Technology

Janet Ingber

Apple has released several new products for fall 2026, including the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. Apple also introduced two versions of the AirPods 5 and two new Apple Watches. These devices offer improvements in performance, battery life, health monitoring, and artificial intelligence. Some of the new features may be especially useful for people who are blind or have low vision. AccessWorld will keep you updated about the new operating systems.

Janet Ingber

Apple released new operating systems for both Apple Watch and Mac in September 2026. This article will discuss their main updates but not the many additional smaller updates.

watchOS 27

Apple debuted two new watches in 2026: the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4. The Series 12 GPS starts at $399. The Series 12 GPS + Cellular starts at $499 and the Ultra 4 starts at $799.

The following watches can run watchOS 27:

Janet Ingber

Apple released the much-anticipated iOS 27 for iPhone in September 2026. This version offers a significantly updated Siri AI. Availability of Siri AI varies by language and region. In addition, there are updates to a number of other apps including Safari and Shortcuts.

You can check if your iPhone is compatible here.

Some phones are not compatible with all the new features.

Janet Ingber

On June 8, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Unlike previous WWDCs, this one did not discuss individual devices such as the iPhone and Apple Watch. In addition, the event lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes rather than its usual 2 hours. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, said, "Today we are looking forward to sharing some exciting announcements including our latest advancement in Apple Intelligence and Siri."

It is easy to recognize the dramatic ways technology has evolved and influenced how we interact with the world. Some of us grew up turning a dial to enter a single digit into the household’s shared telephone, now many of us have microcomputers in our pockets that not only allow us to dial telephone numbers with a single gesture, they provide instant access to a digital world that is designed to allow us to perform every function under the sun, from attending work meetings on the go, to buying last-minute party supplies, and everything in between.

Findings from a new peer-reviewed article examine how emerging AI tools may create unintended barriers in hiring and workplace systems.

Janet Ingber

On September 15, 2025, Apple released iOS 26. This article explores several of the apps that have received significant upgrades.

Phone

The new Phone app introduces a completely redesigned layout called Unified. If you prefer the older look, you can return to the Classic view. To switch between layouts, go to the top-right corner of the screen and select the “Filter” button. Two options will appear: “Classic” and “Unified.” Choose “Classic” to restore the previous layout.

Judy Dixon

iOS and iPadOS 26 were released on September 15, 2025. As with previous years, there are numerous updates in these new versions of Apple’s operating systems, and many of them are in the area of accessibility.

Recently, Google hosted its yearly Google Developers Conference, Google I/O, where countless updates to Google products were announced, with many now being available to the public. Gemini, Google’s suite of AI technologies, was a highlight of the show and dominated Google’s announcements regarding new innovations. For this article, I wanted to gather together the announced or updated technologies that have the potential to be most impactful in terms of accessibility. As mentioned, this article focuses on AI-related updates, as that was the focus of the main Google presentation.

In June, Apple hosted its annual virtual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), unveiling a wide range of updates and innovations. The keynote address highlighted the latest developments in Apple’s software ecosystem. Following the keynote, developers were invited to attend numerous sessions and collaborate directly with Apple engineers.