At the biggest WWDC ever, wearables will finally steal the show

After months of rumor and speculation, Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is just around the corner. In a few days, all those rumors and speculations will finally be answered, and we can make way for… new rumors and speculations. (Then at least it will be based on things we actually have seen.)

But as we enjoy our last hurricane hurricane of news and updates, it’s time to take a look at exactly what to expect when Apple executives show up (in an undoubtedly slick video) at Apple Park next week, and what’s likely to happen next week. don’t tie the knot.

NB

They say where there’s smoke there’s fire, and if that’s true then the Apple mixed reality headset must be molten lava. (And not just because the processors are likely to give off a lot of heat.) This will be the first major new platform to be introduced by the company since the Apple Watch in 2014, and discussions about what it will look like, how much it will cost, whether it will be in will be able to succeed where others fail, and even what Apple will call it, have all reigned supreme.

But leaving that aside for a moment, I think it’s worth noting that a new platform from Apple is actually quite rare. Yes, the company has introduced them at a rapid pace over the last 15 years – the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple TV, the Apple Watch – but it doesn’t happen every year or even every few years. Apple only puts so much weight behind something it believes has a market opportunity. This is not a company that got where it is by putting products on the market against will.

Also important is that Apple can afford, perhaps more than any other technology company, to play the long game. In some ways, it can’t even afford that not play the long game: the iPhone is a blockbuster product, and maybe there’s nothing else like this in my life, but just in case is, Apple must be there. Sooner or later something will succeed the iPhone, and if Apple isn’t the one developing it, a big chunk of its revenue will disappear.

It’ll be very interesting, come next week, to see Apple pitch its headset; keep a close eye out or, in a rare move, talk about where the puck is going with this product instead of just where it is now.

Watch and learn

Rumor has it that Apple last big new platform is in need of a refresh after nearly a decade on the scene. WatchOS is expected to receive a major overhaul this year at this year’s WWDC, and it looks like it’s time (no pun intended) for the company to make another splash in this most personal of wearables.

After nine years of collecting data on how people use the smartwatch, this is a reasonable opportunity to explore ways to improve the experience. A rumor suggests that watchOS 10 will take a widget-centric approach, using the same technology that powers existing widgets on iOS and iPadOS.

Foundry

That idea is not accurate new to the Apple Watch: Early in the product’s life, the company had a concept called Glances that was for very basic “apps” on one screen. While the feature ultimately fell by the wayside, the recent adoption of widgets on Apple’s other platforms could also make that a more compelling option on the watch, allowing developers to easily port work they’ve done on iOS and iPadOS to the smartwatch. As someone who only uses a few apps (few of which require more than one screen), this could really help streamline the use of the Apple Watch.

The best of the rest

With much of the keynote likely devoted to the headset and watchOS, it’s anyone’s guess how much time the rest of Apple’s platforms will get. Don’t expect them to be completely ignored, though: WWDC is Apple’s chance to talk about the year ahead for all of its products.

Given the trajectory of WWDC presentations over the past few years, it seems most likely that we’ll see more about new features coming to Apple devices at the same time, for example an Apple app for logging, as well as a few capabilities specific to each device .

That could include features like lock screen widgets coming to iPadOS 17 or a new rumored “status board” iOS 17 lock screen capability. However, little is available for both macOS and tvOS, suggesting it could be a quiet year for some of Apple’s smaller platforms.

Finally, there is always the issue of hardware. Aside from the headset for now — even if the demonstration at WWDC probably won’t go on sale for the next few months — there are two Mac models that could show up at the event: a 15-inch MacBook Air, which will likely show up just being a larger version of the existing 13-inch version, and the Apple silicon-based Mac Pro, which Apple teased in March 2022 but has yet to unveil.

The latter seems like a particularly appropriate announcement for a developer-focused audience, but given the lack of rumors in the supply chain, it seems unlikely to ship in the foreseeable future. By comparison, the 15-inch Air is supposedly ready to go, but seems like a less exciting product to spend a significant portion of the keynote on.

And of course, Apple always leaves room for surprises. Personally, I’ve got my fingers crossed for small announcements that improve the quality of life across all of Apple’s devices: using a random emoji for tapbacks in Messages, or improving autocorrect, or even making Mail more responsive. If it’s a smaller year for Apple’s other platforms, the company could do worse than making small tweaks that could make a big difference.