Giant Apple is expected to unveil its AI "big move" at the upcoming developer conference.
At 1am Beijing time on June 11th, the highly anticipated Apple World Developers Conference (WWDC 24) will officially begin. Based on the existing information, this year's WWDC will focus on the software aspect, and possible released systems include iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, tvOS 18, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2.
Every year, WWDC has an exclusive theme corresponding to the content of this conference. 2021 is "Glow and hold", 2022 is "Swiftly approaching", and 2023 is "Code new worlds". This year, the theme of WWDC 2024 is "Coming in Swift", and the accompanying image is the icon of Apple's programming language Swift.
Source: Apple
The outside world is also looking forward to Apple's "big move" in AI strategy. Previously, Mark Gurman, a journalist who has been closely following Apple for a long time, stated that the core of Apple's new AI strategy is "Project Greymatter", an AI tool that will be integrated into core applications such as Safari, Photos, and Memos in the Apple browser. For some less tedious tasks, AI functionality will run entirely on local devices; If a certain feature requires more computing, it will be pushed to the cloud and the results will be provided by servers powered by Apple's M2 Ultra chip.
According to foreign media reports, the upcoming iOS 18 operating system will be one of the largest version updates for the system in seven years. In terms of appearance, this update will allow users to customize the layout and shortcut switches of the control center, greatly improving freedom.
In addition, it is reported that Apple has reached an agreement with OpenAI to integrate their chatbot ChatGPT into iOS 18, and the two sides are expected to announce their partnership on WWDC. However, due to concerns about making OpenAI the sole supplier of iOS's main new features, Apple is also working hard to reach an agreement with Google to make Google's large model Gemini an alternative option, but this part of the content will not be disclosed on WWDC.
Several new AI features known to iOS 18 include transcribing voice memos, AI retouching, speeding up desktop search Spotlight, improving Safari's web search, intelligent generation, and automatically recommending replies to emails and text messages. In addition, Apple will add RCS (Integrated Communication Service) support to iOS 18 to improve the communication experience between iPhone and Android devices, including higher resolution photos and videos, audio information, and enhanced group chat capabilities.
Meanwhile, Apple's voice assistant Siri will also receive enhanced features brought by AI, making user interaction with Siri more natural. However, according to Gurman, Apple plans to enable Siri to support natural semantic dialogue based on large model capabilities. Unfortunately, this upgrade will not be launched until 2025. Therefore, Apple may not introduce Siri's AI related features at the conference.
Analysis indicates that Apple still plays a catch-up role in the AI field. However, Apple has a very advantageous advantage, which is its vast user base. When these AI features of iOS 18 are released later this year, they will receive support from hundreds of millions of Apple devices worldwide, potentially making Apple the largest AI player overnight.
In terms of iPad, it is expected that iPadOS 18 will introduce features consistent with iOS 18. For macOS 15 on the computer side, Apple also plans to adjust the system's settings menu options to rearrange them according to priority and overall importance, and add new design elements and support for the latest hardware.
The tvOS 18 for TVs will provide Apple TV users with a richer entertainment experience, which may include new interface designs and more personalized options. WatchOS 11 for Apple Watch will enhance health and fitness features, possibly introducing new health monitoring features and deeper exercise analysis capabilities.
As Apple's latest layout in the field of MR (Integrated Reality), people are also looking forward to the release of the operating system visionOS 2 for Vision Pro headsets. Apple may bring breakthrough innovation to headsets by introducing generative AI, providing a brand new interactive experience, and improving support for AR and VR applications.
In addition, on May 14th, according to the website of the China Quality Certification Center, Apple's headset product Vision Pro has passed the 3C certification in China, which is also a necessary step for the product to be sold in the Chinese market. Therefore, it is speculated that Apple may officially announce the overseas launch plan of Vision Pro on WWDC.
In terms of hardware, Gurman stated that Apple does not intend to release any new hardware products on WWDC 2024 unless it is a "spoiler" for upcoming new devices, and will fully focus on the upcoming software updates. However, there are also rumors that Apple may bring a new MacBook Air equipped with M4 chips or launch an Apple TV box.
