On Monday, June 9, Apple’s WWDC 2026 begins. It will be the last developer conference with Tim Cook as CEO — John Ternus takes over after. And Apple is under enormous pressure to finally deliver on AI.
Siri’s big overhaul
The biggest upgrade is Siri. Bloomberg leaks have revealed a standalone Siri app designed to compete directly with ChatGPT and Claude. Under the hood, it’s powered by Google’s Gemini — a notable detail, given that Apple now considers the OpenAI partnership a failure.
The new Siri is expected to understand context, handle multi-step tasks, and communicate more naturally across apps. There’s also an AI agent feature for the App Store: users should be able to delegate tasks like booking reservations, editing documents, or controlling smart home devices.
Apple Intelligence 2.0
Beyond Siri, the industry expects a comprehensive Apple Intelligence update. A new ‘Visual Intelligence’ feature in the Camera app will reportedly get its own Siri mode, alongside the classic Photo and Video options.
The software updates are expected to bring the biggest visual overhaul in over a decade — iOS, macOS, and the other platforms are all getting a fresh design language.
Why this time is different
Apple has disappointed on AI so far. WWDC 2025 brought no major Siri revolution, even though it was promised. Now, a year later, the pressure is even greater: Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini have defined the AI assistant market, and Apple needs to show that Siri can keep up.
Tim Cook delivering his final keynote only raises the stakes. He wants to end his tenure with an AI statement — not another ‘coming next year.’
Sources: TechCrunch, CNBC