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Or, possibly, since this is software developers conference Apple would rather give hardware its own focus and importance in an event focused on hardware later in the year. It's a matter of seeing what you want to see really.

I still don't think it's a good idea to introduce all the hardware at the end of the year. WWDC gives them a good opportunity to introduce hardware. And since they often have introduced new hardware at WWDC, including last year, it's not like it's this crazy unprecedented move to do so.
 
basically, this is what I expect from Apple these days:

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and nothing more.


Apple are in serious need of a Major hardware release. Usable MacBook pros with ports. Updated Mac mini's. New user upgradable without one million peripherals Mac pros. If they don't do it this WWDC then I've lost hope they will ever do major releases.

Indeed. I mean, how I suppose to write software for iPhones and iPads on outdated hardware.

MacBook Pro users need a new keyboard
If Apple actually had a courage, they could just re-introduce MBP 2015 with updated CPU/GPU and many people would be happy with that.
 
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With iOS 12, Apple is going to focus on introducing bug fixes and improvements to existing features in an attempt to avoid some of the issues that popped up with iOS 11 over the course of the year

Crazy thought. How about using iOS 11.x to fix those pesky bugs?

A whole new version simply puts bugs on to of bugs.

Yes, I am familiar with the SDLC.
 
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I still don't think it's a good idea to introduce all the hardware at the end of the year.

I agree. It seems like common sense to spread hardware releases over the year. Particularly separating Macs and iPads, so that you've forgotten the pain of buying one by the time you may buy the other. But Apple don't ship on my schedule, or yours. What logic do they use? Who knows? They are pretty much the company least likely to explain themselves, and always have been.

WWDC gives them a good opportunity to introduce hardware. And since they often have introduced new hardware at WWDC, including last year, it's not like it's this crazy unprecedented move to do so.

Sure. Equally it's not unprecedented for them not to introduce hardware at WWDC though. I don't know why people (not necessarily you, but there are plenty in this thread) are acting like they're entitled to it and resorting to the over dramatic "this is the last straw, Apple" stuff. If they don't announce today, they will do so in a few months. Chill out, it's only a computer people.
 
Enhanced Do Not Disturb controls
Would be super-useful if you could have separate settings for each day of the week so you could adjust it to your work schedule (not just weekdays/weekends because not everyone works Monday-Friday). Basically the same way alarms work. It would even be useful for some people to alternate schedules every other week (for alarms as well) but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
 
Can hardly wait for WWDC!!! Young highly motivated management team at Apple will be presenting a wheelbarrow full of new things making us drool and open our wallets. Oh wait, that was 20 years ago.....:(

More likely - emoji engineering with new colors via enhancements to the "Emoji developer kit". The schmuck stuck presenting will claim years of "research" went into it....But will the audience clap for lipstick on a pig?
 
If there is a low cost MacBook/MBA replacement in the works, it seems like WWDC would be the ideal place to debut it so it’s on the market for back to school. Otherwise, I think there’s a missed opportunity here.
 
"This year we are going to focus on 'under the hood' improvements, bug fixes, and so on... as we did in the much-loved Snow Leopard era several years ago. However, this year we're going to do something MORE. Later today, Apple.com will launch a feature where our users can formally submit ideas for hardware and software innovations they'd like to see and problems or issues they'd most like to see resolved.

We're going to collect those suggestions for 30 days, summarize them into lists at least 100 items long, then present that list to our users again to rank by picking their top 10 or 20 most important to each user.

THEN, Apple will use that customer-centered priority to address those one by one. By this time next year, we will be committed to getting every great big idea most desired by our customers into our development pipeline and every single problem or bug resolved. Software updates throughout the year will regularly reflect our progress directly against those lists. Each major update will bring more and more of what customers want from Apple the most.

Today, we take the biggest step in Apple's history to more tangibly focus on delighting our customers than ever before. We will redefine the meaning of the term 'customer-driven' by taking it to a level only Apple can achieve. Our amazing team of internal and external developers will be charged with making it happen quickly and up to our legendary "just works" standard, unmatched by any competitor.

By WWDC19, we expect new dazzling features most wanted by our customers to be in a new public pipeline and issues & bugs that matter most to be resolved to our customer's maximum satisfaction. In 5 years, we expect people to look back at this period as the year that Apple innovation intersected with customer wants like never before. The future that flows from this should be brighter than it's ever been
."


I don't expect anything like that. But imagine the ramifications of that kind of commitment for modern Apple to very tangibly reconnect with customers in such a dramatic and direct way.

I doubt even the maximum "Apple is always right" players could not find something to answer Apple prompts about what else they would like to see in iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, etc... and I doubt even they could not jot down at least a few items in a bug list. Get all that down in one place, group rank those lists by importance to us consumers and then knock them out one by one.

