Each year at WWDC, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the company showcases what’s next for its biggest platforms — iOS, macOS, iPadOS and more — and what developers can do to make apps and services for them.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is here, and rumors suggest a brand-new virtual reality headset will get top billing.
Certified augmented reality enthusiast Tim Cook would like to remind you (in case our list of top stories allowed you to forget) that Apple will have an event later today, complete with a brief and conveniently loop-friendly musical interlude.
Just press play, and come back here at 10AM PT / 1PM ET for all the news from WWDC 2023.
While many are champing at the bit to see Apple’s new AR headset, some investors are more interested in potential AI announcements at WWDC, according to a tweet today from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
As Kuo explains it, the headset “may not be a substantial revenue and profit contributor for suppliers in the next two years compared to AI.”
We may not know until after WWDC, but Apple’s mixed reality headset probably won’t address every AR issue right out of the gate. As pointed out by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter today:
I expect that future versions will fix problems in the first model — such as nausea complaints, performance hiccups, overheating concerns and a lack of cellular connectivity — and bring down the price.
That’s not surprising, and doesn’t paint the “Reality Pro” as doomed, just a first attempt likely aimed at developers and very early adopters. As Casey Newton writes for The Verge, whether Apple’s new platform succeeds depends more on its evolution than on tomorrow’s device.
‘This is the single greatest thing that could happen to this industry.’
Late last year, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple would change Siri’s invocation phrase to just “Siri” but was unsure about how long that shift might take. Now he says the change will be announced along with everything else we’ll hear about at WWDC next week.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman already wrote up a detailed prediction in April for what’s coming at Apple’s WWDC. And in a new tweet today he’s reiterating his predictions.
He’s expecting it to be a big year for hardware, with Apple’s new mixed-reality headset debuting alongside “several” new Macs, and annual updates to Apple’s range of operating systems.
Apple has a little AR teaser for WWDC (spotted by MacRumors). To see it, visit the Apple Events website using Safari on your iPhone or iPad and tap “AR Experience,” point your camera at a wall, and you’ll get a colorful animated logo with June 6th, 2023 — the WWDC keynote date — printed inside.
Apple’s mixed reality headset is expected to be the biggest announcement at this year’s WWDC.
Well-connected supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says mass production for Apple’s rumored headset has been pushed back and forecasts shipping numbers this year of 200k to 300k units instead of 500,000 or so.
Kuo suggests the change is tied to a lack of optimism about the launch and “uncertainty” about a WWDC reveal — echoing a recent New York Times report — and while I don’t know if that’s the case, I’m sure there will be more rumors before the show starts on June 5th.
