This year’s WWDC is shaping up to be one of the most consequential events in Apple’s recent history, as the Cupertino-based technology giant looks to reset its AI strategy with a revamped version of its digital assistant, Siri.
While Siri is expected to take centre stage, Apple is also likely to preview a broader set of AI-powered features across its platforms, including iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. These updates will not only shape how users interact with their devices, but also signal how Apple plans to compete in an AI landscape currently led by Google, Samsung, and Microsoft.
So far, Apple has taken a more cautious, privacy-first approach to AI, limiting the scope of features available on its devices. This has resulted in a relatively smaller portfolio of AI tools compared to rivals such as Google Pixel devices, Samsung Galaxy smartphones, and systems built around Microsoft’s Copilot+ platform.
Apple’s AI fiasco
Apple began rolling out Apple Intelligence features only in December 2024, with availability varying significantly across regions. In India, for instance, the features were not available until March 2025.
The situation was compounded by delays to the revamped version of Siri, which remains unshipped.
The version of Siri showcased at WWDC 2024 was designed to offer deeper contextual understanding, cross-app functionality, and on-screen awareness. However, Apple has yet to deliver on that promise.
The company also faced legal pressure, agreeing to pay $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit in the US that alleged it misled consumers by promoting features that were not available at launch.
Apple CEO Tim Cook later acknowledged the delay, stating during an earnings call that while “progress” was being made, the features required more time to meet Apple’s standards.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, echoed this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, noting that the new Siri experience “did not converge in the way, quality-wise, that we needed it to,” adding that the company prioritised reliability over speed of release.
Can Apple reset with a new Siri?
In January 2026, Apple announced a partnership with Google, under which Apple will be using Google’s Gemini AI models as the underlying technology for its foundation models, which will power next-generation Siri. In a joint statement by both the companies, it was announced that the personalised version of Siri and Apple Intelligence features, some of which were showcased at WWDC 2024, are set to be launched later this year.
According to Bloomberg, the new Siri architecture is built around three layers: a query planning system, a knowledge retrieval engine, and a summarisation layer. Gemini is expected to handle the planning and summarisation tasks, enabling Siri to structure responses more effectively and generate clearer outputs.
This could enable the three core capabilities Apple showcased in 2024, including on-screen awareness, cross-app task execution, and personal context understanding. However, Apple’s next version of Siri is not expected to be limited to these functionalities.
Internally, the project is reportedly codenamed “Campo” and is designed to transform Siri from a voice assistant into a more capable AI system that can execute tasks across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
The assistant is also expected to introduce a new “Search or Ask” interface and move closer to a chatbot-like experience, putting it in more direct competition with platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Apple is also said to be testing integration with multiple third-party AI systems, allowing users to route queries to services like Claude or Gemini when needed, in addition to its existing ChatGPT integration.
Beyond Siri, the company is expected to expand AI capabilities across its ecosystem, including improvements to Visual Intelligence, Image Playground, and Writing Tools, with greater flexibility through third-party integrations.
Taken together, these updates could allow Apple to close the gap with competitors in consumer-facing AI features.
What could be Apple’s approach to the next wave of AI?
When Apple previewed Apple Intelligence in 2024, it also introduced Private Cloud Compute, a cloud-based extension of on-device processing. As per Apple, the system is designed to handle tasks that exceed the processing limits of a device while applying the same privacy protections Apple claims to use for local data. However, the company’s partnership with Google suggests that this approach may be evolving.
As per Bloomberg’s report, in addition to using Google’s underlying technology, the company is hosting much of the new Siri on Google servers.
This contradicts Apple’s own statement from earlier this year when 9To5Google reported that while responding to a question on the Apple-Google partnership, during an earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said Gemini-powered Siri will continue to run either on-device or through Apple’s Private Cloud Compute system.
A report from The Information suggests that the scale of modern AI models may be driving this shift. Large models such as Gemini require significantly more computing power than Apple’s current infrastructure can efficiently support.
As a result, Apple is expected to rely on Google Cloud and Nvidia AI hardware for certain workloads, particularly those involving more advanced versions of Siri.
This raises questions about how Apple will maintain its privacy-first positioning.
However, the company is reportedly exploring the use of Nvidia’s confidential computing technology, which encrypts data while it is being processed on GPUs. While this may introduce some performance overhead, it could allow Apple to maintain its privacy commitments while scaling AI capabilities.
Developers and analysts remain cautious
Despite Apple’s push to reset its AI strategy, expectations from developers and analysts remain measured.
According to a Reuters report, analysts point out that Apple still holds a significant advantage in the form of user data spread across its ecosystem, including emails, messages, calendar events and app activity. This data, if effectively utilised, could make Siri more context-aware and capable of handling tasks more intelligently.
However, unlocking that potential is not straightforward. Apple’s privacy-first architecture restricts how data is accessed across apps, which limits how much context AI systems can currently use.
From a developer perspective, one of the key expectations is deeper integration of apps with Siri. Analysts expect Apple to allow developers to plug their apps into Siri using extensions,
“They have to make Siri not suck, but Apple also has to put the framework together of how their developers can take advantage of AI themselves,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder of technology consulting firm Moor Insights & Strategy.
