WWDC — Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference — is always a big highlight of the annual tech calendar. Though ostensibly aimed at developers as the name suggests, Apple has previously announced significant new hardware lines like Vision Pro, the HomePod and a variety of Macs, giving the main keynote a big consumer-facing edge.
WWDC also sees previews of the year's big software updates. This year, that means iOS 18, an especially significant release given Apple's reported plans to go big on artificial intelligence this year.
Here's what we're expecting from WWDC 2024.
When is WWDC 2024?
Apple has set a date for WWDC 2024, with the week-long conference kicking off June 10 and running through June 14. That opening day is the one to pay attention to — that's when Apple holds its WWDC keynote, featuring all those software previews plus any product announcements.
Expect the event to be live-streamed with the keynote getting underway at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT.
Will we get new hardware at WWDC 2024?
In the past, Apple has unveiled some exciting new hardware at WWDC, including Vision Pro and the first-generation HomePod.
It's certainly possible we'll see hardware again this year — though probably generational updates rather than whole new lines, with both new laptops and iPads tipped for launches around that time.
But it's equally possible those products will get their own events — that's what happened with the MacBook Air M3 release — and that WWDC 2024 could turn out to be all about the software. That's especially plausible, given this is a year when Apple is expected to go big on artificial intelligence with iOS 18.
What's expected from iOS 18 at WWDC 2024?
Typically, WWDC is when Apple releases the first developer beta of its next iPhone operating system, and according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, iOS 18 is shaping up to be "one of the biggest iOS updates — if not the biggest — in the company's history."
While we know that part of this update is going to include the introduction of the RCS text protocol for better communications with Android devices, the more significant update should involve the buzzword of 2024: artificial intelligence.
According to Gurman, Apple's Craig Federighi has given an "edict" to the team to ensure that iOS 18 is filled “with features running on the company’s large language model". And with Apple reportedly offering millions of dollars to publishers for AI training purposes, it's possible that the results will be quite distinct from the ChatGPTs of this world in terms of reliability.
What does that mean in practice? Well, according to code found in the latest beta of iOS 17.4, it looks like the AI – codenamed Ajax – will be able to summarize content and answer questions based on user prompts.
There also seem to be references to integration with iMessage in the code. This makes sense, as Gurman had previously stated that Ajax would work with the Messages app to "field questions and auto-complete sentences".
In other words, it sounds like Siri is going to get a significant and long-overdue upgrade in terms of its smarts. But the big question is whether it's going to need new hardware to function. Siri's creator, Dag Kittlause who co-founded the AI startup acquired by Apple in 2010, believes that Apple's assistant is a “dark horse” in the large language model space — and that Siri will be a huge force in the AI space.
Generative AI features are also expected to be a big part of iOS 18, as a report indicates that even the base model of the iPhone 16 will come with extra storage and RAM to accommodate them.
While Apple has a proud record of bringing the latest versions of iOS to its older iPhones, artificial intelligence might be a bridge too far for more vintage generations, especially with the company reportedly favoring on-device AI over cloud-based solutions. In other words, this might require the grunt of the upcoming A18 processor.
That said, with the iPhone 16 not due until September and with an early beta coming as soon as June, it would make sense for Apple to have some cloud-based versions for older iPhones – and one rumor suggests that's how things will play out, with on-device AI for the 2024 models and a cloud-based version for older ones. Hopefully we'll be seeing the last six years of iPhone models compatible with iOS 18, as some rumors have claimed.
We shall find out on June 10 at the WWDC keynote.
