In just over a week, Apple will be holding the 2018 edition of WWDC. The event has revolved around the company unveiling the latest version of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. And sometimes, Apple also ends up unveiling a new hardware at the event. With no major announcements from Apple in the first five months, the company’s fans are eagerly looking forward to the event to see what it has in store for the next version of iOS and macOS.

Thankfully, rumors and leaks have already given us a fair bit of idea as to what to expect from Apple at WWDC 2018. Some might say that leaks act spoil the whole fun of the event, but this time around, the leaks surrounding iOS 12 and the next release of macOS are relatively minor. Some of these rumors will help in keeping our expectations in check, while their lack presents Apple with an opportunity to genuinely surprise everyone with its software innovation.

iOS 12

The highlight of WWDC 2018 is without a doubt going to be the next version of iOS. iOS 11 might be less than a year old right now, but compared to the improvements that Google has unveiled as a part of Android Oreo and Android P, it feels awfully dated now. Some of the shortcomings of the OS are now more obvious than ever and its high time that Apple gets around to fixing them for good this year.

‘Marzipan’

The highlight of iOS 12 will be its unification with macOS. Apple is seemingly working on a project codenamed “Marzipan” which would allow developers to write one app that would automatically work on iPhone, iPad, and macOS with minor changes. The company is hoping to make this change to make it easier for developers to manage multiple iOS and macOS apps whilst ensuring the same app quality across platforms. This move will also allow developers to frequently update their macOS apps which is usually neglected by most after the initial month of its release.

Siri

Apart from iOS 12, Apple will be heavily focusing on Siri this year. Apple might have been the first company to release a digital assistant to the public but the company’s offering is now behind its competition by a huge margin. The gap is so huge that I think if Apple does not announce some major improvements to Siri this year, it might never be able to catch up with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

macOS 10.14

There’s not much known about the next release of macOS 10.14. At one point in time, macOS was the staple of Apple’s software efforts but that is no longer the case. This year, we might see macOS get a native system-wide dark mode but then again, there have been rumors regarding this in the previous years as well. Like iOS 12, we should see macOS 10.14 feature tighter Siri integration along with improvements to some of the key system apps. The Mac App Store is also going to get an iOS 11-like redesign which is probably going to be the highlight of the update.

watchOS 5 and tvOS

Apple will possibly also announce a major new release of watchOS and tvOS at WWDC 2018 next week. These new releases will pack a few major features but none of them should be earth-shattering. For watchOS 5, Apple is expected to add support for third-party watch faces and improve the health tracking aspect further, while tvOS will probably gain even tighter Siri integration.

New Macs, Cheaper HomePod?!

WWDC is primarily a developer focused event from Apple but the company has used the event to unveil minor refreshed variants of its hardware. The company is expected to unveil a refreshed MacBook Pro lineup at the event this year featuring Intel’s Coffee Lake chips as suggested by the delayed shipping estimate of the existing 13-inch MacBook Pro. The upcoming refreshed MacBook Pro models are unlikely to gain any other improvements.

There’s also a rumor that Apple will unveil a cheaper $199 HomePod at WWDC 2018. An even wilder rumor claims Apple will launch this $199 HomePod under the Beats branding. The latter definitely seems unlikely, and if Apple does plan on unveiling a cheaper $199 HomePod, I’d expect the company to announce it at its September event. This is because HomePod in its current form is severely limited by Siri which should be resolved by September if Apple ends up unveiling a smarter Siri at WWDC 2018.

Source: iphonehacks