Some also expect Apple to give developers more flexibility.
In a statement to Reuters, Andrew Cornwall, a senior analyst with tech research firm Forrester said that he expect Apple to let developers plug their apps into Siri using what Apple calls “extensions” and let those developers choose among AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google’s Gemini in their apps.
At the same time, Apple is unlikely to aggressively push more experimental concepts such as fully autonomous AI agents. According to analysts, the company is expected to prioritise controlled, user-facing features over emerging technologies that may still raise security and reliability concerns.
“It’s way too early for the consumer,” said Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, referring to more advanced agent-based systems.
Instead, Apple is expected to frame AI as a set of useful features rather than a standalone technology, focusing on improving everyday interactions rather than introducing entirely new computing paradigms.
What Apple users can expect from WWDC 2026
Revamped Siri
The biggest announcement is expected to be an overhauled version of Siri. Apple is aiming to transform Siri from a voice-based assistant into a more capable AI system that can execute tasks across apps and devices.
The new Siri is expected to support more advanced use cases, such as drafting emails based on prompts, summarising information from emails, notes, and the web, and managing schedules with greater context awareness. It is also expected to handle more complex, multi-step requests.
This will likely leverage Google Gemini’s agentic capabilities. Google announced similar functionality for Android 17 at its I/O conference last month under “Gemini Intelligence”, a system-wide AI layer designed to understand on-screen context, work across apps, and complete tasks on behalf of users.
Gemini Intelligence supports multi-step app automation, contextual browsing in Chrome, AI-assisted Autofill, smarter voice typing, and personalised widgets generated through natural language prompts. It is also designed to carry context across connected devices such as phones, watches, cars, glasses, and laptops.
Siri app
One of the more notable additions this year is expected to be a dedicated Siri app across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
According to Bloomberg, the app will support continuous conversations, allowing users to revisit and continue past interactions with the assistant, rather than treating each query as a one-off request.
Users will reportedly be able to access the Siri app by pulling down on a response generated by the assistant, effectively turning individual interactions into persistent threads.
The app is expected to include a main page of past chats, available in both light and dark modes, with conversations displayed either as a list or in a grid format. Each conversation will include a short summary, making it easier for users to navigate and pick up where they left off.
Siri’s ‘Search or Ask’ interface
According to Bloomberg, Apple is also expected to introduce a new “Search or Ask” interface, allowing users to interact with Siri through both voice and text.
As per the report, users will be able to launch apps, start messages, check the weather, add calendar appointments, search through notes, trigger shortcuts within apps, or search the web using AI from a single interface.
The panel is also expected to incorporate the existing Siri Suggestions interface, surfacing frequently used apps and actions.
Apple is also reportedly planning to open up Siri to third-party chatbots beyond OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is already integrated. According to Bloomberg, users may be able to toggle between services such as Claude and Gemini alongside ChatGPT within the same interface.
AI features beyond Siri
Beyond the assistant, Apple is expected to expand AI capabilities across its ecosystem.
According to Bloomberg, Visual Intelligence will be more deeply integrated into the Camera app, allowing users to recognise objects, extract information, and take actions more seamlessly.
Apple is also expected to improve its image generation and editing tools, including features such as extending images beyond their original frame, reframing perspectives, and enhancing image quality using AI.
Other expected additions include:
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AI-powered organisation of Safari tabs -
Smarter Genmoji suggestions based on user context -
Improvements to Writing Tools and system-wide grammar correction -
Natural language-based automation through Shortcuts
These updates point to a broader push to embed AI into everyday workflows rather than limiting it to a single interface.
Apple Health
Apple is also expected to expand AI capabilities within its Health platform.
According to Bloomberg, the company is working on new AI-driven health features, including improved blood sugar tracking and the use of device cameras to monitor workouts.
These updates are part of a broader internal effort to build a more advanced health coaching system, although some features may not be available in the initial release and could roll out later.
Platform updates
WWDC 2026 will also bring updates across Apple’s operating systems, including iOS 27, macOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.
According to Bloomberg, these updates will focus less on major design changes and more on improving performance, battery life, and system reliability. The approach is expected to be similar to earlier updates such as iOS 12 and macOS Snow Leopard, which prioritised refinement over new features.
Apple is also said to be making under-the-hood changes to support future hardware, including a foldable iPhone, while expanding features for business users and customers in emerging markets such as India.
Additional updates are expected across apps such as Wallet, Safari, Weather, and Messages, along with broader interface tweaks and system-level enhancements.
What developers can expect from WWDC 2026
A key part of Apple’s strategy this year is expected to focus on developers.
According to Bloomberg, Apple will introduce a new framework called CoreAI, aimed at making it easier for developers to integrate AI capabilities into their applications.
Developers are also expected to gain deeper access to Siri through extensions, allowing apps to plug directly into the assistant and participate in AI-driven workflows.
In addition, Apple may allow developers to choose between different AI models, including those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, marking a shift toward a more flexible AI ecosystem.
