Apple ships visionOS 27 free on Monday, September 14, and the release candidate has been out since September 9 as build 24M362. The Mac Observer went through what an original M2 Vision Pro actually gets, and the answer is nearly all of it, including the Siri AI beta.
Two features are held back: Siri voice customization, which covers pitch, speed, tone and accent, needs an M5 headset, and so does Apple's improved on-device Dictation model. Apple calls the requirement an advanced on-device model and applies it identically everywhere: on iPhone that tier reaches six models including the new iPhone 18 Pro, on Mac it wants an M3 or later with at least 12GB of unified memory, and on Vision Pro it stops at the M5. Everything else in Apple Intelligence runs on an M2 and later.
Most of visionOS 27 has nothing to do with Apple Intelligence, which is why that tier doesn't settle whether the update is worth installing. Apple's published list includes turning a panorama into a spatial scene and setting it as a personal Environment, windows with curvature that let you see more content comfortably, and a new Environment called Thorsmork, an Icelandic aurora with shifting hues. Safari gets fully immersive web experiences through Web Environments, plus automatic grouping of bookmarks and Reading List by topic. Spatial Mac previewing brings 3D models off a Mac into your space to preview and edit.
The interaction changes are the ones a daily wearer notices. Dwell Control now selects by glance with no timer. Notifications expand when you look at them. Control Center has been reorganized into three areas, with extra-small widgets and a Mac Virtual Display widget. Freeform gets board grouping and folders, Messages syncs faster with unread counts, and Podcasts can search inside a show.
Apple has published no visionOS 27 compatibility footnote at all, which makes it the only release in this wave carrying a firm date and no device list. The only hardware lines Apple draws for the headset are the Apple Intelligence floor at M2 and the advanced tier at M5. No release time has been published either.
Siri AI arrives as a beta, English first, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish following in October. It works on Vision Pro in the EU when the headset is set to a supported language, which is not the case on watchOS 27, where Siri AI is excluded in the EU entirely.
Apple announced no new headset on September 9, so the M5 line drawn here runs between two headsets that already exist. The rest of the update arrives Monday, free.