iOS 26 Developer Beta 3 has now been out for a few days, with a long list of release notes much like this week’s macOS 26 beta.
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The new update brings some perceived performance improvements as well as reduced transparency, but I would still wait to put this on my phone if you’re unsure. Some of the bugs present in Beta 1 are persistent into Beta 3.
More will be covered regarding the changes and reduced transparency in an upcoming article, as I would like to spend some time analyzing the changes and report back on them.
iOS 26 development timeline
- Up until June 9th WWDC: Internal Testing Only
. - June 9th, 2025: Developer Beta 1, Build 23A5260n, (Build 23A5260u iPhone 15/16)
. - June 13th, 2025: Developer Beta 1, Build 23A5260u (no release notes published)
. - June 23rd, 2025: Developer Beta 2 (Build 23A5276f)
. - July 7th, 2025: Developer Beta 3 (Build 23A5287g)
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Tracking Geekbench 6 Performance
While artificial benchmarks only tell part of the story when it comes to the performance of any device, they still offer some form of insight. I’ve benched this iPhone 14 Pro on and off throughout the years to get a relative idea of how it performs over time.
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Without reading too much into it, the numbers vaguely support what I feel is happening. iOS 26 is making steady minor performance improvements even on older devices. The new interface perhaps will be more demanding, and still needs to be tweaked up in order to be fully useable. I’m not a fan of reducing the overall “feel” which made a splash with Beta 1, though.
