Apple Underwhelms at WWDC with Incremental AI, New Software Name

WWDC 2025: Apple Refocuses on Design with "Liquid Glass" and Incremental AI

Major Visual Overhaul and Practical AI Features Unveiled, But Game-Changing Announcements on Hold

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) for 2025 centered on a significant, system-wide design refresh and a series of practical, yet incremental, updates to its "Apple Intelligence" platform. While the keynote showcased a refined user experience, it was perceived by many as a step back from the AI-heavy announcements of previous years, with Apple openly acknowledging that more ambitious AI projects, including a revamped Siri, required more development time.

🔑 Key Announcements & Changes:

• New Design Language: "Liquid Glass"
  • The most significant announcement was a new, unified design system called Liquid Glass, which will be implemented across all of Apple's operating systems.
  • Inspired by visionOS, it features translucent, glass-like UI elements, redesigned widgets, and more fluid animations that create a sense of depth and consistency between iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
• New Software Naming Convention
  • Apple has changed its software naming scheme to reflect the upcoming year. Instead of iOS 19, the new software is named iOS 26.
  • This applies across the board, with watchOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 "Tahoe".
• Delayed Siri Overhaul
  • Apple confirmed that the major, next-generation update for Siri, promised at last year's conference, has been delayed to ensure it meets a "high quality bar."
• Deeper OpenAI Integration
  • The partnership with OpenAI has been expanded. ChatGPT is now more deeply integrated into features like Image Playground and is being incorporated into developer tools like Xcode to assist with coding.

🤖 The "Incremental" AI: Practical Apple Intelligence Updates

The AI features announced were focused on enhancing existing apps and workflows rather than introducing revolutionary new capabilities.

• Live Translation: Real-time text and voice translation is coming to Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app, allowing for more seamless cross-language communication.
• Workout Buddy (watchOS 26): An AI-powered fitness coach on the Apple Watch that uses your historical fitness data to provide personalized, real-time motivational feedback and insights during workouts.
• Visual Intelligence for Screenshots: Users can now take a screenshot and use a search function to identify objects or text within the image, find where to buy a product, or automatically create a calendar event from a flyer.
• Enhanced Messaging: iOS 26 introduces AI-powered poll suggestions in group chats and improved filtering for unknown senders.
• Smarter Spotlight & Shortcuts: Spotlight search on macOS will provide more personalized results. Shortcuts will get "Intelligent Actions" to automate multi-step tasks like summarizing text.
• Call Screening: A new feature for the Phone app will have Apple Intelligence answer calls from unknown numbers to determine the caller's identity and purpose before you decide to answer.

👤 Who Is It Best For? (The Target Audience of WWDC 2025)

• ✅ Users Invested in the Apple Ecosystem: The "Liquid Glass" design and seamless integration of new features across devices will appeal most to those who use iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch together.
• ✅ Practical-Minded Users: Individuals looking for useful, everyday improvements like better call management, live translation, and smarter notifications will appreciate the updates.
• ✅ Developers: The opening of Apple's on-device AI models and ChatGPT integration in Xcode provides powerful new tools for building smarter apps.

🛑 Why It Was Perceived as Underwhelming:

• No "Wow" Factor: After years of a tech industry-wide focus on groundbreaking generative AI, Apple's practical, iterative approach felt cautious and less exciting to many analysts and tech enthusiasts.
• AI Lag: The delay of a supercharged Siri and the deeper reliance on OpenAI's models reinforced the perception that Apple is still playing catch-up to competitors like Google and Microsoft in the AI race.
• Focus on Aesthetics Over AI: The headline feature was a design change ("Liquid Glass") rather than a revolutionary AI capability, which many found to be a shift in priority.

✅ Why Choose to Be Excited?

• Focus on User Experience: Apple is prioritizing a cohesive and beautiful user interface, which has long been its core strength.
• Privacy-First AI: Many of Apple's AI features are processed on-device, continuing its commitment to user privacy, a key differentiator from cloud-based AI services.
• Genuinely Useful Features: While not flashy, features like call screening, better workout coaching, and live translation solve real-world problems for many users.
• Setting the Foundation: Apple is giving developers the tools to integrate AI more deeply into the apps people use every day, which could lead to significant innovation in the near future.