Latest news with #FrontPageTech
Engadget
2 days ago
- Engadget
WWDC 2025: What we expect Apple to reveal including new iOS, macOS, Apple Intelligence and more
Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with its 2025 software. That includes — deep breath — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS. Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features. The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset. According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen. One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS. Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with a flat, minimalistic look. Minus some iterative changes, it's still the UI you see today. Along with the big visual refresh, Apple is also rumored to be changing how it names its operating systems. Instead of having random version numbers at the end, the company is apparently planning to unify the names by year — so iOS 19 would become iOS 26, as it'll be Apple's platform for the coming year. The same goes for all of Apple's other software, so we're looking at iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and so forth. Of course, it goes without saying that macOS should still get a California-themed name; hopefully Apple won't be throwing that tradition in the bin just yet. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations. (Especially when they switched to M-series chips.) But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both. The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management. It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?) Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones. Remember when Apple promised a more personalized Siri at last year's conference? The one that many wished would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company told Daring Fireball , "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one. A report from The Information last month hinted that the upgraded Siri was nowhere near ready. The 2024 demo, where Siri condensed minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.) Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push. The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in a seamless flow. It recorded a specific type of video in a third-party app. It shared a meeting summary via email with a teammate. And it found missing information the user remembered reading... somewhere . It even controlled system settings and explained them when needed. The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025. According to Bloomberg , the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant. Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone. It can then use that to make power-saving adjustments on the fly. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty. It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical. Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope. Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor. The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos. In March, Bloomberg 's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC. Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman is predicting that Apple will introduce a centralized, pre-installed app for gaming on the Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. It'll include some of the features in the long-neglected Game Center service like leaderboards and matchmaking and pair them with a dedicated game launcher and editorial content including recommendations —including a push towards the Apple Arcade service. It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar. Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.) Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas to arrive after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall. While Apple's developer conference will be jam-packed if they serve up even a fraction of the expectations above, there are a few things we can pretty confidently take off the board, too. With the possible exception of the Mac Pro, nearly all of Apple's hardware lines have either just finished an upgrade cycle (consumer Macs, most iPads) or are going to get updated in the fall as usual (iPhone, Apple Watch). As such, we're not expecting any major hardware announcements. Apple has talked about the Mac Pro at past WWDC events, but that computer is updated so infrequently that it's hard to say with any confidence that we'll see any changes.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
WWDC 2025: What we expect Apple to reveal including new iOS, macOS, Apple Intelligence and more
Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with its 2025 software. That includes — deep breath — iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19 and visionOS 3. Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features. The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset. According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen. One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS. Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with a flat, minimalistic look. Minus some iterative changes, it's still the UI you see today. Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations. (Especially when they switched to M-series chips.) But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both. The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management. It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?) Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones. Remember when Apple promised a more personalized Siri at last year's conference? The one that many wished would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company toldDaring Fireball, "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one. A report from The Information last month hinted that the upgraded Siri was nowhere near ready. The 2024 demo, where Siri condensed minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.) Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push. The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in a seamless flow. It recorded a specific type of video in a third-party app. It shared a meeting summary via email with a teammate. And it found missing information the user remembered reading... somewhere. It even controlled system settings and explained them when needed. The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025. According to Bloomberg, the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant. Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone. It can then use that to make power-saving adjustments on the fly. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty. It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical. Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope. Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor. The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos. In March, Bloomberg's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is predicting that Apple will introduce a centralized, pre-installed app for gaming on the Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. It'll include some of the features in the long-neglected Game Center service like leaderboards and matchmaking and pair them with a dedicated game launcher and editorial content including recommendations —including a push towards the Apple Arcade service. It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar. Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.) Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas to arrive after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall. While Apple's developer conference will be jam-packed if they serve up even a fraction of the expectations above, there are a few things we can pretty confidently take off the board, too. With the possible exception of the Mac Pro, nearly all of Apple's hardware lines have either just finished an upgrade cycle (consumer Macs, most iPads) or are going to get updated in the fall as usual (iPhone, Apple Watch). As such, we're not expecting any major hardware announcements. Apple has talked about the Mac Pro at past WWDC events, but that computer is updated so infrequently that it's hard to say with any confidence that we'll see any changes.
