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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
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6 min read | |
Apple is about to answer a burning question about its future | |
Analysis by Lisa Eadicicco, CNN | |
Updated: | |
5:00 AM EDT, Sun June 8, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Apple is about to reveal what’s next for its most important products | |
at its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference on Monday. This year, | |
the stakes are significantly higher than usual. | |
Apple announced its long-awaited push into artificial intelligence at | |
last year’s event by introducing Apple Intelligence, a suite of | |
AI-powered features for the iPhone and other products. But delays and | |
underwhelming capabilities have put Apple on its back foot. The | |
company consumers and Wall Street that it’s a leader in the crucial | |
technology, which is expected to overhaul the way people work, | |
communicate and find information online. | |
Now, one year after introducing Apple Intelligence, the company is on | |
the hook to prove at this week’s Worldwide Developer Conference | |
(WWDC), a key annual event for the company, that it can make a name for | |
itself in the AI space as its chief rivals like Google continue to | |
charge ahead. | |
Addressing the problem | |
At this year’s WWDC, which kicks off Monday with a keynote address | |
from Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives at 10 a.m. PT, don’t | |
expect Apple to show off a flashy new iPhone or Apple Watch. Instead, | |
the company will outline new capabilities for its current devices that | |
lay the foundation for where it could be going next. | |
“WWDC, from a developer conference perspective, is maybe more | |
interesting than others,” said Carolina Milanesi, president and | |
principal analyst at technology analysis firm Creative Strategies. | |
“It does give consumers a peek as to what they can expect coming to | |
whatever device that they already own.” | |
How much or how little those software updates incorporate Apple | |
Intelligence could be telling. Apple did not immediately respond to | |
CNN’s request for comment regarding its WWDC plans and AI strategy. | |
Apple’s AI struggles are larger than just a product delay. The bigger | |
issue is that Apple’s current AI tools don’t offer experiences that | |
are notably different from what . Apple Intelligence can summarize text | |
messages, identify real-world surroundings with the iPhone’s camera, | |
erase unwanted objects from photos, rewrite emails and prioritize | |
notifications. But those features are similar to capabilities offered | |
by other companies such as Google, OpenAI and Samsung. | |
In fact, rivals like and are already moving one step further with | |
technology they claim can execute tasks for consumers rather than just | |
answering questions or generating summaries. | |
There are benefits to waiting; Apple has largely been able to avoid the | |
of its rivals, with . Apple is also known for popularizing new | |
technologies rather than being first, as was the case with smartwatches | |
and tablets, two categories it now dominates. | |
But Apple has yet to prove it can do the same with AI. And it doesn’t | |
sound like that’s going to change at WWDC, according to , who wrote | |
the event “may be a letdown from an AI standpoint,” citing | |
“people within the company.” | |
However, the report did say Apple may open its models to developers so | |
that non-Apple apps can incorporate text summarization and its other | |
AI-powered features. The company may also announce an AI-powered | |
battery management tool, according to . | |
But Dan Ives, global head of technology research for Wedbush Securities | |
and an Apple bull, isn’t concerned about whether Apple makes | |
significant AI announcements on Monday. He thinks Apple has a big | |
opportunity to monetize Apple Intelligence moving forward despite its | |
slow rollout, he wrote in a June 6 report. | |
The competition | |
Google, whose Android operating system is the only major rival to | |
Apple’s iOS, has been barreling ahead with new AI tools and services. | |
Its annual I/O developers conference was entirely focused on AI, with | |
the company showing how the tech will be incorporated into everything | |
from its to its popular Chrome browser and Gmail. | |
At that event, Google also announced an upgraded version of its | |
AI-generated video engine that and for its ability to create startingly | |
realistic clips. | |
“I think it’s becoming clearer how far behind they (Apple) are in | |
AI,” Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster told | |
CNN in March. | |
Samsung is also said to be partnering with AI startup Perplexity to | |
package its app and digital assistant into its Galaxy phones, according | |
to . This comes after Motorola incorporated AI technology from several | |
companies, including Perplexity, on its new – further underscoring | |
that the technology could play a bigger role in smartphones. | |
That presents a major opportunity for Apple; it’s the world’s | |
second-largest phone maker by market share and also the only mobile | |
device company to completely control both the hardware and software of | |
its products. That crucial benefit has long been an advantage for | |
Apple, giving it more freedom to develop exclusive features tailored | |
for its products on its own timeline rather than coordinating with | |
partners. Wedbush Securities estimates that “25% of the world’s | |
population will eventually access AI through an Apple device over the | |
next few years,” Ives wrote. | |
But Apple has yet to execute on that potential with AI, and the clock | |
is ticking. | |
“We need more time to complete our work on these features so they | |
meet our high quality bar,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in reference to | |
the more personal version of Siri on the company’s May earnings call. | |
“We are making progress, and we look forward to getting these | |
features into customers hands.” | |
Building the future | |
There’s a growing belief in the tech industry that some new type of | |
device could one day supplant, or at least partially replace, the | |
smartphone. And those devices, unsurprisingly, will largely run on AI. | |
Eddy Cue, the longtime Apple executive that leads the company’s | |
services division, even , saying during his testimony in Google’s | |
search antitrust trial that “you may not need an iPhone 10 years from | |
now,” reported. Veteran former Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO | |
Sam Altman are also partnering to develop a new AI hardware product, | |
the pair . | |
Companies like Google, Samsung and Meta are also investing in smart | |
glasses with built-in digital assistants that can identify objects in a | |
person’s environment as a potential successor to the smartphone. | |
That doesn’t mean iPhones will become obsolete anytime soon, nor does | |
it mean consumers will switch to Android or avoid upgrading because of | |
a lack of new AI features. | |
But in the near term, AI could give Apple another means to encourage | |
iPhone upgrades if executed properly. Apple Intelligence is only | |
supported on newer models, specifically the iPhone 15 Pro and later, | |
meaning customers with older phones must upgrade to use it. Apple | |
touted the iPhone 16 as being “built for Apple Intelligence” when | |
announcing the device in September. | |
Cook said during Apple’s most recent earnings call that | |
year-over-year iPhone 16 performance was stronger in countries where | |
Apple Intelligence was available than those where it was not available, | |
perhaps an indication that its AI efforts are somewhat helping sales. | |
The fact that people carry their iPhones – along with their AirPods | |
and Apple Watch – everywhere they go could give Apple’s Siri a leg | |
up compared to rivals like Amazon’s Alexa. | |
That is, if Apple does it right. | |
“The fact that Siri knows me so much more, just because my main | |
driver, from a phone perspective, is an iPhone will make that | |
interaction even more valuable than what Alexa does,” said Milanesi. | |
“(Alexa) sees me in my home context, but doesn’t necessarily come | |
with me in the outside world. So that is the potential right now.” | |
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