Apple employees are concerned that next week’s Worldwide Developer Conference will be a “letdown,” as there won’t be any significant artificial intelligence-related announcements. Instead, Apple will focus on the revamp of its operating systems, including the new naming convention.
“People within the company believe that the conference may be a letdown from an AI standpoint,” said Apple insider Mark Gurman for Bloomberg.
In addition, new devices aren’t expected to be announced at WWDC 2025. The next hardware lineup, featuring iPhones and Apple Watches, isn’t arriving until autumn.
What to expect at WWDC 2025
While not groundbreaking AI, Apple has some announcements up its sleeve for the conference, starting with a complete operating system overhaul for all its devices. The new, more modern look will be called “Solarium” and will be based on the current design for visionOS. Each operating system will adopt a new naming convention based on the year of release, meaning iOS 26 could be coming next.
According to Gurman, by naming each system after the following year, Apple hopes to give itself more flexibility to roll out updates that remain relevant, especially as it plans to do so more frequently going forward. Gurman added that the company wants all its platforms to be aligned with a “futuristic” look to “convince users it’s an AI player and shift the conversation away from the technology itself.”
macOS 26 is slated to be named macOS Tahoe, after Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada. Gurman said the lake’s mirror-like reflection of the blue sky and mountains is a nod to the system’s new visuals.
New gaming app
In addition, Apple plans to unveil a new centralised gaming app that will come pre-installed in its operating systems. From here, users will be able to launch games, view leaderboards, and chat with other players, while the macOS 26 version will even host games sold outside the App Store. Gurman says that this app is unlikely to disrupt the gaming industry too much, as “when (players) want to network with other players, they have much better options” from the likes of Sony or Xbox.
While he doesn’t personally agree, Gurman also said that some have suspected this is a way of reducing reliance on the App Store to appease regulators. The EU has taken issue with how Apple’s own app marketplace restricts competition from third parties in the past.
SEE: Apple Faces New Penalties as EU Publishes Full Antitrust Decision
Foundation model access
Some of the WWDC announcements will be AI-related, as it will be used to improve battery optimisation, Siri’s conversational abilities, and offer live translation with AirPods. Additionally, third-party app developers will be given access to Apple’s models, but Gurman said these are still far less powerful than the cloud-based ones used by OpenAI and Apple in-house.
SEE: How to Use AI in Business from TechRepublic Premium
Apple’s lagged in AI innovation
So far, Apple has struggled to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Google in the AI arena. When Apple Intelligence launched last year, notably later than the iPhone 16, it proved to be “more branding than breakthrough,” Gurman said. Its main features included Genmoji and Priority Notifications, but these felt rather outdated compared to the powerful multimodal capabilities of GPT-4o and agentic offerings of Gemini 2.0 Flash.
Since then, OpenAI has partnered with Apple’s former chief design officer, Jony Ive, to lead the design of its upcoming hardware project of a potential AI-powered iPhone competitor. Google is allowing Gemini access to personal data for AI Mode in Search to deliver users more relevant results, a feature Apple has yet to release with Siri.
Apple reluctant to make too many AI promises prematurely
More AI innovations are in the pipeline, too, such as augmented reality glasses and a revamped Health app with a virtual wellness coach, though these are not expected until 2026. Gurman said Apple is also working on a ChatGPT competitor that can pull data from the web, dubbed “Knowledge” by employees; however, he has been told “it’s already been plagued by some of the same problems that delayed the Siri overhaul.”
While any of these features could be previewed at WWDC 2025, Apple is reluctant to make announcements prematurely. After all, many of the Apple Intelligence features boasted at 2024’s conference did not land until much later, and Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that it misled iPhone 16 buyers with promises of AI-powered Siri features that are yet to materialise.
