Let’s be sincere: WWDC 2025 is unlikely to go down in historical past as one Apple’s best ever occasions, as I’ve warned in a separate article. The corporate shouldn’t actually be forging forward with new plans till it finishes mopping up the undelivered ones from final yr, and the continuing and unaddressed failures of Siri and Apple Intelligence will dangle over the proceedings like a nasty scent.
However even the dullest Apple occasion can typically be relied upon to ship a couple of gems… and in spite of everything, it’s WWDC, the second most essential keynote of the yr. Listed below are the seven issues I can’t wait to see at WWDC 2025:
1. An iPhone AI function I’ll really use
With apologies to Mac and Apple Watch homeowners, iOS is the primary occasion at WWDC. This yr’s replace guarantees some main adjustments, together with essential accessibility options and an interface redesign, which is already inspiring each optimistic and unfavorable emotions. However a much more essential change will occur beneath the hood.
Experiences point out iOS 19 will function a brand new AI-powered battery preservation mode, which can analyze utilization patterns to decrease energy draw at instances or in purposes the place it gained’t influence your expertise, and thereby lengthen battery life at minimal value. Plus, the Lock Display will lastly present how a lot time is left till your cellphone is totally charged. Overlook Genmoji: that is how AI can really make a distinction in customers’ lives.
2. Apple Intelligence the place it belongs
I’m just a little bored with listening to about Apple Intelligence: its supposed triumphs (from Apple) and its many flaws (from everybody else). Sadly this yr’s WWDC is bound to function extra of the identical, and we’ll want to organize ourselves for that. However there’s one side of Apple Intelligence I am excited to know extra about, and that’s its belated debut on the Apple Watch.
Pundits predict that the watchOS 12 replace will see Apple’s AI platform land on the Apple Watch, which I’ve lengthy mentioned is its pure house. The watch’s small display means next-gen messaging and voice management could be transformative, slightly than a pleasant choice, whereas its place on the wrist makes it completely positioned to be a digital assistant.
To date, the primary barrier to the Apple Watch becoming a member of the AI get together has been it comparative lack of processing energy, and the new fashions coming within the fall are unlikely to alter that. However in line with Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, watchOS 12 will see the Apple Watch outsource the AI work to a close-by iPhone, which is a great stopgap answer till the {hardware} catches up.
3. The Babel fish turns into a actuality
The tech business has lengthy been fascinated by the Babel fish, a fictional creature which, within the Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Information novels, sits in an individual’s ear and allows them to know any language. If solely the Babel fish had been actual. Properly, it’s—form of—due to wi-fi earbuds with reside translation software program.
Google has been providing this mixture for years: the Pixel Buds (or certainly different earbuds paired with the Google Translate app) had been able to it again in 2017, albeit with loads of drawbacks. However we’re excited to see Apple’s try, which is predicted to launch later this yr as a part of iOS 19 and an AirPods firmware replace.
Whether or not this function will probably be obtainable within the first variations of iOS 19 is unclear, however we’d be very stunned if Apple doesn’t spill among the particulars at WWDC this June.
Foundry
4. Probably the most highly effective Mac ever made
WWDC is named a software program occasion. However when Apple does resolve to launch some {hardware} in June, it doesn’t fiddle. It rolls out the large weapons.
The Mac Professional, the premium deluxe providing in Apple’s Mac line-up, was final up to date two years in the past: that was the M2 Extremely mannequin, introduced at WWDC 2023. It’s slower than the Mac Studio and never all that sooner than the maxxed-out MacBook Professional, so the following mannequin ought to function an M4 Extremely chip or one thing greater we haven’t seen earlier than, outclassing even the M4 Max MacBook Professional and Mac Studio fashions that presently sit on the prime quality. The Mac Professional is the mannequin to ship unrivalled energy for the inventive skilled customers whom Apple has often uncared for, so saving it for a grand WWDC entrance is sensible.
The Mac Professional doesn’t get up to date as usually as different Apple merchandise, and it’s potential we’ll have to attend till later in 2025. But when the M4 Extremely Mac Professional does flip up at WWDC, it’ll immediately be the star of the present.
5. The Mac’s new Imaginative and prescient
Talking of the Mac… Apple is definite to announce macOS 16 at WWDC 2025, and like iOS 19, it’s anticipated to function a completely redesigned interface. Sources counsel macOS will take its visible cues from Imaginative and prescient Professional, Apple’s groundbreaking mixed-reality headset, as the corporate seems to be to realize extra of a constant UI throughout platforms. It is going to be fascinating to see how this fusion between Apple’s oldest and youngest product strains shakes out.
Apple
6. Information about new Siri
Arguably the weakest factor in Apple’s ecosystem, and positively its highest-profile failure, is the lamentably inaccurate voice assistant Siri. An astonishing 14 years after it launched with the iPhone 4s, Siri reveals no signal of getting any higher, and typically appears to be getting worse.
Eventually yr’s WWDC, Apple promised to repair Siri by deploying the magic of Apple Intelligence. However the arrival of the brand new AI-powered Siri retains getting delayed; it didn’t seem in March’s iOS 18.4 replace as anticipated, and even in Could’s iOS 18.5. Hopefully, Apple could have some information for us in June, as a result of Siri actually must get higher at its job.
And whereas we’re on the sore subject of Siri, we’d recognize some (ideally lifelike) bulletins concerning the model of Siri after the brand new one: the “true modernized, conversational model” which is often known as LLM Siri. New Siri was imagined to be a part of iOS 18, and LLM Siri a part of iOS 19, however delays compound on delays and the entire thing retains getting pushed again. I’m excited to see these enhancements, Apple, however please tell us what’s occurring.
7. Honesty
And that leads me to the only factor I need most from WWDC25: pure, unfiltered honesty concerning the state of play at Cupertino. What’s been going incorrect since final yr? Why have so many initiatives been delayed? And is Apple Intelligence actually as far behind different AI platforms because it appears to be?
This may appear to be a determined lengthy shot. The reality at a advertising occasion, what a whimsical notion! However Apple has some kind right here. When Apple Maps suffered disastrous teething pains, Apple admitted this and apologized. When inventive professionals had been uncared for, as I discussed earlier, Apple admitted this and apologized. There’s a likelihood, albeit a slim one, that we’ll get some form of mea culpa at WWDC.
Each firm makes errors. Asserting Apple Intelligence lengthy earlier than it was prepared, after which promoting iPhone 16 handsets off the again of options that gained’t have launched by the point the iPhone 17 comes out, was an enormous one, nevertheless it doesn’t should smash Apple’s status. The treatment is honesty. Clarify what went incorrect and why. Then be utterly clear concerning the options that can really be prepared in time for the iPhone 17. Confidence will return–however not if the spin and bluster proceed.
That’s my want listing for WWDC 2025. Be part of us on June 9 to see how a lot Apple delivers, and to learn our protection of all of the bulletins.