Apple’s WWDC 2025 did not disappoint, but it did not inspire either. I would have answers to some of my burning questions that when should Siri glow up, what is the future of Apple Home and how do you want to inspire consumers to buy into Vision Pro … ER..Vision?
None of that was upcoming. Instead, we got a new, glossy design language (floating glass), a ton of minutiae on iOS 26-feature updates (camera app overhaul, background on group messages, edge-to-edge Safari), more intelligent Apple Intelligence and a much needed iPados re-invent.
Apple spent 90 minutes telling us how the world of iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches, Apple TVs and iPads would change, but unlike a developer conference -Google or even Meta head notes, they didn’t tell us how they change the world. Apple’s developer conference was fully focused on the platforms and how your experience with each of them would change.
No moment stood out like a “Oh, it will change everything.”
Not the star you expected
To be clear there are major changes. Especially iPados 26 can be unrecognizable (but in a good way) for people who have used Apple’s tablet for well over a decade. If you asked me 48 hours ago the greatest story that came out of keynote speaker, I would have guessed the new name Convention (year but not who you are in!), Liquid glass (like glass, but very apple-ly) or a surprise. iPados 26 wasn’t on my bingo card.
Apple kept head speaker nicely focused on software, which I thought could bode well for a hardware surprise at the end.
I had visions of Apple AR glasses teasing, the unveiling of a new, bound and much more affordable Vision Pro Lite.
I am lit on the imaginative “one more thing more”, I hoped that maybe Apple Software Engineering Lead Craig Federighi would circle back to the dismissive Siri coverage in the beginning, preview of the full realized Apple Intelligence Siri and deliver a blood-oath promise that it would arrive at the same time as the first iOS 26 public beta’s.
None of it happened. Apple rejected its challenging year and presented one, to be a long, exhaustive collection of platform updates. At least now we know why Siri is delayed.
To be sure, all that was revealed on WWDC 2025 is a lot and I struggle to wrap my mind around it all. There are bits in there, e.g. Like MacOS Tahoe Spotlight update, which does not reveal the true depth of its influence before testing the new platforms.
On that note I know you are tempted to download all the developer’s betas but be careful. They are usually buggy, and in the case of iPhone, most Dev betas tend to suck life right out of your battery (mainly because they are not yet optimized).
It’s about security
The bigger problem here, however, is that unlike previous years when I knew Apple would hand over its promises, I know it’s no longer a lock. I will trust that the incredible Vision Pro Persona update, the one that makes the fluent heads look completely real will arrive in the fall, which is spotlight with contextual attention acting as demonstrated with the next new Mac, and iPados 26’s window and background activity project will be as powerful as they looked under Keybote.
Even some of the things I am reasonably sure will arrive will be limited. Digital IDs are expanding, but Apple is unable to make it work in all 50 US states (for now, nine support it), and Watchos 26’s trainingmate who depends on Apple Intelligence on iPhone will only support English, and what if it is only in the US?
There are now always limits to Apple’s dream scenario, and I find that it is smart to wake up long before the first public beta drops.
Apple may surprise us and hand over, but if we have learned a thing from the WWDC 2025 Keynote, it is that for now it is no longer in the industry with big surprises that leaves it in a position with subdivoration.
