Ahead of WWDC, which kicks off on Monday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is out with a pretty lengthy article about what to expect from WWDC. Gurman reiterates that Apple will not focus on AI, but instead focus on design and productivity enhancements.
As usual, the keynote will start at 10AM PT, and likely will run about two hours. This is where Apple will unveil all of its software platform updates. Which includes iOS 16, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26. Gurman shares that internally, these are known as Luck, Charisma, Discovery, Cheer, and Nepali, respectively.
macOS will continue to focus on its California landmark name, with this year’s release being called ‘macOS Tahoe’. The design changes are set to make up a huge portion of the keynote this year, but it will also discuss its Apple Intelligence AI strategy. But it won’t be a huge portion of the keynote. These AI changes will be surprisingly minor and likely won’t impress many people.
Brand new design for all of Apple’s operating systems
Apple will be introducing a brand new design for all of its OS’ this year, and that also includes CarPlay. This new look, which is called ‘Solarium’ internally, is based on visionOS. The main interface element will be digital glass. There will also be more use of light and transparency throughout the operating systems. Gurman says that tool and tab bars will look different, and there will be redesigned app icons and other buttons. There will be a strong focus on pop-out menus.
Round icons won’t be coming. While many have speculated that iOS and iPadOS would get the round icons that visionOS has, Gurman says that the icons will largely remain the same.
Three iOS apps are due for huge revamps, these include Phone, Safari and Camera apps. The rest, will just get the redesign for iOS.
The Phone app hasn’t really changed much since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. With iOS 26, Apple is planning on introducing a new view that combines favorite contacts, recent calls and voicemails into a single, scrollable window. Safari is also getting a significantly updated look, including a transparent and glassy address bar. The Camera will also see a revamp, focusing on simplicity.
Apple will also be bringing its Preview app from macOS over to iOS and iPadOS for the first time. This would allow iPhone and iPad users to deal with PDFs without needing to download another app.
Finally, when it comes to AI, the biggest consumer-facing upgrade this year is going to be translation. The main use for this would be live translation of phone calls and text messages.
WWDC kicks off Monday at 10 AM PT.
2025-06-06 15:05:09