Tom's Guide
24-05-2025
- Tom's Guide
We're just weeks away from an iOS 19 preview — these are the 5 rumored changes I'm looking forward to
Apple sending out a Save the Date reminder for its WWDC 2025 keynote on June 9 just drives home the realization that we're just weeks away from getting our first look at iOS 19 in the form of a preview at the annual developer conference. And this figures to be a more significant iPhone software reveal than most. By all accounts, Apple is planning a major overhaul of how its iPhone software looks with iOS 19, marking the most significant change to the interface since iOS 7. On top of that, there's Apple's ongoing push to integrate more features powered by artificial intelligence into its products, so we can expect an Apple Intelligence update to come with iOS 19 as well. Change can be unsettling, but it can also be exciting. And while we only have rumors to go by for now, these are the potential iOS 19 changes that I want to hear more about when Apple shows off this year's iOS update next month. I like to compare OS updates to re-arranging the furniture in your house. You want changes that improve the flow of the room, and not ones that have you tripping over the ottoman. Given the chatter around iOS 19, there's a risk that it could feature more of the latter kind of changes, as it sounds like Apple is really mixing things up with this update. That's not necessarily a bad thing, given that the goal is to apparently make the software running on your phone, tablet and Mac feel like a more seamless experience. As someone very immersed in the Apple ecosystem of products, I should benefit from that, even if there are a few growing pains. And from the looks of the iOS 19 concepts that have surfaced in recent months, iOS 19 is going to take some getting used to. While there's some dispute over how accurately these screens reflect what Apple plans on releasing, we could be in for a big leap from iOS 18 to iOS 19. I admit that it's hard for me to wrap my head around interface changes until they're actually on a phone screen in front of me, but so far, two potential iOS 19 interface updates stand out to me — the relocated search bar and translucent control panels. In iOS 18, when you want to search for something in an app like Messages, Music or Settings, you'll find the search bar near the top of the screen. But Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech has posted iOS 19 mock-ups with the search bar at the bottom. The move would make sense, as it puts the search bar down where you already do most of your typing, making it easier to operate your iPhone with one hand. It would also match a move Apple made a few iOSes ago that put the search bar in Safari at the bottom of the screen. The rumor of translucent menus also comes from Prosser's mock-ups, specifically of the Camera app. The menus for the camera controls appear translucent, and that frees up more room for the view finder on the iPhone screen. The thing I like about both of these rumored changes is that they would make using the iPhone feel more natural and more convenient. Those are the kind of interface enhancements I'm hoping to see in iOS 19, not just change for change's sake. I use my iPhone to track my steps and how much I move each day — it's really helped me take charge of my health through a mixture of gamification and stats that show my slow and steady progress over time. But, boy, is the Fitness app dumb. Here's an example. The Fitness app likes to send out reminders each day, encouraging me to meet my daily move goal. Hey, fair enough — every bit of motivation helps. But last month, on a family vacation, I spent a day moving farther and for longer than I ever did before — we're talking a dozen miles in a single day. The Fitness app's response? A notification the next morning urging me to do it again today. That's not particularly encouraging, nor does it seem to recognize the concept of rest days. I'd like to see the way Apple deals with health and fitness on its mobile devices get more refined. And I could get my wish in iOS 19. Reportedly, Apple is working on an AI health coaching feature for the software update that will be able to formulate more personalized recommendations on ways to bolster your health; there may also be a food-tracking component. It sounds as if the health coach feature would draw on data collected from an Apple Watch — a bummer for me since I'm not a watcher wearer. But I'll be interested to see if this feature, should it be part of the iOS 19 update, can lead to less generic exhortations to exercise more. iOS 19 could bring about other improvements we'll file under the category of Improved Convenience. For starters, there's reports that iOS 19 will streamline the process of signing on to Wi-Fi networks by remembering details you fill in the first time you log on to a network and sharing them across your many Apple devices. That way, you don't have to go through the same rigamarole each time you join that network. Another convenience booster, this one powered by AI, would improve battery management on your iPhone. According to reports, the feature would gather up user data on iPhone usage to figure out the apps that can be deprioritized. This would save power, helping your phone last longer. Both sound like fine additions to me, and I hope that Apple doesn't stop there. If I were to fire up my Phone app right now and tap on the Recents tab, I'd see that eight of the last 10 calls to my number have been robocalls and spammers. The Send to Voicemail feature on iOS does a good job banishing some of those calls to the land of wind and ghosts, but I'd like to see Apple develop something like Google's Call Assist feature, where a digital assistant can give spammers the bum's rush, without me ever having to get involved. Stop me if you've heard this before, but iOS 19 is going to give Siri an AI makeover, so that the digital assistant on your iPhone is not only smarter, but more proactive, as it will be able to recognize what's on your phone's screen and act upon it. It's part of making Siri more aware of your context, so that its recommendations are more personalized and its behavior more proactive. Oh, wait — you did hear that before. You heard it when we were doing this a year ago with the iOS 18 preview, as a matter of fact. Well, obviously that didn't come to pass with Apple acknowledging that whipping Siri into shape required more work than it anticipated. But apparently, iOS 19 will be the release that finally gets Siri moving toward a more AI-driven future, even if that doesn't happen at the precise moment that a full iOS 19 release is ready in the fall. I'm eager to see if Apple provides a more definitive roadmap for Siri improvements — I think it owes iPhone users that much after its iOS 18 preview more or less suggested that these yet-to-occur changes were a done deal. And since WWDC 2025 is a developers conference, I'd like to hear more about the challenges Apple is facing with updating Siri and how it plans to overcome them. This year's WWDC keynote will mark the first anniversary of Apple's initial Apple Intelligence preview, which we learned about at WWDC 2024 prior to its rollout with the iOS 18.1 update in the fall. It's fair to say it's been a year of peaks and valleys for Apple's AI efforts, beyond even the delay with Siri improvements. The fact of the matter is that apart from a few standout examples — I'm a fan of the email summaries feature and Visual Intelligence has been a nice addition — the early Apple Intelligence features haven't been game-changers. I don't ever turn to the Writing Assistant tools, and after early explorations of things like Memory Movies and Image Playground, I go long stretches without ever opening those apps. Yet, I want to here about Act II for Apple Intelligence, which apparently involves Apple integrating AI into more apps on the iPhone. There's also talk that new developer tools will let app makers incorporate their own AI features. Apple is going to be hard-pressed to catch up to the more polished AI features that Google and Samsung include on their phones. But WWDC 2025 and the iOS 19 preview are going to be the chance for the company to detail how it's going to try to close that gap.
