Apple is adding a major RAW image processing upgrade with iOS 27, macOS 27, iPadOS 27 and its other companion systems, giving photographers cleaner, sharper and more detailed RAW photo results directly through the system-level Core Image pipeline.
RAW 9 Brings Better Detail and Cleaner Images
The new engine is called RAW 9, and Apple says it is the biggest update yet to its RAW processing system. RAW photos keep more sensor data than regular image formats, which gives photographers more control over exposure, color, white balance and other edits.
Apple already supports RAW processing for hundreds of third-party camera models through Core Image, and with RAW 9, the company is using machine learning to improve how the system handles noise, detail, color and demosaicing.
RAW 9 uses a tiled CoreML model that combines demosaic and denoise processing, while the Apple Neural Engine runs the model on device for better performance. This means apps that use Core Image can get improved RAW rendering without relying on cloud processing.
Older RAW Photos Can Also Look Better
One of the biggest benefits is that RAW 9 can also reprocess older RAW photos, so users may see better results from images they already captured years ago. Apple’s examples show clearer text, sharper textures and better color separation in difficult shots.
In high-noise images, RAW 9 reduces both luma and chroma noise while keeping more useful detail in the frame. In Apple’s examples, the new engine handled very noisy Canon, Sony and Fujifilm RAW files with cleaner colors, clearer highlights and fewer artifacts.
For developers, Apple has shared guidance on enabling RAW 9, improving editing performance and exporting RAW images through Core Image.
With iOS 27 and Apple’s other 2026 software updates, RAW 9 gives photographers and editing apps a stronger foundation for cleaner RAW images, especially in low light, high ISO and detailed texture-heavy scenes.