Imagine.
"...more and more of what customers want from Apple the most."

Ah. That's your problem right there! You, and many others I know, think Apple should primarily base it's decisions off it's customers' desires. But, Apple has never been that way, and it looks like they have no intention of doing so. In fact, the opposite is true: Apple makes decisions, and it's customers overwhelmingly decide to go along with it.

This isn't about us. It's about Apple, all the time.
 
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I just wish Apple would open thing's up a bit so I can keep my droid phone and it would play nice some other Apple products such as an AW and IPad. I really want an AW and Ipad.
Almost bought an IPX but so boring and sort of outdated compared to my V30s.
 
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Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference starts off on Monday morning with a keynote event that's set to take place at 10:00 a.m. This year's event will be something of a surprise, because we haven't heard many details on what's coming.

Apple uses WWDC to preview new versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS, and this year will be no exception. Oftentimes, new hardware, such as refreshed Macs, debuts at the event, but this year, rumors suggest we're only going to be seeing software from Apple.

In the post and video below, we've outlined everything that we expect Apple to introduce at WWDC based on the rumors that have circulated in the months leading up to the event.


iOS 12

With iOS 12, Apple is going to focus on introducing bug fixes and improvements to existing features in an attempt to avoid some of the issues that popped up with iOS 11 over the course of the year.

Apple was initially planning to introduce a range of new features that included a refresh of the Home screen with a redesigned app grid, a revamped CarPlay interface, improvements to core apps like Mail, and new features for the Camera and Photos apps, but these features have been delayed until 2019, according to Bloomberg, to focus on under-the-hood improvements.

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That doesn't mean there will be no new features in iOS 12, though, and we are expecting to see some significant additions to the iOS operating system.

Bloomberg has said Apple plans to introduce some kind of cross-platform functionality with macOS that's designed to allow developers to create a single app that will work on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, which would successfully boost the number of Mac apps available for download. Right now, Apple uses entirely separate stores for Mac and iOS apps.

There is some question about this feature, however, as Daring Fireball's John Gruber says it's planned for 2019, not 2018.

Apple is planning to add new Animoji on the iPhone X, and landscape support for Face ID may be coming as a feature that's designed for the upcoming iPad Pro models that are expected to adopt Face ID. Landscape support will also presumably be available for the iPhone X.

In addition to new Animoji, we may see Animoji integration into FaceTime, allowing people to use the animated emoji characters when making a video call. Apple is said to be working on multi-person FaceTime calls, but it's not yet clear if this functionality will be ready for a 2018 debut.

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Another major new feature planned for iOS 12, which will be a focus of the update, includes a suite of new digital health tools that are designed to let users better monitor how much time they spend on their iPhones and iPads and how much time is spent within apps. These tools will also be available for parents to monitor their children's device usage. The aim with Apple's new digital tools is to alleviate concerns about smartphone addiction.

Enhanced Do Not Disturb controls will go hand in hand with the digital health tools, giving users more options for automatically rejecting calls and silencing notifications.

Apple is planning to announce ARKit 2.0, a new version of the augmented reality tools that allow developers to build AR experiences into their apps. ARKit 2.0 will focus on multiplayer gameplay, letting two players see the same virtual objects, and it will allow for persistence, which means virtual objects placed in an augmented reality app will remain in place between sessions. So, for example, you could put a virtual painting on the wall with an app and when you open it up again, the painting will still be there.

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With iOS 12, Apple is expected to expand the NFC capabilities of the iPhone beyond simple mobile payments, allowing users to securely unlock doors with NFC technology.

Several other smaller features are planned for iOS 12 according to rumors, such as a redesigned Stocks app, deeper Siri integration in Photos for search purposes, a revamped interface for importing photos into an iPad, and a revamped iBooks app, which could be renamed to just "Books" and offer a "Today" section much like the iOS App Store.

Make sure to read our full iOS 12 roundup for more details on what to expect in iOS 12 and beyond, as it also covers the features that have been delayed until iOS 13.

macOS 10.14

As mentioned above, macOS 10.14 may be gaining support for cross-platform apps, allowing apps designed for iOS to also run on the Mac. As part of this initiative, some iOS-only apps like Health, Home, and others may also be available on the Mac going forward.

Aside from the hint of cross-platform functionality, we haven't heard many details on what we can expect to see in macOS 10.14. Daring Fireball's John Gruber believes Apple is planning a Mac App Store redesign that would bring it inline with the new App Store for iOS that Apple introduced with iOS 11. A new App Store redesign would make sense given rumors of cross-platform apps.

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We're expecting Apple to add support for the new Apple Filesystem for Fusion Drives in macOS 10.14 based on some recent comments from Apple engineering chief Craig Federighi, but beyond that, new features coming in macOS 10.14 will be a surprise.

