Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference officially kicks off today at 10am PT in Cupertino, California, when its smiling CEO Tim Cook saunters on stage and says, “Welcome to WWDC 2023!” (That’s 6pm BST / 1pm ET and 3am ACT (on June 6) for those of you not in California.)
As for what else he might say, well, we think we know quite a lot. Cook will briefly touch on all of Apple’s major and critical platforms, including iOS 17, macOS 14, tvOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10. This being a developers’ conference, he’ll also mention Swift and Xcode.
Granted, Cook’s job is not to dive deep into anything. He’ll leave that to, in large part, Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, and a host of other development leads. By the way, if Apple follows the script from the last few years, even though this is an in-person event, much of the presentation may be pre-recorded.
No one is expecting sea changes across any of these platforms. watchOS with widgets is not a major deal. iOS 17 is about maintenance and spiffing up the entire iPhone OS without fundamentally altering it. macOS 14 might have even fewer changes.
Let’s be frank, the real excitement here will be around the likely reveal of the Apple VR headset and the new xrOS. Cook will almost certainly unveil both during the keynote and may even don the headgear during the event. Okay, maybe he won’t put on a vision-occluding VR headset and accidentally walk off stage (no one wants that). What’s more likely is we get a glimpse of the new VR product on stage and then there’ll be an opportunity for photos and maybe even hands-on in the ample space above Steve Jobs Theater.
WWDC has also been the launchpad for Apple Silicon and updates related to the company’s own CPUs. Some expect the introduction of an M3 chip, and if Apple does that, there will be hardware. Maybe a new Mac Pro (the last Mac still running on Intel silicon). Others are anticipating a new big-screen 15-inch MacBook Air (likely on M2) and a new iMac (also M2).
Granted, until Cook starts speaking, this is all guesswork. Buckle in folks, I will share all I can from my seat in the audience.
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