Gurman: Apple needs a major AI comeback, but this WWDC probably won’t be it
According to Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, Apple insiders “believe that the conference may be a letdown from an AI standpoint,” highlighting how far behind Apple still is. Still, Apple has a few AI-related announcements slated for June 9.
As previously reported, this year’s biggest AI announcement will be Apple’s plans to open up its on-device foundation models to third-party developers.
These are the same ~3B parameter models Apple currently uses for things like text summarization and autocorrect, and they’ll soon be available for devs to integrate into their own apps.
To be clear, this is a meaningful milestone for Apple’s AI platform. It gives developers a powerful tool to natively integrate into their apps and potentially unlock genuinely useful features.
Still, these on-device models are far less capable than the large-scale, cloud-based systems used by OpenAI and Google, so don’t expect earth-shattering features.
AI features slated for this year’s iOS 26
Elsewhere in its AI efforts, Apple will reportedly:
Launch a new battery power management mode;
Reboot its Translate app, “now integrated with AirPods and Siri”;
Start describing some features within apps like Safari and Photos as “AI-powered”.
As Gurman puts it, this feels like a risky “gap year.” Internally, Apple is aiming to make up for it at WWDC 2026, with bigger swings that “it hopes it can try to convince consumers that it’s an AI innovator.“. However, given how fast the competition is moving, waiting until next year might put Apple even further behind, perception-wise.
What’s still in the works?
Currently, Apple’s ongoing AI developments include an LLM Siri, a revamped Shortcuts app, the ambitious health-related Project Mulberry, and a full-blown ChatGPT competitor with web search capabilities.
According to Gurman, Apple is holding off on previewing some of these features to avoid repeating last year’s mistake, when it showed off Apple Intelligence with features that were nowhere near ready and are still MIA.
Behind the scenes, Gurman reports Apple has made progress. It now has models with 3B, 7B, 33B, and 150B parameters in testing, with the largest ones relying on the cloud.
Internal benchmarks suggest its top model is close to recent ChatGPT updates in quality. Still, concerns over hallucinations and internal debates over Apple’s approach to generative AI are keeping things private, for now.
Apple’s dev AI story
As for Apple’s developer offerings, Gurman reports:
“Developers will see AI get more deeply integrated into Apple’s developer tools, including those for user interface testing. And, in a development that will certainly appease many developers, SwiftUI, a set of Apple frameworks and tools for creating app user interfaces, will finally get a built-in rich text editor.”
And if you’re still waiting for Swift Assist, the AI code-completion tool Apple announced last year, Gurman says Apple is expected to provide an update on it. Still, there is no word yet on whether this update includes releasing the Anthropic-powered code completion version that its employees have been testing for the past few months.
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Gurman: Apple needs a major AI comeback, but this WWDC probably won’t be it
According to Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, Apple insiders “believe that the conference may be a letdown from an AI standpoint,” highlighting how far behind Apple still is. Still, Apple has a few AI-related announcements slated for June 9.
As previously reported, this year’s biggest AI announcement will be Apple’s plans to open up its on-device foundation models to third-party developers.
These are the same ~3B parameter models Apple currently uses for things like text summarization and autocorrect, and they’ll soon be available for devs to integrate into their own apps.
To be clear, this is a meaningful milestone for Apple’s AI platform. It gives developers a powerful tool to natively integrate into their apps and potentially unlock genuinely useful features.
Still, these on-device models are far less capable than the large-scale, cloud-based systems used by OpenAI and Google, so don’t expect earth-shattering features.
AI features slated for this year’s iOS 26
Elsewhere in its AI efforts, Apple will reportedly:
Launch a new battery power management mode;
Reboot its Translate app, “now integrated with AirPods and Siri”;
Start describing some features within apps like Safari and Photos as “AI-powered”.
As Gurman puts it, this feels like a risky “gap year.” Internally, Apple is aiming to make up for it at WWDC 2026, with bigger swings that “it hopes it can try to convince consumers that it’s an AI innovator.“. However, given how fast the competition is moving, waiting until next year might put Apple even further behind, perception-wise.
What’s still in the works?
Currently, Apple’s ongoing AI developments include an LLM Siri, a revamped Shortcuts app, the ambitious health-related Project Mulberry, and a full-blown ChatGPT competitor with web search capabilities.
According to Gurman, Apple is holding off on previewing some of these features to avoid repeating last year’s mistake, when it showed off Apple Intelligence with features that were nowhere near ready and are still MIA.
Behind the scenes, Gurman reports Apple has made progress. It now has models with 3B, 7B, 33B, and 150B parameters in testing, with the largest ones relying on the cloud.
Internal benchmarks suggest its top model is close to recent ChatGPT updates in quality. Still, concerns over hallucinations and internal debates over Apple’s approach to generative AI are keeping things private, for now.
Apple’s dev AI story
As for Apple’s developer offerings, Gurman reports:
“Developers will see AI get more deeply integrated into Apple’s developer tools, including those for user interface testing. And, in a development that will certainly appease many developers, SwiftUI, a set of Apple frameworks and tools for creating app user interfaces, will finally get a built-in rich text editor.”
And if you’re still waiting for Swift Assist, the AI code-completion tool Apple announced last year, Gurman says Apple is expected to provide an update on it. Still, there is no word yet on whether this update includes releasing the Anthropic-powered code completion version that its employees have been testing for the past few months.
Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel
#gurman #apple #needs #major #comeback