WWDC 2020: Apple reveals plans for major release event where it will update iPhone and Mac

Company will be holding online event for the first time ever

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2019 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple has revealed its plans for its Worldwide Developers Conference, during which it will show off updates for all of its products.

It will be the 31st such event Apple has held, but the first ever to happen purely online, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

As such, there had been some uncertainty about how Apple would hold the event, which centres around a major keynote usually attended by thousands of people, as well as social events that allow developers to talk with Apple engineers about their work.

Apple has confirmed that the event will happen in an "unprecedented, virtual way", with both the keynote and the other sessions taking place online.

The presentation – during which Apple reveals all of the updates coming to its software platforms – will happen at the beginning of the week, on 22 June, at 10am local pacific time.

"Discover exciting new innovations and updates coming to all Apple platforms later this year," Apple said in its schedule. "The keynote address will stream directly from Apple Park."

It will be available to watch on Apple's own websites, its Apple TV app, and YouTube, as well as a range of Chinese platforms. It will also be available on-demand after it has happened, Apple said.

The company will also hold its Platforms State of the Union event later on the same day, it confirmed. That focused on the same updates across Apple's platforms, but in a slightly more technical way, largely for the benefit of developers.

The rest of the week will focus on the same engineering sessions that usually run through WWDC. They will be streamed through the Apple Developers website.