What to expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024

Every year, Apple’s WWDC comes third after Google’s I/O and Microsoft’s Build developer conferences, and Apple has hardly ever needed to announce a product in response. This time, however, things are different.

Over the past month, Apple’s biggest rivals presented bold plans for AI, with Google showing its latest Gemini models and Microsoft revealing powerful Copilot features like Recall. Now, Apple has to step up to the plate and show that it isn’t far behind in bringing its customers useful generative AI experiences.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference starts on Monday, June 10th with a presentation at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Here’s what you can expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote.

At WWDC, Apple is rumored to infuse its operating systems with AI — with Siri being the focal point. According to Bloomberg, Apple has reworked Siri using large language models to help it better understand what users want and better respond to their queries. The new version of Siri will reportedly be able to take actions for you inside of Apple’s own apps, potentially making the assistant far more capable than it is today.

Apple is apparently going to brand the AI features as “Apple Intelligence” and build them in throughout its apps, Bloomberg reports. Other AI features might include AI summaries of messages and webpages and real-time transcriptions in Notes and Voice Memos, according to Apple Insider. A custom emoji generator is in the cards, and the Photos app will reportedly let you use AI to remove objects and people from images.

Apple is also said to have looked into third-party partnerships to bolster its AI prowess. The company was reportedly talking to Google and Anthropic, but it sounds like the one deal it’s locked down is with OpenAI, which recently showed off a powerful personal assistant-like conversation feature for ChatGPT. Some sort of ChatGPT-like chatbot is now headed to Apple’s devices, according to Bloomberg.

Apple is finally adopting Rich Communication Services (RCS) as the default fallback for iMessage, and we will likely see it arrive as part of iOS 18. This means that, soon, iPhone and Android users can set aside their blue and green bubble differences and instead send each other longer text messages and higher-quality photos — hopefully all while remaining end-to-end encrypted, too.

Apple had previously ignored Google’s (sometimes cringey) pleas to adopt RCS and let go of the age-old and privacy-lacking SMS fallback. It took some regulatory pressure to get Apple to rethink its stance. As for the green bubbles, they will stick around. But they will be good green bubbles.

At long last, Apple may finally let users arrange apps to their liking. MacRumors reports that you’ll finally be able to leave blank spaces between apps in iOS 18. And Bloomberg has reported that Apple will integrate a theming system into the OS, letting you recolor icons to match each other.

As part of operating system updates for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and beyond, Apple is also expected to debut new and enhanced versions of its built-in apps. Rumors point to the Calculator app getting a refresh and finally debuting on the iPad, a password manager launching across Apple’s platforms, and redesigns coming to Apple’s messy Settings and Control Center screens.

Apple’s redesigned iPad Pro launched in May with a new AI-focused M4 chip — marking the first time an M-series chip did not come first to a Mac. I’m not going to debate what a computer is, but I’d wager we’ll see M4 chips in Macs soon. Apple’s MacBooks are all offered with M3 chips, while the Mac Studio and Mac Pro continue to lag behind with M2 chips.

So far, though, there aren’t any rumors suggesting refreshed machines will show up at WWDC, so we may be waiting until later this year.