What to Expect from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off on Monday with the company's standard keynote presentation—a combination of PR about how great Apple and its existing products are and a first look at the next-generation versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and the company's other operating systems.

Reporting before the keynote rarely captures everything that Apple has planned at its presentations, but the reliable information we've seen so far is that Apple will keep the focus on its software this year rather than using the keynote to demo splashy new hardware like the Vision Pro and Apple Silicon Mac Pro, which the company introduced at WWDC a couple of years back.

If you haven't been keeping track, here are a few of the things that are most likely to happen when the pre-recorded announcement videos start rolling next week.

Redesign Time

Reliable reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman have been saying for months that Apple's operating systems are getting a design overhaul at WWDC. The company plans to use the design of the Vision Pro’s visionOS software as a jumping-off point for the new designs, introducing more transparency and UI elements that appear to float on the surface of your screen. Apple's overarching goal, according to Gurman, is to "simplify the way users navigate and control their devices" by "updating the style of icons, menus, apps, windows, and system buttons."

Apple's airy, floaty visionOS will apparently serve as the inspiration for its next-generation software design.

Any good software redesign needs to walk a tightrope between freshening up an old look and solving old problems without changing people's devices so much that they become unrecognizable. The redesigned UI should be released simultaneously for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The Mac last received a significant facelift back in 2020 with macOS 11 Big Sur, though this was overshadowed by the much more significant shift from Intel's chips to Apple Silicon.

An OS by Any Other Name

With the new design will apparently come a new naming scheme, shifting from the current version numbers to new numbers based on the year. So we allegedly won't be seeing iOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, or visionOS 3—instead, we'll get iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26. The new numbers might be a little confusing at first, but in the long run, the consistency should make it easier to tell roughly how old your software is.

Hardware Expectations

Gurman has reported that Apple had "no major new devices ready to ship" this year. Apple generally concentrates its hardware launches in the spring and fall, with bigger launches in the fall, anchored by the iPhone. But WWDC has occasionally been a launching point for new Macs and brand-new platforms. However, the best available information suggests that neither of those things is happening this time around.

The Fate of Intel Macs

It's been five years since Apple started moving from Intel's chips to its own custom silicon in Macs and two years since Apple sold its last Intel Macs. Rumors suggest that current betas still run on the last couple rounds of Intel Macs, dropping support for some older or slower models.

iPad Multitasking Again?

The perennial complaint about high-end iPads is that the hardware is a lot more capable than the software allows it to be. Apple takes another crack at making the iPad a viable laptop replacement by improving the state of multitasking on the platform.

Playing Games

Apple is apparently hoping to make its devices a "destination" for gaming with a new unified app for games. Like Valve's Steam, the app will reportedly serve as a storefront, launcher, and achievement tracker, and will also facilitate communication between friends playing the same game.

Going Home

Apple is apparently working on a new kind of smart home device that weds the HomePod's current capabilities with a vaguely Apple TV-like touchscreen interface. New branding could suggest that Apple is getting ready to expand its smart home ambitions.

What About AI?

It wouldn't be a mid-2020s tech keynote without some kind of pronouncements about AI. We'd expect Apple to devote some time to Apple Intelligence, but the company may be hesitant to announce big new features in advance. Apple will probably try to find a middle road between not wanting to overpromise and not wanting to seem "behind" on the tech industry's biggest craze.