Attention, Apple fans! Next Monday night into Tuesday morning, Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is coming! At that time, we will stay up all night together to witness what cool upgrades the four major systems, iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, and MacOS, will usher in.
At last year's WWDC, Apple proudly announced its entry into AI, launched Apple Intelligence, and promised that Siri would become smarter and more humane. However, the ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny. A year has passed, and when Google, OpenAI, and even Microsoft's AI functions are advancing by leaps and bounds, Apple is still standing still. Siri answers even basic questions incorrectly, let alone understands natural language.
So, what real stuff will Apple bring out at this year's WWDC 2025? Can it fight a beautiful turnaround? Today, let's dig into the currently known leaked information for everyone.
Apple Intelligence: Don't Expect Too Much?
Let's start with Apple's most unwilling pain point – Apple Intelligence. At last year's WWDC, Apple showed Siri's various AI capabilities with full confidence. However, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, everyone should not have too high expectations for Apple Intelligence this year! Because even Apple's internal employees felt confused about those cool Siri demos last year, and many functions were not ready at all.
So, will Apple still make AI the protagonist this year? It doesn't seem likely. Instead, a more pragmatic strategy may be adopted:
- Open AI models to third-party developers: Allow them to add AI functions to their own Apps.
- Cooperate with AI manufacturers: Such as Google's Gemini, which may be directly integrated into iOS or MacOS systems in the future, making Siri smarter and providing a more natural and smooth dialogue experience and more powerful reasoning ability.
- AI integrated into life assistance tools: Such as battery management, instant translation, and other practical functions.
But to be honest, Apple Intelligence has not been opened to domestic users until now, so how much anticipation is there? Perhaps now, when everyone needs AI tools, the first choice is still ChatGPT or GROC.
Major iOS Interface Redesign: Return to Design Expertise!
Since there is no need to have too high expectations for Apple Intelligence, what new things does Apple plan to give everyone in software design this year? The answer is: a major redesign of the iOS interface!
Apple, which is temporarily behind in the AI battlefield, has chosen to return to its best design power this time, and will use a brand-new UI redesign to grab the media's attention and awaken everyone's freshness of the iPhone. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and the leaking god John Prosser, this iOS redesign is likely to be the largest since iOS 7!
Let's first review the major redesign of iOS 7: In 2013, Apple released iOS 7, which completely subverted the previous擬物化 design and turned into a simple and refreshing flat style. And 12 years later, Apple wants to reproduce this shocking redesign feeling again.
This new design language will be extended from Vision Pro's Vision OS, which is what we often call glass aesthetics and spatial UI. The overall interface will be more layered. Instead of simply arranging a few icons, there will be semi-transparent glass effects, floating menus, and a bit of three-dimensional design. For example, the menu that appears when you press and hold the App, and the menu bar of Apps such as Apple Music and Apple TV may be changed to a floating design instead of directly sticking to the bottom of the screen, a bit like the interface floating in the air of Vision Pro.
In addition to the changes in the overall line and surface design, the new iOS may also make some adjustments to the icons. It was originally rumored that the icons would be changed to the same circular design as Vision OS, but the later speculation may not be a perfect circle, but the corners of the current icons will be changed to be more rounded, and the spatial language design of Vision OS will be continued.
Not only the main interface and icons, but also the interface of the camera App will become more concise. The shutter, filter menu, and mode switching operation buttons below look like they are floating on the screen. The entire shooting screen will become cleaner, and the actual shooting composition space will not be obscured.
Functional Updates: AI-Powered, Practical First!
In addition to the major changes in appearance, there are also some things to look forward to in terms of iOS functions:
- AI integrated into battery management: The system will intelligently predict power consumption based on your usage habits and make power-saving adjustments and plans in advance. It is said that this function is specially designed for the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, because this model will be lighter and thinner, and the battery will also be smaller.
- AirPods instant translation: As long as you wear AirPods and turn on the translation mode, the iPhone can translate what the other person says into a language you understand in real time and play it to you through the headphones. What you say will also be translated into the other person's language simultaneously, allowing both parties to have a smooth conversation without having to gesticulate awkwardly. Moreover, this function is not just a simple voice-to-text conversion. It will also use Apple Intelligence technology to translate more natural and colloquial sentences based on the context of the conversation, and then read it to you in real time through AirPods.
- iPhone turns into desktop mode: As long as you connect a USB-C-enabled iPhone to a display, you can launch a feature similar to iPadOS's Stage Manager, with a multi-window operating interface. You can connect a keyboard and mouse, and the window can also be displayed in split screen.
iPadOS: Taking a Step Further Towards Productivity Tools!
The update goal of iPadOS this time is very clear: to make the iPad a real laptop for work. There are expected to be two major changes:
- Add Menu Bar: This is the menu bar that was previously seen on MacOS. When connecting a Magic Keyboard, the menu bar will automatically pop up at the top of the screen.
- Stage Manager function optimization: Windows can be adjusted more freely in size, and are no longer restricted by the system to move within fixed grid lines. The switching and overlapping between windows will also be more natural.
If both iPhone and iPad can move towards replacing computers, coupled with the glass aesthetics and spatial cold design this time, it may mean that Apple really wants to make the user experience of all devices more consistent, without the sense of fragmentation between different systems. Perhaps the boundaries between iPhone, iPad, and Mac will become increasingly blurred.
WWDC 2025 Hardware New Products: Is AirTag Going to Be Updated?
In addition to software updates, will there be new hardware products at this WWDC? There are currently three rumors:
| Product | Update Content |
|---|---|
| AirTag | Changed to U2 ultra-wideband chip, expanded tracking range, improved positioning accuracy, and made it more difficult to disassemble. |
| Smart Home Device | The appearance is similar to a small iPad, integrating the functions of HomeKit, Facetime, Apple TV, and Siri. |
| Mac Pro | M4 Ultra version (currently less likely because Mac Studio can already meet most high-end needs). |
iOS 19? No, Maybe iOS 26!
Finally, there is another interesting rumor: Apple may redefine the naming method of iOS this year. Originally, everyone thought that this update would be called iOS 19, but according to the current news, it is likely to skip the number directly and change the name to iOS 26!
Starting this year, Apple will uniformly rename the operating system version using the year. The biggest reason for not calling it iOS 25 but iOS 26 is that iOS is usually officially launched after the new iPhone is released in September, and the actual main usage time will fall in 2026.
This naming rule will also be applied to other systems simultaneously, so that the entire ecosystem finally has a consistent naming logic. In other words, we will see iOS 26, MacOS 26, WatchOS 26, and VisionOS 26 next, representing that these systems are versions launched for the 2026 year.
Okay, the above is a summary of the predictions for WWDC 2025. Of course, before Apple officially releases it, all the news is variable, so let's just treat it as a topic for our after-dinner conversation and use it to imagine what the future iOS might look like. All accurate information will have to wait until WWDC 2025 officially debuts, which is 1:00 am Beijing time on June 10th, to be finally revealed!