Official iOS 26.1 review: There is Apple Intelligence Vietnamese, increasing or decreasing Liquid Glass

So after nearly 1 year and 4 months since Apple Intelligence was first introduced on iOS 18.1 beta 1, we officially have Apple Intelligence in Vietnamese on the recently updated iOS 26.1 version. The two features I find most impressive are the smarter Vietnamese Siri and the ability to search for images in a very natural language.

Actually, after about a month of use, it took me a while to get used to having Apple Intelligence. Many times when I first update, I almost forget that the device has this feature.

But for more basic users, or those using iPhones that do not support Apple Intelligence, should they upgrade to version 26.1? Especially when I see that people using version 26.0.2 encounter many annoying errors, especially keyboard errors. My answer is that in this version 26.1, Apple only added a few new features but the keyboard error is still the same.

So specifically, when we upgrade to this version, what will we get, how will we actually use it, and how will it perform?

New features of iOS 26.1

Speaking of newly updated features, first we have to talk about the ability to customize Liquid Glass. After so many times of dim, then clear, then dim again, it seems Apple is tired and gives users a custom switch to dim or not. When I tried it, I saw a completely different change, especially in the notification section.

The second is a useful feature: tweaking the alarm. Instead of pressing stop, now you have to swipe to stop, limiting the possibility of touching the wrong button when the alarm rings. Personally, I started it when it was in beta so I’m already familiar with this operation.

Third, right in the Camera section, you will have an additional toggle button to swipe the screen to open the camera. This feature is also good, because a few times when I put the phone in my pocket for a while, I saw the phone heat up quickly, and when I opened it, I saw the camera was on. But it’s just a few very rare cases, so it doesn’t really matter to me whether it’s there or not.

Finally, there’s a new feature in Settings > Privacy & Security > Security enhancements. This feature will automatically download and install important security patches silently on the device. This helps the iPhone to be continuously protected while not requiring the user to operate as before.

Apple Intelligence is the biggest highlight

When talking about this version, we will definitely have to talk about Apple Intelligence.

First, we will talk about how to turn on Apple Intelligence. Regarding devices, you need an iPhone 15 Pro or higher to use it. After that, you just need to go to Settings, find Siri & Apple Intelligence and turn it on, wait a bit for your device to download the language pack. Just try holding down the power button to activate Siri. When Siri has a new interface, it’s fine.

Key features of Apple Intelligence include:

• Writing Tools
• Text Summarization
• Image Playground
• Image Wand
• Genmoji
• Clean Up in Photos
• Visual Intelligence
• Create Memories Movies (Memory Movies/Memory Maker)
• Advanced Siri
• ChatGPT integration
• Siri Contextual Awareness
• Notification Summaries
• Website Summaries (Webpage Summaries in Safari)
• Audio Transcription Summaries
• Natural Search in Photos

Since the beta version until now, Apple Intelligence has also been updated with a few tweaks. For example, Visual Intelligence was also able to find Vietnamese websites and get prices, instead of just posts on social networks or forums like before.

In general, having Apple Intelligence will make Siri much smarter than before, minimizing sentences like “Sorry I don’t understand”. As for questions in the form of searching for information and synthesizing information, Siri has the support of ChatGPT, you just need to add the question “GPT chat” and it’s good. In addition, Apple Intelligence also makes the camera control button “smarter” with Visual Intelligence, similar to Android’s Circle to Search.

Regarding practical experience after about a month of updating to the beta version of iOS 26.1, the Apple Intelligence features I use the most are probably Siri and natural language image search. These are the two features that I find most important in my daily usage experiences.

Besides, there is a feature that I don’t use but that catches my eye the most, which is notification summary. You can see it right away when you turn it on, but the level of usefulness is only okay for simple conversations with few topics. But conversations like being in a chat group, for example, with many people texting, many topics, the 3-part summary is incomprehensible.

Has the keyboard error been fixed yet?

This is probably the part that many of you are looking forward to the most. I’m sorry to have to answer you no. With version 26.0.2, you complained a lot about keyboard errors, but this version 26.1 is still the same.

The keyboard is still laggy and will still have a sliding typing rate when pressing quickly.

I don’t understand why this keyboard error keeps working smoothly for 1-2 iOS versions and then lags again. So if you upgrade to this version and expect the keyboard to be less buggy, then no.

Performance

I tested the performance on two devices: iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro Max. In most Antutu tests, this new version will be slightly higher than the old version, while in GPU tests (3DMark) it will usually be lower.

But really, to talk about actual usage experience, a difference of a few points like that is not such a big story. Even you can hardly recognize the difference.

iPhone 15 Pro Max performance

Version	Antutu	3D Mark (Wild Life Extreme Stress Test)	Geekbench 6 (CPU SC/MC)	Geekbench 6 (GPU)
iOS 18.2	1,517,126	3688	2624/7237	28527
iOS 18.3	1,462,790	2715	(No data available)	(No data available)
18.3.1	1,626,805	2759	(No data available)	(No data available)
iOS 26.1	1,683,206	2094	2931/7186	28368

iPhone 16 Pro Max performance

Version	Antutu	3DMark (WildLife Extreme Stress Test)	Geekbench 6 (CPU SC/MC)	Geekbench 6 (GPU)
iOS 18.3.2	1,702,045	4041/2750	(No data available)	(No data available)
iOS 18.4	1,647,856	4113/3112	3462/8545	32769
iOS 18.5	1,634,301	4679/2946	3373/8312	32945
iOS 26.1	1,859,883	4033 / 2800 (69.4%)	3473/8597	32370

Battery life

Regarding the battery, the first impression is quite good, guys. I used it for a day for non-gaming needs and found it quite good. At night, with an onscreen time of 6 hours and 20 minutes, the device still had 37% battery left.

It’s okay, bro. Of course, this is what I’m using without heavy gaming tasks. If I play games, the onscreen time will decrease.

Summary

In summary, iOS 26.1 is a landmark update for Vietnamese users, especially those who own iPhone 15 Pro or later. Apple Intelligence’s support for Vietnamese really brings value, making Siri smarter and searching for photos much more intuitive. Performance and battery life also remain at a good and stable level.

However, the biggest and most annoying minus point is still there: keyboard error. If you’re on iOS 26.0.2 and expecting version 26.1 to fix lag and stuttering when typing, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re not too concerned about Apple Intelligence, waiting for the next patch may be a reasonable choice.

If you want to experience Vietnamese AI immediately, this is still an update worth upgrading, as long as you accept to “live with” the keyboard.

The post Official iOS 26.1 review: There is Apple Intelligence Vietnamese, increasing or decreasing Liquid Glass first appeared on Vo Vo Studio – VVS – Hot technology news, in-depth product reviews.

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