Live updates: Apple WWDC event to kick off with keynote, iPhone and iOS announcements
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Title: Another Apple and Google partnership?
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Google already partners with Apple to make its search engine the default in its Safari web browser, a deal that's been at the center of the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google.
But Apple has reportedly been in talks with Google to incorporate its Gemini AI model into the iPhone since last year, according to reports from The New York Times and Bloomberg. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in courtroom testimony in April that the company hopes to reach a deal with Apple this year, according to Reuters. However, Bloomberg reports such an announcement won't come at WWDC this year.
Still, Apple has previously announced partnerships like this at WWDC. Last year, for example, it revealed a collaboration with OpenAI that incorporates ChatGPT into Siri. Apple's visual intelligence feature, which uses the iPhone's camera to provide information about a user's surroundings, also uses Google and OpenAI's technologies.
Integrating Gemini into the iPhone would likely allow Apple to rely on Google's models to power some of its features, potentially giving users more choice and enabling the iPhone maker to offer new functionality more quickly.
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Title: Will your iPhone support the new software?
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Apple's new software updates are usually available for iPhones that are six to seven years old. That's because hardware limitations likely make it challenging for aging devices to run the new software properly.
The oldest phones that support iOS 18, the current version of Apple's iPhone software, are the iPhone XS, XS Max and iPhone XR, which launched in 2018. If Apple decides to stop supporting those devices with this year's update, users may need an iPhone 11 or later to upgrade to the latest software.
That doesn't mean older iPhones will stop functioning, but users won't be able to install the update. As a result, they'll miss out on new functions and may be vulnerable to security risks.
Apple Intelligence requires even newer devices; the technology is only supported on the iPhone 15 Pro and later because those devices have more powerful processors. Wall Street had hoped that Apple Intelligence would serve as a catalyst for driving iPhone upgrades for this reason, although consumers aren't buying new iPhones for AI just yet, said Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at tech analysis firm Creative Strategies.
'I do believe that at the end of the day, AI is going to make it easier for everybody to use their devices,' she said.
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Title: A new look for the iPhone's software
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One of the biggest changes, according to Bloomberg, will be a software redesign across all of Apple's products. That means the iPhone's software might look and feel much different in the fall, when Apple typically rolls out the final version of its new operating system.
The redesign is inspired by the Vision Pro's software, the report says. That could provoke mixed reactions from iPhone owners, said Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at tech analysis firm Creative Strategies. Some consumers were upset with Apple's decision to reorganize the iPhone's Photos app last year, for example.
'Consumers are creatures of habit,' Milanesi said. 'And change is always resisted before it's embraced.'
Changes like these, while not as flashy as a new iPhone, are important because they bring new functionality to the billions of Apple devices in use worldwide without requiring users to buy new hardware.
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Title: What to expect at WWDC this year
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The past two WWDC events have been milestones for Apple, marking expansions into new areas like generative artificial intelligence and mixed reality. This year's event, however, is expected to be more muted.
Apple typically introduces sweeping new software updates for its major products at WWDC: the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods and Vision Pro. This year, those updates could include a major software redesign for the iPhone and other products, more translation features, a tool that uses AI to manage the iPhone's battery life and an upgrade to the Messages app that makes it more like WhatsApp, according to Bloomberg.
Apple may also rebrand the name of its new software for each product to correspond with the coming year, the report says. For example, instead of going from iOS 18 to iOS 19, the company is expected to call its next iPhone update iOS 26. That could provide more continuity across products, given that software version numbers currently differ across platforms.
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Title: The big question: What's next for Apple Intelligence?
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Last year, Apple made its long-awaited push into AI with the introduction of Apple Intelligence.
But it's faced hurdles since then; Apple Intelligence wasn't ready in time for the iPhone 16's launch last fall. The company delayed its revamped version of Siri that incorporates data from a person's iPhone to answer questions – a factor that could be key in separating it from rival AI helpers. And it pulled AI-generated summaries of Apple News notifications earlier this year after displaying inaccurate headlines.
The bigger issue is that Apple's current AI tools don't offer experiences that are notably different from what you can get elsewhere.
Now, at WWDC, Apple will show how its AI efforts have progressed over the past year.
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