Software Updates. On that screen, tap on Beta Updates to find the iOS 26 beta.

Beyond Liquid Glass, Apple is making giant updates to Control Center in a href=" title="iOS 26" data-kpt="1">iOS 26 that make this always handy iPhone feature become a powerhouse — once you learn how to use it to its fullest.

Visual Intelligence is getting a new screenshot search feature in iOS 26, giving the iPhone it's own version of Google's Circle to Search.