Apple has given iPhone owners a new way to fill up their Home Screens in iOS 27. The update introduces an "extra-large" widget size, a step up from the "large" option that has topped out the Home Screen grid since widgets arrived on the iPhone.
The math is simple. Large widgets occupy a 4x4 grid of Home Screen slots. Extra-large widgets stretch that to 4x6, which according to 9to5Mac is roughly the size of a full Home Screen page on a typical iPhone.
That extra room matters because it changes what a widget can actually show. A calendar widget can display more of a crowded week at a glance instead of cutting off after a few entries. A notes widget can surface more than a line or two of text. A to-do list can show more tasks before you have to open the app. The format is built for anyone whose Home Screen has felt too cramped to be useful.
Any iPhone running iOS 27 can use the new widgets, regardless of screen size. But the obvious fit is the iPhone Duo, Apple's larger-format device, where a widget the size of an entire page has more room to breathe than it would on a standard iPhone. 9to5Mac notes the extra-large size is "no doubt intended" with that bigger screen in mind, even if nothing stops a regular iPhone owner from using it too.
Apple is pairing the new size with what 9to5Mac describes as more than 15 pre-installed widgets available across its own apps in iOS 27, broadening a Home Screen customization push that began with iOS 14's original widget rollout back in 2020 and continued with Lock Screen and StandBy widgets in later releases. Extra-large widgets are the biggest jump in available real estate since that start.
What's missing from the picture so far is a full rundown of exactly which Apple apps get the extra-large treatment and whether third-party developers will be able to build their own versions once iOS 27 ships widely. Apple has not detailed that in what it has said publicly to date.
IOS 27 is expected to reach iPhones through Apple's usual public release schedule, though a firm date has not been confirmed. For now, the clearest signal is that Apple is building its software around bigger canvases, with the iPhone Duo as the device most likely to put the extra-large format to real use once the update lands.
MDFiled by The Mobile Desk
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