After months of rumors and speculation, Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is imminent. In just a few days, all of these rumors and speculations will finally have an answer, and we can make way for… more rumors and speculations. (At least it will be based on things we actually seen.)
But as we enjoy our last hurrah before the hurricane of news and updates, it’s time to compile a preview of exactly what we might expect when Apple executives appear (in a video without any cleverly compiled doubt) at Apple Park next week, and what the cut isn’t likely to do.
Heads up
They say where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and if that’s true, then Apple’s mixed reality headset must be molten lava. (And not just because its processors probably give off a lot of heat.) It’ll be the company’s first major new platform since the Apple Watch in 2014, and arguments about what it’ll look like, how much it’ll cost, whether it will be able to succeed where others fail, and even what Apple will call it, all have cracked down.
But putting that aside for a moment, I think it’s worth noting that a new platform from Apple is actually quite a rare thing. Yes, the company has introduced them rapidly over the past 15 or so years – the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple TV, the Apple Watch – but it doesn’t happen every year or even every two years. Apple only gives so much weight to something it thinks has a chance in the market. This is not a company that got where it is by launching products willy-nilly.
Apple’s mixed reality headset won’t immediately replace the iPhone, but that’s the goal.
Foundry
It’s also important that Apple can afford, perhaps more than any other tech company, to play for the long haul. In fact, in some respects, he cannot afford to not play the long game: the iPhone is a blockbuster product, and there may very well be nothing else like it in my lifetime, but just in case East, Apple must be there. Sooner or later, something will take over from the iPhone, and if Apple isn’t the only one developing it, a lot of its revenue will disappear.
It will be very interesting, come next week, to see how Apple launches its headphones; keep an eye out to see if, in a rare step, he talks about where the puck is going with this product rather than where it is now.
watch and learn
Rumor has it that Apple last big new platform is due for a refresh after almost a decade on the scene. watchOS is expected to get a major overhaul at this year’s WWDC, and it seems like it’s time (no pun intended) for the company to dabble in that again. most personal portable device.
After nine years of data on how people use the smartwatch, it’s a reasonable opportunity to explore how to improve the experience. A rumor suggests that watchOS 10 will take a widget-centric approach, using some of the same technology that supports existing widgets on iOS and iPadOS.
Apple Watch could get a facelift thanks to watchOS 10.
Foundry
This idea is not exactly new à la Apple Watch: At the beginning of the product’s life, the company had a concept called Glances that was envisioned for very simple one-screen “apps”. Although the feature was eventually discontinued, the recent adoption of widgets on Apple’s other platforms could also make it a more attractive option on the Watch, allowing developers to easily transfer the work they’ve done on iOS and iPadOS to the smartwatch. As someone who only uses a few apps (few of which require more than a single screen), this could really help streamline Apple Watch usage.
The best of the rest
With much of the keynote likely devoted to headphones and watchOS, anyone can guess how long Apple’s other platforms will have. Don’t expect them to be completely ignored: WWDC is Apple’s time to talk about the year ahead for all of its products.
What seems most likely, given the trajectory of the last few years of WWDC presentations, is that we’ll see more of the new features coming to Apple devices simultaneously – say, for example, a journaling app Apple – plus a few device-specific capabilities.
This could include features like lock screen widgets coming to iPadOS 17 or a new iOS 17 “status board” lock screen feature. There’s been little for macOS or tvOS, suggesting it could be a quiet year for some of Apple’s smaller platforms.
Finally, there is always the question of the material. Aside from the headset at the moment – although the WWDC demo is unlikely to go on sale in the next few months – there are two Mac models that could make an appearance at the event: a MacBook 15-inch Air, which is likely to be just a larger version of the existing 13-inch version and the silicon-based Apple Mac Pro, which Apple teased in March 2022 but has yet to unveil.
The latter would seem a particularly fitting announcement for a developer-centric audience, but given the lack of rumors in the supply chain, it seems unlikely to ship in the near future. The 15-inch Air, by comparison, is supposed to be out of the box, but seems like a less exciting product to spend a significant chunk of the keynote on.
And, of course, Apple always leaves room for surprises. Personally, I’m crossing my fingers for little announcements that improve the quality of life on Apple devices: using any emoji for tapbacks in Messages, or improving autocorrect, or even just making Mail more responsive. While this is a shorter year for Apple’s other platforms, the company could do worse than make small tweaks that can make a big difference.
