Apple iPhone 17 Pro
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An unexpected iPhone update has just arrived. Unexpected, as Apple confirmed that the security updates were part of the developer and public betas for iOS 26.6. However, Apple decided that the security patches planned for the next update were urgent enough to warrant an earlier release. So, here it is.
This post contains the initial thoughts on the new version and I will update this post in the coming week. I will add final thoughts on Tuesday, July 7th.
Table of Contents
Who is it for and how do you get it?
Unlike the last update, iOS 26.5.1, which only applied to the iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air, this applies to every iPhone with iOS 26, i.e. all phones from iPhone 11 onwards.
To update to the new software, the process is straightforward: Go to the Settings app on iPhone, select General, then Software Update. Next, select “Download and Install” and the software will download from there. This download was small, 721MB on my iPhone 17 Pro Max, but if you’re upgrading from a previous iOS 26 version like iOS 26.5.1, as may well be the case if you have an iPhone 16, for example, your download will be larger and will take longer to install. One user on Reddit said the update on his iPhone 16 Pro Max weighed more than 27GB.
What it’s about
There are no new features in this version, only security updates. Apple didn’t even mention bug fixes in the release notes, but that doesn’t completely rule them out. However, the main event is the safety aspect.
Apple iOS 26.5.2 Security
So this update is all about security and comes with around 30 fixes. While none of these are believed to have been actively exploited in the real world, they are significant and urgent – otherwise they would come with iOS 26.6.
In fact, Apple has confirmed this Reuters that it brought forward the release of iOS 26.5.2 to address what it described as AI-driven security concerns. In other words, the advances that AI has brought with it are not just good: hackers can use AI to find vulnerabilities in the code and attack it all the more quickly. The security issues here, originally intended for iOS 26.6 and appearing in the current developer and current betas of this software, were introduced previously to defeat the bad guys.
This change in practice will certainly lead to more frequent iOS updates (and you may have thought there were enough of them already), although it’s possible that some will come in the form of so-called background security improvements.
Or it could mean that the security updates will be available in the developer and public betas of future versions, but will then be released generally earlier, after a shorter testing period in the beta.
First reactions
Much of the initial reaction on Reddit was concerned about the size of the update and how it varies from under 1GB to as much as 27GB.
There were few comments about improvements or disasters, other than the usual notes that battery life was reduced immediately after installation, which happens often.
None of this is surprising: since the update is all about security, it is not expected that there will be any significant changes, neither good nor bad.
Still, one user said that the iPhone reports that apps use 7% more energy and the system uses 11% more. This means that your iPhone is now at 58%, whereas it was normally at 78%.
There’s also evidence that Safari is faster, and some Reddit users believe they’ve spotted updated app icons – others dispute this.
Apple iOS 26.5.2 First Verdict: Update
With so many security updates on board that Apple deemed so urgent that they released them early, this is a simple recommendation: update now.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2026/07/03/apple-ios-2652-new-iphone-software-should-you-upgrade/
