Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will begin Monday at its Cupertino, California campus at 1 p.m. ET. It is expected to spotlight fresh design updates and productivity enhancements across its platforms.
What to expect?
One can anticipate revamped interfaces and a shift to year-based software names, such as iOS 26. The Mac operating system would be called macOS Tahoe.
Apart from name changes, key apps like Phone, Safari, and Camera will get revamped user interfaces (UI).
Developers can use Apple Intelligence tools to build their own features, including Genmoji mashups.
Vision Pro users will get eye-scrolling and support for motion-tracking hand controllers. iPads will gain more Mac-like multitasking.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple could refresh its Game Center to focus more on mobile gaming.
However, the AI announcements are expected to be underwhelming, especially when compared to the rapid advances made by Google, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI.
Apple is focusing on practical features such as live translation across devices through its Translate app. AI-based battery optimization may launch with the thinner iPhone 17 later this year.
Meanwhile, Apple’s former design chief, who created the original iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, Jony Ive, is partnering with OpenAI’s Sam Altman on a new AI device. Samsung is plotting a major AI move with startup Perplexity.