Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner speaks through the Apple Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC) on June 09, 2025 in Cupertino, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
Apple‘s annual developer convention on Monday lacked the splashy announcement that followers are used to seeing at WWDC. There was nothing just like the Imaginative and prescient Professional reveal from 2023 or the Apple Intelligence announcement final 12 months.
However there was an necessary software program replace that, later this 12 months, will change the best way all of Apple’s main gadgets, from iPhones and Mac laptops to Imaginative and prescient Professional digital actuality headsets, will look. It is a new design language that runs throughout all of Apple’s working programs. The corporate is asking it Liquid Glass.
For Apple, it is the primary vital redesign of its iPhone working system since 2013, when the corporate introduced iOS7. Apple says the lock display screen will seem like it is made out of glass. Buttons will flip into little glass drugs, fluidly sliding over glass rails. And there are new animations, together with when answering a telephone name.
The unveiling underwhelmed Wall Road, which despatched the inventory down 1.2% on the day. Traders are pressuring Apple to make large modifications to its synthetic intelligence technique, pushing it to match the frontier fashions capabilities of rivals akin to Google and OpenAI.
“Most of the AI options introduced had been extra incremental in our view, and already obtainable by way of competitor purposes,” UBS analyst David Vogt wrote in a observe on Monday. He has the equal of a maintain score on the inventory.
Final 12 months, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, its response to ChatGPT, full with a demo of a “extra private” Siri that would intelligently parse by way of emails and messages to determine one of the best time to make a restaurant reservation. Apple delayed the characteristic in March, needed to pull advertisements that depicted it, and offered no replace on timing on Monday.
“This work wanted extra time to satisfy our top quality bar,” Apple software program chief Craig Federighi stated on Monday. He restated the corporate’s “the approaching 12 months” timeline.
Liquid glass design
Apple’s focus at WWDC was on offering new options and animations throughout its software program which might be “pleasant,” in CEO Tim Cook dinner’s phrases.
The brand new design language is heavy on clear buttons, sliders, and different interplay parts. Customers will be capable of spot it as quickly as they improve their telephones to the brand new iOS, which will probably be obtainable for beta testing this summer season.
Apple broadcasts liquid glass through the Apple Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC) on June 9, 2025 in Cupertino, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Photographs
As an alternative of arduous, sharp corners in rectangular home windows, Apple’s new design language has curved corners that match the gadget.
One purpose Apple gave for rolling out the replace now could be that its computer systems and chips have develop into highly effective sufficient to deal with it. Apple stated that its new look was immediately impressed by the look of VisionOS, the corporate’s software program for Imaginative and prescient Professional.
“Apple Silicon has develop into dramatically extra highly effective — enabling software program, supplies and experiences we as soon as may solely dream of,” Federighi stated in a recorded video.
As with many Apple bulletins, reactions are all around the map. Some folks on social media had been excited whereas others in contrast the replace to the look of Home windows Vista, which was launched in 2007.
Whereas Apple did not make many vital modifications to the Siri expertise, the corporate did introduce just a few vital enhancements and modifications to its AI capabilities.
Apple additionally expanded its integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, integrating its picture era capabilities into an app that beforehand solely used Apple’s expertise.
When a consumer takes a screenshot on an iPhone, a brand new button will ship the picture to ChatGPT, which may summarize blocks of textual content within the picture, and even decipher what’s taking place.
One main enchancment Apple is rolling out is in language translation.
Throughout a telephone name between two individuals who do not communicate the identical language, the telephone app can translate a sentence after it is spoken and use an AI-generated voice to talk to the opposite social gathering within the their language. Apple says the characteristic makes use of AI processed on the iPhone and does not require a connection to a server.
New numbers
In some corners of the Apple fan universe, probably the most notable announcement on Monday might contain a easy quantity.
Since 2007, Apple had launched a brand new model of its iOS yearly. By 2024, Apple was on iOS 18. It is a significant quantity for customers who need to know if they’ve the most recent Apple options, and a few 82% of customers with latest iPhones had upgraded to iOS 18 inside a 12 months.
Now, Apple is naming its working programs for the iPhone and different gadgets after the 12 months that they’re going to be obtainable to be used by most customers. On this case, it is 2026.
In September, customers will improve to iOS 26. Apple additionally has iPadOS 26, WatchOS 26, tvOS 26 and Imaginative and prescient OS 26.
The identify change will simplify check with the assorted working programs, which had gotten complicated given that every gadget was on a distinct era. It additionally retains the strain on Apple to maintain rolling out an replace yearly, or else the quantity will make it clear that its software program is outdated.