All eyes will be on Apple this week as it kicks off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company could announce updates to its artificial intelligence technology.
Held annually at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, the conference is an opportunity for Apple to unveil its latest products and services as well as tout new advances. This year’s event, which starts Monday with a keynote address from CEO Tim Cook and runs through to June 13, is expected to attract thousands of developers and virtual attendees, all eager to see what the tech giant has on tap for the coming year.
Apple did not respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment. The company is expected to announce updates to its mobile operating system and to Apple Intelligence, which analysts say has lagged behind competitors’ AI offerings.
What new features is Apple expected to roll out?
Although analysts don’t expect any blockbuster reveals from Apple this week, they are looking for refinements in Apple Intelligence, the AI features offered on the iPhone, iPad and other devices. Apple announced new AI integrations for Siri at last year’s conference, but the full suite of upgrades for the voice assistant have yet to take effect.
“It’s just taking a bit longer than we thought,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a call with Wall Street analysts. “But we are making progress, and we’re extremely excited to get the more personal Siri features out there.”
In a research note, Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives noted that the Apple Intelligence rollout has been slower than expected, But also estimates that over the next few years, 25% of the world population will access AI through an Apple-powered device. At this wee’s event, Apple is likely to provide updates on Siri’s integration with two major AI platforms, Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to Ives.
Apple is also expected announce a new — and more straightforward — nomenclature for its operating system. For example, rather than iOS 19, the operating system introduced in 2025 would be called iOS 26 to align with the coming year. The latest iOS is slated to be released as a free update in September.
“While many on [Wall] Street are heading into WWDC as underwhelming given the slower-than-expected rollout of Apple Intelligence, we disagree with this bearish narrative and strongly believe this will be the start of AI monetization period of the Apple ecosystem as the company will continue to lay the foundation through its new operating system updates across Mac, iOS, iPad and others with its ’26” update,'” Ives said.
The look and feel of Apple’s operating system interface could also get a facelift. The redesign, called “Liquid Glass,” will have the “sheen and see-through visuals of a glassy surface,” according to Bloomberg.
contributed to this report.