Read our macOS 10.14 roundup for additional details on what to expect in the next-generation version of macOS, including what it might be named.

tvOS 12, watchOS 5 and New HomePod Software

Along with iOS 12 and macOS 10.14, we're going to see updates to tvOS 12 and watchOS 5, but we haven't heard details on what new features might be coming in these software updates.

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tvOS and watchOS (especially tvOS) are historically smaller updates than macOS 10.14 and iOS 12 and don't receive as much attention, leaving the features largely a surprise. We do know that we're getting a rainbow-themed pride watch face, but the watch face will be available to everyone following WWDC rather than bundled into watchOS 5.

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This is the first WWDC where we've had the HomePod, but it too has its own operating system and may get revisions on the same update schedule as Apple's other software updates. Check out our HomePod roundup for more details on the last HomePod software update (11.4).

Hardware

There are some years where Apple uses the Worldwide Developers Conference to launch new hardware products. As an example, in 2017, Apple unveiled new iPad Pro models and debuted refreshed MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and iMacs.

We've heard some analyst predictions and sketchier rumors pointing towards possible product launches at WWDC, but a recent report from Bloomberg suggests Apple will not be introducing any hardware at the event at all, instead focusing on software.

Should this information be wrong, we've outlined the other rumors we've heard about potential product launches that could be coming at WWDC.

New Notebooks and iMacs

The MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac lineups are all due for a refresh, and were updated at the Worldwide Developers Conference last year.

Bloomberg says Apple is working on refreshes for the 12-inch MacBook and the MacBook Pro with next-generation Intel chips, but those updates will not be ready until later in this year.

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The same goes for a rumored low-cost notebook that will serve as a successor to the MacBook Air - it won't be ready for a summer launch.

Current iMacs, MacBooks, and MacBook Pro models will be going more than a year without an update if there's no June refresh, and it's not clear when these machines will see an update if not in June. September alongside iPhones is a possibility, as is a launch earlier or later in the year via press release or a separate event.

For a full rundown of all Mac-related rumors, check out our MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac roundups.

iPad Pros

Apple is working on a revamped iPad Pro that adopts the TrueDepth camera system for Face ID along with smaller bezels and no Home button, turning the iPad into something of a giant iPhone X.

We're still expecting two sizes, somewhere around 10.5 and 12.9-inches, but the new iPad Pro models will be able to adopt larger displays while maintaining the same body size thanks to the aforementioned slimmer bezels.

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2018 iPad Pro mockup via Benjamin Geskin
A TrueDepth camera system for the iPad Pro will allow the device to adopt Animoji, and a new feature rumored for iOS 12 will allow Face ID to work in landscape mode, something not currently possible on the iPhone X.

While the iPhone X uses an OLED display, Apple's TrueDepth-equipped iPad Pro is expected to continue to use an LCD display due to the difficulty and expense involved to obtain larger OLED panels. Inside, the new iPad Pro is expected to adopt a faster, more efficient A11X chip and an Apple-designed GPU.

Bloomberg has said the new iPad Pro will launch "a little more than a year" after the last iPad Pro update, which indicates a September launch, and former KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also said a release won't happen until sometime in the third quarter of 2018.

It doesn't sound like we're going to see the new iPad Pro models at WWDC, but some analysts have predicted a June launch. Take a look at our iPad Pro roundup for full details on what to expect from a next-generation tablet.

iPhone SE 2?

Rumors about an iPhone SE 2 have been all over the place, making it difficult to nail down what Apple has planned for a second-generation 4-inch iPhone SE.

We've heard rumors suggesting everything from small design changes to a major overhaul that includes Face ID camera system and an iPhone X-style design, something that seems unlikely for a device that Apple has positioned as its most affordable.

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A case maker's rendering of what the iPhone SE 2 will look like, which could be inaccurate
Recent rumors seem split between an iPhone SE design that includes a glass backing for wireless charging and the aforementioned iPhone X-like design, but based on what we've heard, it sounds like at least some of these rumors may be confusing a second-generation iPhone SE with the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone Apple is said to have in the works for its fall 2018 iPhone lineup.

A lot of the iPhone SE 2 rumors have come from less than reliable supply chain sources in Asia with little information provided by trustworthy sources that have a proven track record and are known to provide accurate details.

Given these mixed rumors, we don't have a clear picture of what an iPhone SE 2 is going to look like, and because everything is so up in the air, it's also difficult to nail down a launch date.

We've heard several rumors suggesting a launch could happen during the first half of the year, in the summer, and at WWDC, which suggests a June launch, but again, these rumors need to be viewed with some skepticism especially amid reliable information suggesting no hardware at WWDC.

