Fri. Dec 6th, 2024
#WWDC23 is just around the corner and it is absolutely shaping up to be an absolute doozie. We’re expecting not only the obligatory new versions of software for all Apple’s platforms but also multiple new Macs AND the first look at Apple’s headset that’s been rumoured for years! So let’s talk about exactly what we’re expecting and why, and what we shouldn’t get our hopes up for. It can’t ALL be good news, can it!

Also, I’ll be live streaming later tonight so set your reminder and come get hyped with me then!

First, the event is gonna go on for a while, apparently clocking in at more than two hours due to the sheer weight of AWESOME that Apple is unleashing on Monday. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who may go down as the GOAT in Apple leak terms. I’m just lucky he’s a writer, not a YouTuber. He’s gonna be a recurring character in this video. Be warned.

Bear in mind what Apple has announced in the past few weeks, stuff that basically overflowed from WWDC because it was too full, including Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad which people have been begging for for years. Also, the potentially life-changing Personal Voice which in 15 minutes or so of reading will be able to virtualise your voice for future use, so those with medical conditions that affect their speech will be able to continue communicating verbally. And just yesterday, only not-quite-a-year since it was announced, No Man’s Sky came to the Mac with an Apple Silicon native version (you can play it on Intel Macs too, but why would you?). Reading between the lines of the announcement tweets though, there may be a version ready for Apple’s Reality Pro headset too.

On the software side we’re expecting iOS 17 to bring a handful of new features including a new landscape lock screen that could show homekit controls or just make a pretty great bedside table or “nightstand” display. You’re welcome America. There are also unclear rumours of changes to the Apple Wallet and Health Apps, and possibly even customisation options system-wide for colours and icons.

iPadOS 17 will most likely get all the stuff iOS got last year if its lucky, but after the addition of a native Weather app last year, can we dream of a day when Apple finds a way to port that elusive calculator app to the big screen? Fingers crossed the M2 chip can handle it.

tvOS will get… I dunno, something, hopefully. The recent years have focused on homekit cameras and the like but honestly, I could see them barely mentioning this platform, if at all. WatchOS is rumoured to get some of the biggest changes with a switch to a more widget-oriented interface in a huge shift to what we’ve had for the past 8 years.

MacOS 14 has seen very little on the rumour front this year, with barely any talk of new names, so I guess we can do a Craig and make some up – leave me your guesses in the comments and if you’re right, I’ll reach out and send you a prize.

And speaking of MacOS, A SEGUE! At this point i’m very much torn, we could get M2 as most rumours say, or we could get an M3 which simply looks like an M2 in the testing Apple and their teams have put it through using 3rd party Apps. It’s rare for App developers to see the next version of Apple’s chips in their developer logs on the phone, so I guess hiding it if the core counts are the same is fairly trivial for Apple’s engineers. If that is the case however, there’s a decent chance its actually on the same N4 production node as A16 which it will borrow core designs from, and not the 3nm node we’re hoping for, which would mean the performance jump isn’t what people have expected. While that would be a bummer, there’s also a decent chance that Apple’s engineers have managed to resolve the issues they had in the GPU of A16 to support Ray Tracing. Which might be cool for a headset for example.


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