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Apple’s WWDC 2024 is set for June 10th

Apple’s WWDC 2024 is set for June 10th

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Apple prepares to tell us what in the world it plans to do with AI.

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Apple will be playing AI catch-up at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which starts with the keynote on June 10th and runs through June 14th. The company typically focuses on its planned fall software updates and announces some new hardware, and this year shouldn’t be any different. But, going into this year, there’s a lot of mystery around what the company has to say about its approach to generative artificial intelligence.

Apple has reportedly been spending millions a day to train its own models and rumor has it that it’s also been courting news outlets for training content partnerships. But other recent reports have suggested that it may cut a deal with Google, OpenAI, or Anthropic (or Baidu in China) to supply cloud-based AI features, while keeping its own generative features strictly on-device. Apple could potentially even open its ecosystem up to all AI developers for deep integration in its devices, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

Of course, the company has talked about on-device machine learning for years, but now that generative AI is such a big deal, Apple seems ready to hype up its abilities in that area too. (See the M3 MacBook Air, aka “the world’s best consumer laptop for AI.”)

Aside from AI, we can expect the usual litany of feature announcements for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and the company’s other operating systems. Some rumored updates include the ability to place app icons wherever you want on the iPhone, “scenes” in Freeform, and new accessibility shortcuts. It’s even possible that Apple could introduce two new AirPods models — an entry-level followup to the second-gen AirPods and a noise-canceling replacement for the midtier AirPods 3 — and updated AirPods Max headphones with USB-C (but maybe not much else).

Last year’s big thing was, of course, the reveal of the long-awaited Vision Pro headset. But Apple also announced things like a widget-heavy rethink of WatchOS, iOS 17’s StandBy Mode, desktop widgets for macOS, and another appeal to the gaming industry.

WWDC 2023 also saw Apple finally complete its Apple silicon transition when it showcased a revised Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra chip (which also ended up inside a new Mac Studio). The MacBook Air also got some love with the reveal of the 15-inch model.