WWDC: Apple announces new event to reveal biggest updates in years

Event likely to bring updates for all of Apple’s products – including long-promised AI features

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Apple will hold its next Worldwide Developers Conference this June.

The event will see updates for all of Apple’s products, from the iPhone to the Mac and Apple Watch. But it might be notable for a new technology that is set to change all of them: Apple’s long-awaited reveal of some of the artificial intelligence products it has been working on, which are part of what is said to be one of the most substantial set of updates ever to come to Apple’s products.

The event will begin with a keynote presentation on 10 June, and talks for developers will run through the week until 14 June. Like other WWDC events since the pandemic, the primary part of the conference will be held online, though there will be a special event to watch the keynote for select developers, which it said will include “special activities”.

It did not give any information about what it intends to launch at the event. Its announcement of the date only said that it “will spotlight the latest iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS advancements”.

But rumours have widely suggest that most of those developments will focus on artificial intelligence. Apple has been integrating AI into its products deeply for years – but some have suggested that it has lagged behind the recent wave of new technologies, and it has been resistant to focusing on the technology too much.

Recent news has suggested that may change. Apple has been more happy to mention AI – Tim Cook has been explicit that Apple is working on new uses of the technology, and the new MacBook Air was advertised as “the world’s best consumer laptop for AI” – and numerous reports have suggested generative AI and other new technologies are being integrated into iOS.

Rumours have suggested that Apple is considering partnering with an AI firm such as Google or OpenAI to integrate their generative AI features into the iPhone. Until now, Apple’s use of AI has tended to be integrated within the device, and focused on specific use cases.

As well as those AI updates, Apple is rumoured to be redesigning how the Home Screen appears on the iPhone, including adding the option to put apps anywhere on the page.

And Apple has been reported to be working on new hardware updates, such as revised versions of the AirPods including the long-neglected AirPods Max.

At last year’s WWDC, Apple also revealed new updates for all of its products. But the headliner of the launch event was the Apple Vision Pro, which was first unveiled during the presentation and arrived earlier this year.