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Apple WWDC 2025 on June 9: iOS 19's transparent overhaul, iPadOS upgrades, and more we expect
Now that Google I/O 2025 is done and dusted, the next major event that is on the horizon is Apple's WWDC 2025, which is confirmed for June 9. Apple could be planning a big revamp for its platforms, especially iOS. Industry insiders are saying that this could be the biggest iOS update since the iOS 7 redesign that happened more than a decade ago. Having said that, here's all we expect, based on reports so far. Earlier this year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 19 could get a big redesign, and it would be the biggest since iOS 7, which was launched alongside the iPhone 5S in is said that iOS could now feature more transparent elements, just like VisionOS that powers Apple's mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro. Now, it should be noted that this visual redesign is expected to extend to other Apple platforms as well, including iPadOS and macOS, so that there's a visual uniformity across the board. Some other insiders and YouTubers like Front Page Tech have communicated that Apple may even round the corners of the icons on the home screen and on the Control Center. It goes without saying that the iPad is a powerful tool for creatives, especially graphic designers and people who like to illustrate and work on digital art, alongside being a powerful media consumption device. Well, Apple has, over the years, added several conveniences and tools like Final Cut Pro and more. And third-parties like Adobe have brought their respective versions of tools like Photoshop and Lightroom to iPad as well, but it's still not the full-fledged Mac experience. While reports do suggest that the iPad will get more capable this year, it won't fully switch to a Mac-like experience because that would certainly cannibalise Mac sales for Apple. It is expected to get a major productivity boost alongside improvements to multitasking and more. The tipster known as Majin Bu on X is also saying that iPadOS 19 may finally debut a macOS-style menu bar and Stage Manager 2.0 with support for the Magic Keyboard. He also said that iOS 19 could support external displays with USB-C iPhones. Bloomberg reported that Apple could actually announce that its AI models will go open to third-party developers at WWDC. This will allow a myriad of possibilities for developers, including a host of on-device features without having the need to bundle dedicated AI models with their products. In simpler terms, developers might be able to use Apple Intelligence to power their own apps instead of relying on another AI model. This does fit the bill when it comes to how Apple does things. It would want apps to use its own AI tech instead of relying on third parties, as this not only improves privacy, which could also help with the optimisation Apple is certainly known for. MOBILE FINDER: iPhone 16 LATEST Price, Specs And More
Engadget
22-05-2025
- Engadget
What to expect at WWDC 2025: A new look, Apple Intelligence and more
Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with — deep breath — iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19 and visionOS 3. Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features. The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset. According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen. One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS. Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with the flat, minimalistic look that (minus some iterative changes) the company's software still uses today. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations (especially when they switched to M-series chips). But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both. The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management. It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?) Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones. Remember when Apple promised a more personalized, Apple Intelligence-infused Siri at last year's conference? The one that many of us wish would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company told Daring Fireball , "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one. A report last month from The Information hinted that the upgraded Siri may not have been as far along internally as Apple's 2024 presentation suggested. The demo, where Siri used Apple Intelligence to condense minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as something of a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.) Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push. The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing and can take appropriate actions. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in striking, multi-step requests. It responded to requests like recording a specific video in a third-party app, sharing a meeting summary in an email draft to a teammate or locating missing information you remember reading somewhere. It could even control system settings or spit out support documents explaining how they work. The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025. According to Bloomberg , the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant. Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone and make power-saving adjustments on the fly. The feature would analyze your data to predict when to lower the power draw from apps or device features. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty. It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical. Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope. Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor. The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos. In March, Bloomberg 's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC. It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar. Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.) Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas for the new software to become available after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall.
