Apple’s World Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. PT, and while the general conference focuses on software, there is reason to believe that some hardware will also appear.
Apple tends to announce many software features for its wide range of consumer devices, but updates that attract creative professionals often come to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
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iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
As a developer conference, WWDC tends to focus more on software ads than on hardware, and Apple is sure to showcase new features coming to iOS in the fall. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who is a fairly reliable source for Apple rumors and who was correct in his predictions for Apple’s latest event, says that iOS 16 will include new Apple apps. as well as a new way to interact with the operating system.
“From what I’ve been told, the new software, codenamed Sydney, is a pretty big update,” Gurman says in his weekly Power On newsletter. “It will be full of changes to the operating system, including notification updates, iPad multitasking, and Messaging and Health apps. The makeover also includes a part of the interface that is often a later idea: the screen lock.
This may mean that Apple plans to add more widgets or adjust how users interact with them, which could help Apple users feel that there is more to do before unlocking their devices. Gurman says he rarely interacts with his iPhone when it’s locked, and that’s supposed to be the case for many other users as well. Apple may try to change this with iOS 16 and also add an “always on” feature to the next iPhone and add software that uses that capability.
IPadOS is also likely to get an update on multitasking:
I know better than to get excited about the improvements to the iPad, because we’ve been burned so many times …
But WebKit has just added an infrastructure for “multitasking mode” to iOS that seems to be a system switch that allows free-sized windows.
– Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) May 26, 2022
The update is likely to make adjustments to allow windows to resize freely and enable different form factors for iPad devices. While Apple seems reluctant to put full MacOS capability on the iPad, this could be a big leap that would allow compact devices to compete more directly with two-in-one PC offerings like Microsoft Surface.
It is possible that the WWDC will also bring an update to macOS, but very little has come to the rumor, other than that it could get something similar to the Focus mode of the iPhone and can be called macOS Mammoth.
Macbook Air, M2, Mac Pro
Rumors back in the hardware are courtesy of Gurman, who has predicted that Apple will launch at least two computers in the middle of the year.
While some believe that this could mean the next-generation Apple processor, the M2, in a new MacBook Air, The Verge seems to think that the audience of developers, professionals and WWDC enthusiasts makes it a great place to launch the promised Mac Pro.
During the March event, Apple said the Mac Studio would not be the latest M1 engine and hinted that it would be the Mac Pro. With most expecting the M2 to come out on low-end machines this year, it makes sense for Apple to finish the M1 series with a big bang.
VR headsets
The latest major hardware device to be seen at WWDC is Apple’s long-awaited virtual reality (VR) headset. While it’s certainly not something to look forward to, it could appear alongside the virtual reality software support ad that would align very well with the WWDC audience.
Tune in to the WWDC conference on June 6 at 10:00 PT.
Image Credits: Header image via Apple