Here’s everything Apple plans to show off at its AI-focused WWDC event
Apple Inc. Companies aren’t typically the first to embrace new product categories – as they famously demonstrated with the iPhone, smartwatches and Vision Pro. All of those fields were established before the company came along, but Apple found a way to make its mark.
Now it looks like it will do something similar with artificial intelligence. Nearly two years after the AI boom began, the company is preparing to lay out its vision for the technology. At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple will announce plans to deeply integrate AI into its key apps and features — while reiterating its commitment to privacy and security.
According to people familiar with the plans, the company’s new AI system will be called Apple Intelligence and will be available on new versions of the iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems. There will also be a partnership with OpenAI to support ChatGPT-like chatbots. And the tech giant is preparing to unveil new software for its Vision Pro headphones, Apple Watch platform, and TVs.
AI features will make up about half of Apple’s WWDC keynote, which starts at 10 a.m. PT and typically lasts about two hours. Some of the most interesting features may be those that aren’t AI-focused, such as those that make the iPhone more customizable and improve the Apple Watch. A company spokesman declined to comment on the plans.
Here’s everything to expect during the keynote:
AI features
- Apple’s approach to AI will involve integrating the technology into as many applications as possible, in ways that ideally facilitate customers’ daily lives. The company focuses less on groundbreaking technology – like image and video creation – and instead focuses on features that have broad appeal.
- The new capabilities will be opt-in, meaning Apple won’t force users to apply them if they don’t want to. The company will also position them as beta versions. AI processing requirements will mean users need an iPhone 15 Pro or one of the models coming out this year. If they’re using an iPad or Mac, they’ll at least need models with an M1 chip.
- Apple’s AI features will be powered by OpenAI technology and tools. Services will rely on on-device processing or cloud-based computing, depending on the complexity of the task at hand. New operating systems will include an algorithm to determine which method should be taken for any given task.
- After years of discouraging the use of cloud servers for data processing – and even punishing competitors for doing so – Apple risks stirring up controversy by using the cloud for AI. So much of the announcement will focus on the precautions the company is taking, including the on-chip security features it is using in its data centers. Apple also won’t build user profiles based on customer data, and the company will generate reports to demonstrate that consumer information is secure and not sold or read. At the same time, Apple will still promote the value of on-device processing – when available.
- A key component of the AI push is summarization. Apple is planning features that can quickly summarize articles and web pages in the Safari browser. They can also consolidate meeting notes, text messages, and emails. And Apple is planning a feature that tracks missed notifications, allowing users to quickly catch up on what they missed when they weren’t looking at their phone.
- Another part of this is the suggested response. The iPhone will be able to automatically generate detailed responses to emails and text messages on the user’s behalf.
- Siri will also be part of the new AI push, with Apple planning to improve its voice control service based on large language models – a core technology behind synthetic AI. For the first time, Siri users will be able to precisely control individual features and actions within the app. For example, people will be able to ask Siri to delete an email, edit a photo, or summarize an article. Over time, Apple will expand this feature to third-party apps and allow users to chain multiple commands together into a single request. However, these features are unlikely to appear until next year.
- Xcode, Apple’s application development software, is also receiving great attention from AI. It will work similarly to Microsoft Corp.’s GitHub Copilot, which can automate code completion for programmers. While Apple is already using this new developer tool internally, it’s unlikely to release it in full form to third-party developers until next year.
- The Mail app is also getting a major upgrade. It will include a Gmail-like feature to automatically categorize incoming messages.
- One feature that will likely get a lot of attention from Gen Z — and perhaps the rest of the population — will be AI-generated emojis. This will use AI to quickly create custom emoji characters that represent phrases or words as they are typed. That means there will be more options than those in the standard emoji library that has long been built into the iPhone.
- Voice memos will get a much-needed AI boost, and the company will add automatic recording capabilities. It’s a feature that Google Pixel devices and many third-party voice recording apps have had for years.
- AI is also coming to the Photos app, which will integrate new capabilities into photo editing. That will make it easier to enhance an image or remove people or objects from the frame.
