Lighter than normal WWDC expected without significant Apple Intelligence upgrades

AppleInsider

The upcoming WWDC keynote may not help raise the profile and functionality of Apple Intelligence much, with a report claiming Apple's AI announcements will be sparse, and disappointing.

Apple Intelligence shown off at WWDC 2024 - Image Credit: Apple

Following the introduction of Apple Intelligence at WWDC in 2024, the AI effort at Apple has endured an agonizingly slow and rocky rollout. While the 2025 event offers an opportunity for Apple to turn things around, a report offers little hope that Apple will do just that.

According to Sunday's "Power On" newsletter from Bloomberg, sources within Apple believe that WWDC will be a disappointment form an AI perspective. In the wake of the Google I/O keynote offering massive new AI features and advancements, WWDC could make Apple seem like it is falling behind the rest of the industry.

The 2025 WWDC is said to be somewhat smaller in scope compared to the 2023 and 2024 versions. However, there is the belief that after a year-long break, it will try hard to innovate for WWDC 2026.

This is a considerably risky move for Apple, or for any tech company to make. Especially when competitors are developing and introducing new technologies to increase an already massive perceived lead.

Few improvements

As for what Apple could end up demonstrating at WWDC 2025, the list is so far disappointingly small, if the report is to be believed.

The biggest and most consequential change should be the decision to open up Apple's Foundation Models to third-party app developers. Doing so will allow developers to use the same on-device processing and models for existing Apple Intelligence features, including image generation and text summarization.

Those models won't be as good as the cloud-based ones, with the local LLMs being at around 3 billion parameters. However, they would enable developers to perform on-device processing of queries.

Other AI features anticipated to launch include a new power management mode to more intelligently manage the battery of an iPhone. A Translate app update is also expected, which will leverage AirPods and Siri.

Rumor Score: Likely

Read on AppleInsider

blastdoor

I have now fully come around to agreeing that It’s time for Tim Cook to go. 

A lot of great things happened under his leadership, especially apple silicon in Macs, but the Apple car debacle and now the AI debacle are convincing me that Apple needs a “product guy” leading the firm again. 

blastdoor

When I first read that Apple executives wouldn’t be talking to John Gruber this year (https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/29/the-talk-show-live-tickets-2025) I interpreted it as a snub. But now I wonder if the Apple executives are just going into hiding. 

fred stein

Any thoughts or rumors on PCC? 

massiveattack

Why not skip WWDC2025 for first time?

Rotten Apple. 

If it is true, AAPL will tank again with a timid upgrade.. 
But iPhone has been boring since iPhone 12. 

The last exciting moment was iPhone X. 

libertyandfree

 Not surprising about the lack of much to say on Apple Intelligence at WWDC considering there was a recent reorg.  Better for Apple to not repeat what they did last year and instead concentrate on actually implementing great AI features. 

charlesn

blastdoor said:

I have now fully come around to agreeing that It’s time for Tim Cook to go. 

A lot of great things happened under his leadership, especially apple silicon in Macs, but the Apple car debacle and now the AI debacle are convincing me that Apple needs a “product guy” leading the firm again. 

Please explain what you see as a "debacle" for the R&D that Apple put into a possible car. There was never any assurance that a car would result from this effort--the whole point of doing research and development is to determine if manufacturing a competitive and superior product is possible and financially viable. And for Apple, never having been in the car manufacturing business, the challenge was even more difficult, especially considering that Apple's business model is based on very high profit margins, while autos are a fraction of that. At the end of the day, Apple decided there was no financially viable path forward and shut down the project. Look around at the EV business and you'll understand why this was the smartest decision: Fiskar is already out of business, Rivian and Polestar continue hemorrhaging money like it's water, and every company not named Tesla that produces EVs is losing a massive amount of money on every EV they sell. Ford has been manufacturing cars for 123 years, yet Car & Driver reported that in the Q1 2024, it was losing $130,000 on every EV that it sold. And now, with the EV business already a black hole money pit for car makers, Trump is ending the incentives that helped to bolster EV sales, so things are about to get even worse.

The inescapable truth from all available evidence is that Apple avoided a money-losing debacle by shutting down Project Titan. The only argument one might make--and there's no way to know the truth of it--is that they should have shut it down sooner than they did. We also don't know what R&D for Project Titan might be useful for breakthroughs on other projects, so it's not as if the whole thing was pointless. 

edited June 1

williamlondon

MassiveAttack said:

Why not skip WWDC2025 for first time?

Rotten Apple. 

If it is true, AAPL will tank again with a timid upgrade.. 
But iPhone has been boring since iPhone 12. 

The last exciting moment was iPhone X. 

Oh yes,  you've posted that same comment ("Apple is doomed.") over and over already. Have a look at this post from years ago on this very forum: https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/152839/rules-of-the-troll-wip/p1, it's #1 btw.

charlesn

williamlondon said:

MassiveAttack said:

Why not skip WWDC2025 for first time?

Rotten Apple. 

