Apple’s AI Vision: Quiet Upgrades, Not Quantum Leaps

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Apple kicked off WWDC 2025, its annual developer conference, this week. We expected it to be less AI-centric than Microsoft Build and Google I/O (and we weren’t invited, sniff), so we tuned in remotely. The vibe so far: beautiful, restrained… and actively steering away from frontier AI? Apple shipped plenty of features, and executives talked up Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI layer (though not as much as last year). But in an AI-dominated era, Apple’s approach to the technology is remarkably understated. The company clearly isn’t gunning to build the biggest, baddest models. Instead, it’s banking on cleverly integrating capable (if unsexy) AI into their ecosystem, while carefully preserving the product sheen it’s known for.

What’s new

Here’s the product news Apple dropped, and why it matters:

1. Live call translation: Real-time multilingual translations during calls. Looked and felt slow in the demo, but expected to improve.
2. macOS 26 Tahoe: A total redesign leaning into skeuomorphism and Vision Pro-style visuals. Liquid glass everywhere.
3. iOS 26 and iPadOS upgrades: Better multitasking, Mac-style menu bars, expanded CarPlay, and a Spotlight overhaul.
4. Vision Pro updates: Support for multiplayer experiences, refined Personas, and the early seeds of Apple’s next augmented reality (AR) glasses.
5. Workout buddy: Adaptive, AI-generated coaching—a voice in your ear pushing you to finish your sets. Think “AI podcast for fitness.”
6. Wallet identity verification: Apple Wallet IDs are now accepted at TSA checkpoints (U.S. only).
7. Safari changes: Subtle but potentially design-shifting updates to how the browser handles and renders sites.
8. Code assist in Xcode: AI pair programmer inside Apple’s development environment.

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What everyone at Every thinks

What we liked…

Quietly skipping the AI hype

"They’re deepening integration with ChatGPT, now also used in image generation. But they figured the previous AI integration was pretty bad, so they remade some features they promised in a much simpler way."—Andrey Galko, staff engineer at Every

Apple’s on-device AI is free for apps

“The FoundationModels framework Apple announced is really interesting; it’s going to change the way new apps use AI. It allows developers to tap into Apple’s local models directly and use them for free. And because it’s all on device, it will have built-in privacy.”—Naveen Naidu Mummana, entrepreneur in residence at Every

It’s all just ChatGPT wrappers anyway

"At the end of the day, what’s the difference between where to run ChatGPT or the Claude app? I think they’re realizing that they built a foundation for the ChatGPT app, and that their users don’t actually care about models."—Andrey

A fresh coat of 2025 skeuomorphism

"They really made it glass. It’s beautiful—skeuomorphism is back, but 2025 edition. I’m actually very excited about the Mac redesign. MacOS needs a lot of refreshment."—Andrey

Spotlight: Actually good now

"Spotlight looks great—I hope they rewrote it from the ground up because it was deadly slow and painful to use. Most people will be surprised to find these features… and still never know all of them."—Andrey

iPads: Better multitasking, same limitations

"Finally: Windows on iPad. That’s great. But has anyone actually succeeded in doing something productive on an iPad?"—Andrey

…And what we didn’t…

An inevitable disappointment

"After this year's Google and Microsoft conferences, this one is painful to follow. The bar is set so high, and Apple is clearly nowhere in the game. I'm getting more and more convinced to switch to Android for my next phone."—Nityesh Agarwal, Cora engineer at Every

The great AI rebrand

“The previous AI integration was pretty bad, so they remade some [AI] features they promised in much simpler ways. Like, Apple made AI podcasts, but for workouts—and they didn’t really insist it’s AI.”—Andrey

Hollywood calls

“Well, it's clear that Apple priorities are as follows:

1. F1
2. AI.”—Andrey

It’s still messy under the glass

"It feels very sleek and, overall, like a unified visual language. But the execution isn’t there yet. It still feels messy, and a bit dirty… [and] some parts even affect legibility. I understand that it’s all about making the content stand out more and putting the UI in the backseat, but I think they tried to lean in too much into the visual design of the Vision Pro. In this two-dimensional format, it’s not a 1:1 match… it feels a bit forced.”—Lucas Crespo, designer at Every

Quality-of-life updates from 2022

"They’re delivering quality-of-life updates like the tech world hasn’t shifted in the last two years. It’s like they scheduled this in 2022."—Nityesh

Vision Pro still weird, still lonely

"Vision Pro felt lonely. They finally added multiplayer, but they need to make them LIGHTWEIGHT because they’re a PAIN TO WEAR."—Andrey

"Vision Pro still looks weird."—Naveen

The final word

A consumer-first strategy that might work… maybe?

"We live in our Silicon Valley AI tech-bro bubble. A lot of people don’t care about the shifts we see because we spend the biggest part of our days follow[ing] them. To be honest, more people will be more excited about the karaoke feature than another AI AI AI AI AI [one]."—Andrey

“That's true, but the bigger picture point to be made is that it feels like Apple is going to miss the next big tech revolution of AI. Sure, it won't matter to their bottom line this year. But it will in two years, when Google starts integrating Gemini features so deep inside Android that it actually becomes a more compelling alternative to iPhone for the higher income people too, breaking iPhone's monopoly.”—Nityesh

“It all comes down to brand recognition, and ChatGPT’s brand recognition is higher than Gemini’s. So it doesn't matter what is integrated deeply in Android until Google does something to flip brand recognition toward Gemini. To summarize: Microsoft, which has enormous investments in OpenAI, still quietly owns the market.”—Andrey

A long game for control

"I’m not denying Apple lost this AI battle, but they may have never wanted to win it. They still sell sexiness. And you know who wins more than the player who has the most subscribers for their AI chatbot? The one who processes subscription payments for the top x percent richest users in the world.”—Andrey

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