Upgrade other software
- For decades, Apple’s industrial design team has dictated the look and feel of all the company’s products, ensuring that the software running on the devices matches the clean lines and simplicity of the software. hard. Now, customers will have more of a say. In the latest iPhone operating system – iOS 18, codenamed Crystal – app icons will no longer have to fit in a neat grid. Instead, users will be able to place icons anywhere they choose on the home screen. Furthermore, icon colors will be customizable for the first time. That means users can make all their social media apps blue or finance-related icons green. Overall, this is considered the biggest home screen upgrade in the iPhone’s 17-year history.
- Control Center, another core part of the iPhone operating system, will get an updated interface that allows shortcuts to be rearranged within the Control Center view itself and placed across multiple pages. It will also have a new music widget and an updated interface for controlling smart home devices.
- The Settings app, generally unchanged since the first version of the iPhone, is being updated across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS with a focus on improved navigation, better organization, and more reliable search.
- The Messages app is getting some non-AI tweaks, including changes to the effects feature – which lets you send fireworks and other visual elements to the people you’re texting. Users will now be able to trigger effects with individual words instead of the entire message. There will be new colorful icons for Tapbacks, allowing you to quickly reply to messages with a heart, exclamation mark, or other character (they’re currently gray). And users will have the ability to Tapback messages with any emoji. There’s also another frequently requested feature: the ability to schedule messages to be sent later. And Apple announced last November that it would bring RCS — or rich communications services — to the iPhone later this year, reversing a long-standing position. That will make sharing messages with Android users easier.
- Apple is rolling out the Passwords app for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15, which will provide an alternative to the 1Password and LastPass services. This will essentially be an app version of the company’s long-standing iCloud Keychain feature, which is currently hidden in the Settings app.
- The company has revamped the Calculator app and brought it to iPad for the first time. On iPad and Mac, the app will use the same overall interface – with round buttons – as the existing iPhone version.
- Calendar is getting a number of updates, including the ability to import data from the Reminders app. But these two applications are not combined on iOS or macOS.
- The Health app is getting a number of upgrades, including improved blood pressure data management – in preparation for future Apple Watches featuring hypertension detection. There will also be support for a new hearing test feature on Apple’s AirPods. The headphones will also have a new hearing aid feature, but this feature may not be announced until later this year. Meanwhile, the Health app will better tailor data, such as cycle tracking, if a person is pregnant.
- The watchOS 11 update, codenamed Moonstone, will add an updated Siri interface that formats unique responses depending on the type of query. There are also big changes to some key apps like Fitness.
- Safari in macOS 15, codenamed Glow, is getting some changes, but it seems unlikely that Apple will reveal its own ad blocker – something that has been reported as a possibility. Advertisers strongly objected to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, or ATT, in iOS 14 a few years ago, and the company doesn’t need any more privacy-related headaches.
- Apple devices are getting new wallpaper packs, including Mac versions inspired by old-school logos and slogans. iPhone wallpapers will have options that look like the original wallpapers on the phone.
- The company’s latest product, Vision Pro, won’t get a major revamp with VisionOS 2 – codenamed Constellation – but the software will include features like a new environment, a Passwords app, and a Vision Pro version of the software. iPad software. That would make the experience a little more polished. Overall, the software is more focused on filling in the gaps from the first version rather than breaking new ground.
Hardware and what’s to come
- WWDC typically focuses on software, but the company also uses the conference to showcase devices. Last year, Apple introduced Vision Pro for the first time. But this time, we’re taking a break between releases. The next wave of devices won’t arrive until the fall, so there won’t be any new hardware announcements next week.
- However, the conference will set the stage for what is to come. New health features will be the foundation for Apple Watch upgrades in the fall. And the new AirPods innovations will be at the core of many new models coming later this year. Meanwhile, AI features will help Apple sell new iPhones and Macs with upgraded chips next year and beyond.
One more thing! We are now on WhatsApp Channel! Follow us there so you never miss any updates from the world of technology. To follow HT Tech channel on WhatsApp, click This to join now!