If it is true, AAPL will tank again with a timid upgrade.. 
But iPhone has been boring since iPhone 12. 

The last exciting moment was iPhone X. 

Oh yes,  you've posted that same comment ("Apple is doomed.") over and over already. Have a look at this post from years ago on this very forum: https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/152839/rules-of-the-troll-wip/p1, it's #1 btw.

You can only pity what a small, small life MassiveAttack must have. Who else would waste their life posting to a board about a company they think is rotten and which hasn't had an exciting product in 8 years? Just another incel troll with nothing better to do with his time. SAD! 

stabitha_christie

MassiveAttack said:

Why not skip WWDC2025 for first time?

Rotten Apple. 

If it is true, AAPL will tank again with a timid upgrade.. 
But iPhone has been boring since iPhone 12. 

The last exciting moment was iPhone X. 

Trolling is a pretty easy thing to do. It’s 2025 and there are no shortage of examples out there. Given that, it makes your comments uncomfortable to read. At least put in some effort and if it’s a skill you don’t have then just try something else.  This  is getting embarrassing, like I feel embarrassment for you. 

foregoneconclusion

AppleInsider said: According to Sunday's "Power On" newsletter from Bloomberg, sources within Apple believe that WWDC will be a disappointment form an AI perspective. In the wake of the Google I/O keynote offering massive new AI features and advancements, WWDC could make Apple seem like it is falling behind the rest of the industry.

Not everyone thinks Google's keynote was exciting. Example below from Android Authority...

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-io-2025-keynote-ai-future-depressing-3559604/

marvin

blastdoor said:

When I first read that Apple executives wouldn’t be talking to John Gruber this year (https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/29/the-talk-show-live-tickets-2025) I interpreted it as a snub. But now I wonder if the Apple executives are just going into hiding. 

John Gruber was rude with his recent unforgiving article about Apple. He definitely deserved a snub.

Just because Apple goes the extra mile to do their normal quality assurance doesn't justify attacking them for it the way he did.

AI is a constantly evolving technology and every month there's a new bar being set for what it can do like Google's Veo 3 video generator and others:







Apple hasn't been involved nearly as much with large scale cloud computing as other companies like Google and Microsoft so they have to scale up cloud infrastructure to handle this or figure out how to do more locally. Apple would probably prefer to do it locally but there are too many constraints on low-end hardware.

They should start with small, meaningful features that are done reliably and give people the assurance of privacy like being able to generate photoreal backgrounds for Facetime and wallpapers. They just need to manage expectations better so that people know this will be a multi-year technology and it won't come all at once.

stabitha_christie

Marvin said:

blastdoor said:

When I first read that Apple executives wouldn’t be talking to John Gruber this year (https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/29/the-talk-show-live-tickets-2025) I interpreted it as a snub. But now I wonder if the Apple executives are just going into hiding. 

John Gruber was rude with his recent unforgiving article about Apple. He definitely deserved a snub.

Just because Apple goes the extra mile to do their normal quality assurance doesn't justify attacking them for it the way he did.

AI is a constantly evolving technology and every month there's a new bar being set for what it can do like Google's Veo 3 video generator and others:







Apple hasn't been involved nearly as much with large scale cloud computing as other companies like Google and Microsoft so they have to scale up cloud infrastructure to handle this or figure out how to do more locally. Apple would probably prefer to do it locally but there are too many constraints on low-end hardware.

They should start with small, meaningful features that are done reliably and give people the assurance of privacy like being able to generate photoreal backgrounds for Facetime and wallpapers. They just need to manage expectations better so that people know this will be a multi-year technology and it won't come all at once.

Super curious, I assume the recent article is Something is Rotten in the State of Cupertino. What exactly was rude in that?  I can see why Apple wasn’t a fan of it but all Gruber did was give a fairly sober take on how Apple botched the rollout of Apple Intelligence. 

mikethemartian

I used to enjoy when Steve Jobs would give presentations “live without a net”.

wonkothesane

blastdoor said:

When I first read that Apple executives wouldn’t be talking to John Gruber this year (https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/29/the-talk-show-live-tickets-2025) I interpreted it as a snub. But now I wonder if the Apple executives are just going into hiding. 

While there could be many reasons for Apple to decline  the invitation, I cannot help myself but think how telling this is for the state of Apple. Maybe they are angry at his piece “Something’s rotten…”, and maybe it’s just this fact that they duck away instead of living a culture of honesty and transparency. Again, it could be for other reasons but I just don’t feel this a good sign…

wonkothesane

Marvin said:

blastdoor said:

When I first read that Apple executives wouldn’t be talking to John Gruber this year (https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/29/the-talk-show-live-tickets-2025) I interpreted it as a snub. But now I wonder if the Apple executives are just going into hiding. 

John Gruber was rude with his recent unforgiving article about Apple. He definitely deserved a snub.

Just because Apple goes the extra mile to do their normal quality assurance doesn't justify attacking them for it the way he did.

