Apple WWDC 2025: Is Apple AI still playing catch up?

Apple appears at WWDC 2025 a year after releasing Apple Intelligence, noticeable for not having progressed as much as AI leaders like OpenAI and Google. Many competitors have developed cloud-based AI that is capable of complicated and imaginative work, but Apple continues to stress privacy and handling AI tasks on the device. This year, one important change is that Apple has made their on-device foundation models (with over 3 billion parameters) available to third-party developers. That will help developers provide easy AI-powered features, such as text summarisation and autocorrect, to their apps. Even so, these systems are not as powerful as the ones used by ChatGPT or Google Gemini and Apple’s plans for better Siri or more advanced web searches are not yet completed.

macOS 26 California “Tahoe” theme at Apple WWDC 2025

With the new version of macOS which is called “macOS Tahoe,” users will find a theme inspired by the state of California. With this new release, the interface is transparent like glass, icons are round and colors are softer, inspired by visionOS. The redesign is meant to unite Apple’s devices by making the experience more modern and visually similar on all Mac, iPhone and iPad models.

WWDC 2025: iOS 26 and macOS 26

A major change we saw this year was Apple switching to naming its products according to their year of release. Instead of iOS 19, people will be presented with iOS 26, macOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26 and tvOS 26. The purpose is to have software version numbers based on the calendar year which simplifies tracking updates on different devices for users and developers. This decision gives a clear and unified look to Apple’s software which before often had confused and different version numbers.

WWDC 2025: Apple’s dedicated gaming app

The Game Center app will soon be replaced by a dedicated app just for Apple Arcade users. The new app will be a single place to access games, check leaderboards and all related gaming material for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and tvOS. Apple is working to simplify the gaming process so people can more easily start and enjoy games from within its ecosystem.

WWDC 2025 to be a year of design and ecosystem, not AI breakthroughs

In conclusion, WWDC 2025 will mainly focus on important updates and design changes, not mainly on headline-making AI. Apple trails in AI, but is concentrating on unifying its products with a fresh look and a simpler way to name them. Apple’s decision to make a gaming app shows that it is devoted to its players as ever. Even though AI is not yet reaching its biggest achievements, Apple is making sure the next Apple products will be more stylish and easier to use.

Disclaimer: The information regarding the gadgets/devices listed in the table and article has been sourced from various secondary sources. For detailed product specifications, please refer to the brand sources.