This week I’ve been thinking about...
The big thing this week is obviously the new iPhone release! The most interesting part for iOS engineers is the layout change. We used to think about one screen, and now we have to think about different states: compact, full-size, or half-folded. This adds an additional complexity, but if your app is built on native SwiftUI or UIKit components instead of custom ones, I think the migration will be simple.
The other question is the price. This is the most expensive iPhone ever, so how many customers will end up with one? Right now, most apps support iPhone and iPad, but the iPad share is so low that most of us don’t put much effort into the iPad version when we design a feature. Can we treat iPhone Duo the same way? I don’t think so... This is a brand new form factor, and I expect most people will upgrade. So we won’t just need to support this new iPhone, we’ll also have to go back and think about iPad again, because Duo unfolded is basically an iPad mini that we used to ignore because barely anyone used one, and now a much bigger part of our users will be walking around with exactly that screen in their pocket.
If you already supported iPad and designed with it in mind, you’re in good shape here too. If your product was built only around the iPhone, there’s a lot of hard work ahead 😬
The good news is Apple already released extra guides for developers, and you can read all about it in this issue.
Also, this week Apple released the Xcode 27 RC, which unlocks submitting apps built on iOS 27 🎉
What’s New
Apple opened a hub for iPhone Duo development! Here you can find tech talks on design, adaptive layouts, multiple scenes, camera experiences, and more.
I hope you already use SwiftUI/native components and avoid custom UI. In this case, the transition will look like magic to you. Otherwise, hold on tight 😅
App Store submissions now open for the latest OS releases
Xcode 27 RC is available, so you can start submitting apps built on the latest SDKs to the App Store right now!
Releases
Must Read
A guide to Apple’s iPhone Duo Tech Talks
A walkthrough of all iPhone Duo tech talks with a recommended watch order and a summary. Check this out before watching all of them 😉
Conditional Breakpoints in Xcode
A regular breakpoint stops on every call, even when you only care about one specific case. So let’s learn how to add a conditional breakpoint so Xcode pauses only when your expression is true. Btw, you can attach actions like a sound or a log to the breakpoint.
Existential any in Swift, and when it becomes required
any Shape and plain Shape do the same thing, they both cost you performance, but any Shape tells you it’s happening. Read more to understand the difference.
Quick Read
Working with Images Using Foundation Models
@Generable struct Plant { let name: String let description: String } let attachment = Attachment(uiImage) // wrap the UIImage let response = try await session.respond(generating: Plant.self) { "What plant is this?" attachment // image and prompt go together } // follow-up questions reuse the same session, no need to re-attach the image
Video
iOS 27 Launch Screens Done Right: Simple to Fully Custom
Two ways to build a launch screen in Xcode, with light/dark assets and constraints for iPhone/iPad. The number of clicks and simulator resets just to test something Apple now mandates says a lot... While Apple pushes us to use SwiftUI, you still can’t set up a launch screen properly with it 😬
Toolbox
A free and open-source tool that runs locally and analyzes your .ipa to show where the size comes from. I see popular apps ship at hundreds of megabytes. I’ve done this kind of size audit before, it is great to have something like this on hand instead of digging through the bundle manually.
iOS Job Market (USA)
32 new iOS positions this week (-79% vs last week · -52% vs last month)
Senior / Mid / Junior — 6% / 94% / 0%
Most wanted skills: SwiftUI 31% · UIKit 19% · Core Data 3% · Combine 3%
This week’s picks:
Senior iOS Developer at Syndesus, Inc. (San Francisco Bay Area, remote-first) — Swift, SwiftUI, and UIKit stack on an AI-native B2C platform; owns major parts of the iOS experience end to end → Apply
iOS Developer at Adobe (San Jose, CA) — Swift, SwiftUI across modern iOS frameworks, building Adobe Fresco, the drawing app redefining mobile art tools → Apply
Nuuly iOS Engineer at Nuuly (Philadelphia, PA) — Swift, SwiftUI, and UIKit on a small collaborative team owning the full lifecycle of URBN’s rental-fashion mobile experience → Apply
Weekly Poll
📊 Last Week’s Poll Results
Do you see yourself building for both iOS and Android?
Top Answer: Curious, might try it
Upcoming Conferences
September
17–18 — NSSpain XIV (Logroño 🇪🇸)
29–2 — MacSysAdmin (Gothenburg 🇸🇪)
October
7–9 — Next.App DevCon 2026 (Berlin 🇩🇪)
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November
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February 2027
16–18 — ARCTIC Conference (Oulu 🇫🇮)
March 2027
2–4 — try! Swift Tokyo 2027 (Tokyo 🇯🇵)
16–18 — Appdevcon 2027 (Amsterdam 🇳🇱)