AI is a constantly evolving technology and every month there's a new bar being set for what it can do like Google's Veo 3 video generator and others:







Apple hasn't been involved nearly as much with large scale cloud computing as other companies like Google and Microsoft so they have to scale up cloud infrastructure to handle this or figure out how to do more locally. Apple would probably prefer to do it locally but there are too many constraints on low-end hardware.

They should start with small, meaningful features that are done reliably and give people the assurance of privacy like being able to generate photoreal backgrounds for Facetime and wallpapers. They just need to manage expectations better so that people know this will be a multi-year technology and it won't come all at once.

Two points here from my side:

1. I don’t think John was rude.  Provocative, maybe. Also, I feel that a number of years ago, stating strong opinions were not as easily perceived as offensive and met with attempts of moral discreditation. I’m not saying you’re doing this. Far from this. I just want to express that I express a clearly stated POV, especially from someone with a background like JG, in order to stimulate constructive discussion.  

2. again, personally, I feel that the argument of “privacy” is becoming more and more an excuse for lagging behind. No data to prove this. Maybe it is true. In any case, it doesn’t help in the perception of Apple falling behind in a rapidly evolving new paradigm of “doing things”.  

All in all, with TC and Giannandrea not being know for being product people, and sorry to say, Jony Ive and his closet people gone, I would not rule out the possibility that Apple is in need of having a visionary product person with sufficient impact on the way forward. 

rogue01

blastdoor said:

I have now fully come around to agreeing that It’s time for Tim Cook to go. 

A lot of great things happened under his leadership, especially apple silicon in Macs, but the Apple car debacle and now the AI debacle are convincing me that Apple needs a “product guy” leading the firm again. 

What car debacle?  The car never existed as a product.  It was always a rumor.  It was a concept that never became reality.  Doesn't matter if they have a product guy.  Siri has been stupid since 2011 with Apple doing nothing to improve it, so why would you think Apple's attempt at AI would be any better with a product guy?

coolfactor

Apple is a platform provider first. Hardware platforms. Software platforms. Apple's real opportunity is to embrace the fuller market, not try to compete with it. They could spin Apple Intelligence as a "platform of AI solutions"... a secure, private gateway to 3rd-party solutions. Trying to compete head-on seems destined to fail at the current rate of advancements. Ride the coattails, Apple. Think Different.

coolfactor

mikethemartian said:

I used to enjoy when Steve Jobs would give presentations “live without a net”.

Steve had backup plans, not to mention very thorough practice sessions. Once, a Mac had froze and he had to switch to a backup one, joking about it with grace.

(Aside: When will AppleInsider fix this broken forum software? Daily headaches)

mattinoz

coolfactor said:

Apple is a platform provider first. Hardware platforms. Software platforms. Apple's real opportunity is to embrace the fuller market, not try to compete with it. They could spin Apple Intelligence as a "platform of AI solutions"... a secure, private gateway to 3rd-party solutions. Trying to compete head-on seems destined to fail at the current rate of advancements. Ride the coattails, Apple. Think Different.

They would not need to spin it as it seems from the outside that was the plan, if you look at cloud compute. device first but can hand off after packaging the required data. 

Seems a great model both cashing in on access to the customer base for big existing players as well as taking out a lot of overhead for small niche businesses to service smaller customer bases. 

Meanwhile Apple keeps working on tight on device models for common interaction. 

longfang

charlesn said:

blastdoor said:

I have now fully come around to agreeing that It’s time for Tim Cook to go. 

A lot of great things happened under his leadership, especially apple silicon in Macs, but the Apple car debacle and now the AI debacle are convincing me that Apple needs a “product guy” leading the firm again. 

Please explain what you see as a "debacle" for the R&D that Apple put into a possible car. There was never any assurance that a car would result from this effort--the whole point of doing research and development is to determine if manufacturing a competitive and superior product is possible and financially viable. And for Apple, never having been in the car manufacturing business, the challenge was even more difficult, especially considering that Apple's business model is based on very high profit margins, while autos are a fraction of that. At the end of the day, Apple decided there was no financially viable path forward and shut down the project. Look around at the EV business and you'll understand why this was the smartest decision: Fiskar is already out of business, Rivian and Polestar continue hemorrhaging money like it's water, and every company not named Tesla that produces EVs is losing a massive amount of money on every EV they sell. Ford has been manufacturing cars for 123 years, yet Car & Driver reported that in the Q1 2024, it was losing $130,000 on every EV that it sold. And now, with the EV business already a black hole money pit for car makers, Trump is ending the incentives that helped to bolster EV sales, so things are about to get even worse.

The inescapable truth from all available evidence is that Apple avoided a money-losing debacle by shutting down Project Titan. The only argument one might make--and there's no way to know the truth of it--is that they should have shut it down sooner than they did. We also don't know what R&D for Project Titan might be useful for breakthroughs on other projects, so it's not as if the whole thing was pointless. 

If by every car manufacturer you mean every American car manufacturer then sure. They do exist outside the US too.

edited June 1