AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke
Cupertino, Calif. (AP) — After leaving the gates of Big Tech’s pivotal race to leverage artificial intelligence, Apple attempted to regain its footing at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
The presumed ritual that attracted thousands of developers from nearly 60 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters has been more modest than the enthusiastic expectations that have surrounded the event over the past two years.
In 2023, Apple unveiled a mixed reality headset that is just a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI trend with a set of new features highlighted by the promise of a smarter, more versatile version of virtual assistant Siri.
Apple intended a Siri upgrade planned to tell the much-anticipated attempt to become a major player in the AI epidemic after a delayed startup in a phenomenon that has been led by Openai, Google, Microsoft and an array of cutting-edge startups.
“This task required more time to get to a quality bar,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s top software executive, said Monday at the start of the meeting.
The showcase unfolded amid nagging questions about whether Apple lost some of the mystical and innovative drives that turned it into a high-tech trunk setter in its nearly 50 years of history.
Instead of making big splashes like they did with Vision Pro Headset and its AI suite, Apple has focused this year on overhauling the software the company has been billing as the broadest overhaul of the iPhone operating system in a decade. Federighi described the change as an easy switch between iPhone, iPad and Mac in an attempt by Apple to make the increasingly sophisticated computer chips and software that powers its products more compatible.
While Apple may seem to be becoming a technical delay, Forrester research analyst Thomas Husson claims the company has “enough time to catch up with AI races like marathons rather than sprints.
In addition to software redesign. Apple will switch to the method used to telegraph the latest car models by linking the new operating system the year after the first arrival at the dealership. In other words, the next version of the iPhone operating system scheduled for this fall is known as iOS 26, not iOS 19. This is because it is under the previous naming approach that has been in use since the device’s 2007 debut.
The iOS 26 upgrade is scheduled to be released in September at the same time as Apple will be rolling out its next iPhone model.
While Apple also promoted incremental advances in AI, simplifying people’s lives and making the devices more intuitive, the company chose to hold Monday’s meeting in a short video segment featuring Federighi running around the tracks of a Formula 1 race car. Although it was intended to promote the June 27 release of Apple Film, starring Brad Pitt, the segment could also be seen as an unintended similarity to the company’s attempts to keep up with the rest of the pack of AI technology.
Some of the newest iPhone compatible AI tricks began to be rolled out as part of a free software update late last year, but Apple was unable to soup Siri in the way it was promoted at last year’s meeting. The delay has become so obvious that Sada app’s apple has stepped back from promoting SIRI in its AI marketing campaign earlier this year.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts last month when asked about the company’s headaches with Siri. “But we are making progress and we are extremely excited to get more personal Siri features.”
Apple has struggled to create AI that meets that standard, but the gap that separates it from other high-tech powerhouses is growing. Google continues to pack more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup, bringing more technology into search engines, dramatically changing its behavior. Samsung, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, is also leaning heavily towards AI. Meanwhile, ChatGpt recently led former Apple design guru Jony Ive to fold and signed a deal to work on a new device expected to compete with the iPhone.
“Many of WWDC is about the next great thing for the iPhone, but the implicit question is: What’s the next great thing after an iPhone?” says Dipanjan Chatterjee, another analyst at Forrester Research.
In addition to tackling the challenges of innovation, Apple also faces regulatory threats that can siphon billions of revenue that help fund research and development. Now, federal judges are considering whether Apple should include a long-term ban on $20 billion worth of transactions per year if they propose countermeasures against Google’s illegal monopoly in Google’s search.
Plus, Apple is caught up in the cross of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, Cupertino, California’s major manufacturing hub. Cook convinced Trump to exempt iPhones from tariffs during the president’s first administration, but he was less successful in Trump’s second term.
“The trade wars and uncertainty associated with tariff policy are far more concerning for Apple’s business today than the perception that Apple is lagging behind AI innovation,” says Husson.
The multidimensional gauntlets facing Apple has sucked up investors, and so far this year the company’s stock price has plummeted nearly 20%. After starting the year as the world’s most valuable company, Apple ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, AI chip maker Nvidia, the AI leader.
Original issue: June 9, 2025, 12:13pm EDT
