Apple has announced that this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held from June 10 to June 14, 2024, at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
As soon as this announcement was made, the tech industry started speculating about Apple’s possible new launches. Usually, WWDC is a software-centric event showcasing new software upgrades and launches. However, Apple has always used the event to unveil new hardware.
In WWDC 2023, Apple unveiled the Vision Pro headset, the 15-inch MacBook Air powered by the M2 chip, the M2 Ultra chip and the new Mac Studio. In 2024, too, speculations suggest that Apple may showcase new hardware. Let us look at the rumours surrounding the WWDC 2024.
Most people believe that the event will likely focus on Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Many experts are pointing out a tweet by Greg Joswiak, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Apple, “Mark your calendars for #WWDC24, June 10-14. It’s going to be Absolutely Incredible!”
“Absolutely Incredible”, according to some, also points to AI.
What can we expect at WWDC 24?
Apple may launch iOS 18 powered by AI.
Apple is developing its AI to keep up with competitors like OpenAI and Google. In July last year, Bloomberg reported that Apple is testing the ‘Apple GPT’, a Large Language Model (LLM), to compete with OpenAI and is also working on internal chatbots. The project uses the Ajax framework and will serve as the base for future projects.
Another report by 9to5Mac further confirms that Apple is indeed developing an AI. They found a code within iOS 17.4 that indicated the inclusion of a new SiriSummarization framework, which communicates with OpenAI’s ChatGPT API. This shows that Apple is using ChatGPT for internal testing. System prompts within iOS 17.4 referenced functionalities such as summarisation requests, answering questions, and processing text inputs from iMessage or SMS were also found.
Apple is already in talks with OpenAI and Google about incorporating Gemini into its flagship iPhones.
Other features of iOS 18, as reported by 9to5Mac are as follows:
- A new AI-powered Siri assistant.
- AI integration to Apple Music, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.
- New updates to the Xcode platform featuring AI.
- Upgraded Spotlight Search using generative AI features.
- AI-integrated wellness coaching functionality.
- AI-powered Messenger.
As shown above, Apple is locked and loaded to board the AI train. Tim Cook said during the quarterly earnings call in February, “As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that shape our future. That includes AI, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we’re excited to share details of our ongoing work in that space later this year.”
According to some reports, Apple may also upgrade the watchOS and visionOS. However, the concrete information on these is quite limited.
New AirPods might be on the horizon.
As for the hardware, MacObserver reported that the company might unveil new AirPods that would be set below the AirPods Pro.
The company has also launched a new YouTube channel, Apple Developer, to live-stream the event. Previously, the event was televised on the official Apple channel, but WWDC 2024 will be televised on the new Apple Developer channel.
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