Swift programmers can mark their calendars for a date of updates, and so too might the general public, because Apple normally has more than code changes for WWDC.
A few months into the new year, it can be all too easy to forget that the middle of the year is just around the corner.
In just a few months, you can expect the colder season to bring with it end of financial year sales, end of financial year tax scams, oh and this thing Apple calls the “Worldwide Developers Conference”, also known as WWDC.
While the event is typically mostly for programmers building apps for Apple’s ecosystem of products, the maker of the iPhone also typically makes the event more than just about the changes to its programming languages, too, with new tech and previews of what you can expect.
And this year, Apple plans to host WWDC back as an in-person event on June 5 in California, also known as June 6 in Australia.
This Swift developer is hoping for some updates in Xcode, but we suspect everyone else will be interested in the hardware and software side of things.
Often, there are hints in Apple’s invite images, but this time around, it appears to be more a focus of the in-person element, with a picture that is clearly the building at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, just made in a more artistic style made to be ultra-wide.
So without the hints from an image, this June, what can you expect from the more consumer friendly side of WWDC?
New macOS, new iOS
The most obvious update will be operating systems, because that always happens.
Come June 2023, you can expect to hear what iOS 17 will offer iPhone owners, and what iPadOS 17 will deliver to the various assortment of iPads you can find about them place.
Part of the update could see Siri endowed with some artificial intelligence, spurred on by the recent rise of AI tools out there, and possibly pushed by the amount of power Apple’s Neural Engine has in each of its phone, laptop, and tablet processors. You can find Neural processing tech inside Apple Silicon, so putting that to good use with Siri could make sense.
MacOS would likely be in the same boat, with updates to how you can use your computer coming from the next version, also expected to be announced at WWDC 23.
New Macs
You might want to expect a new Mac or two, as well.
While it doesn’t seem all that long since the Apple M2 arrived, and the M2 MacBook Pro 13 and M2 MacBook Air with it, both of those models were launched at Apple WWDC 2022, which bodes well for a WWDC 2023 intro for the M3.
We probably don’t technically need a new super fast Apple chip — the M2 is already quite powerful, and good luck flexing it to the point where it struggles! — but we still might see a new one this year.
So you might want to expect an Apple M3 at WWDC 2023, and possibly a new MacBook Air with it.
If we see a new 13 inch Air, there’s a neat rumour suggesting we’ll also see a 15 inch Air for folks who like thin computers to be big, as well.
And there’s also an ageing-but-still-good M1 iMac that could do with an update any time now, too, not to mention the Mac Pro.
A hint of Apple AR/VR efforts
Rumoured on the cards for way, way, way too longer, we’re generally expecting to see some glimpse of what Apple is building for its augmented reality and virtual reality efforts.
Whether you call this category “mixed reality” or not, it’s been known for some time that Apple is building something for the category, and a developer showcase is the perfect place to show it off, so to speak.
Developer conferences are where developers congregate and burst out ideas, but it’s also the time for them to ask questions about how they can build for those gadgets, making it a suitable time to talk AR, VR, and MR, if Apple does have something waiting in the wings.
We did mention that the WWDC preview image is very wide, and while it’s clearly Apple Park, it could also be a nod to the Apple headset. Imagery from behind a VR headset tends to be quite wide, so this could be a subtle nod to what we can expect.