Make sure to read our full iPhone SE 2 roundup to get an idea of how mixed the rumors have been.

Beats Accessory With Siri Integration?

Apple analyst Gene Munster believes Apple may be planning to introduce a Beats-branded product that includes Siri integration as a low-cost HomePod alternative. The device would not be branded as a HomePod, but would function in a similar manner.

Munster does not specify a product, but this would presumably be a speaker like the Beats Pill+, which would be able to do all of the same things the HomePod can do at a lower cost. Munster believes such a product could be priced around $250, $100 less than the HomePod.

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We've also heard a rumor from the Chinese supply chain that suggests a rumored lower-cost HomePod will be under the Beats by Dre brand. It's not clear if these are two separate rumors or if Munster's prediction is based on this information. We've heard no other rumors suggesting Siri integration in Beats products, but it's a possibility.

AirPower and New Wireless AirPods Charging Case

Apple announced the AirPower in September and said it would be coming at some point in 2018, and since that announcement, people have been eagerly awaiting the accessory, which is designed to charge the Apple Watch Series 3, AirPods, and iPhone X, 8, or 8 Plus all at the same time.

Rumors suggested the AirPower would launch in March, but that didn't happen, and we now have little idea of when Apple will make it available for purchase.

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It's possible it will launch following the Worldwide Developers Conference with Apple taking the opportunity to unveil it after a major event, but we have no solid evidence suggesting that's the case.

The AirPower will be accompanied by a new Wireless AirPods Charging Case, which is necessary to allow the AirPods to charge via the AirPower. Apple will presumably update the AirPods in its store to ship with the new case, while customers who already have AirPods will be able to purchase it separately. More detail on the AirPower and AirPods Charging Case can be found in our AirPods roundup.

New Apple Watch Bands and iPhone/iPad Cases

Apple updates its selection of available Apple Watch bands on a seasonal basis. We last saw new bands in the spring, and with supply of those bands beginning to dwindle, it's time for a refresh.

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We're likely to see new summer colors for Apple's band lineup, and Apple may also refresh its available iPhone and iPad cases, especially if the company opts to unveil new iPad Pro models at WWDC. These cases and bands may not be announced at the keynote event, but could be quietly added to the store afterwards.

MacRumors WWDC Coverage

What are you most hoping to see Apple launch at WWDC? Let us know in the comments. Make sure to tune in to MacRumors on Monday, where we'll have live coverage of the event both on the site and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account.

Following the keynote, we will also have ongoing coverage of all of the announcements and everything that's discovered over the course of the week.

Article Link: What to Expect at WWDC 2018: iOS 12, macOS 10.14, tvOS 12 and watchOS 5 But No Hardware

These rumors make it seem like WWDC 2018 will be lame as hell, and that WWDC 2019 will be a fire show.

If they announce an iMac with a Coffee Lake cpu and a wireless magic keyboard with touch bar & touch id at the same price as the current lineup, with RAM upgradeability still intact I will be deeply, deeply satisfied. They need to do that or I will internally weep.
 
Apple is bad enough. Apple tied to Intel is like a kid tying himself to his dog and letting it eat his homework 24/7.

The hardware updates lag longer all the time. 4 years for the mini? 5 years for MacPro??! Letting quirky and glitchy designs for notebooks slide for over a year???!??!???!?

Hook up a generator 6 feet under; Jobs is turning in his grave faster than a blender.
 
Apple has proven the last few years they see WWDC as what it’s meant to be. A software show for developers. So I won’t be expecting any hardware.

They do need to do a major hardware refresh though, I’m sure it’s coming and everyone after will go crazy saying ‘woah! What an event!’ And ‘Apple is back!’ Like they did a few years ago when they refreshed a bunch of things.
 
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Apple has proven the last few years they see WWDC as what it’s meant to be. A software show for developers. So I won’t be expecting any hardware.

They do need to do a major hardware refresh though, I’m sure it’s coming and everyone after will go crazy saying ‘woah! What an event!’ And ‘Apple is back!’ Like they did a few years ago when they refreshed a bunch of things.


If anyone is left......
 
Do fusion drives still make sense in 2018? Big 1TB+ SSDs are getting so cheap now I hardly see the point. For any normal consumer, SSDs should be more than sufficient. Always fast performance and no need to worry about the potential unreliability of spinning media.

So why would Apple bother with a "new Apple Filesystem for Fusion Drives"?
 
Why even bother having a WWDC this year? Rumor's of no hardware, but no worries, there will be plenty of animojis and watchbands! Never underestimate their importance. Also some effort will be made to patch last year's buggy software. Oh yes, I almost forgot, more beta releases because software is never done, it is always in beta. When will Apple leave Beta and come back to the land of Alpha?
I was thinking the same thing. Apparently Apple took the year (give or take) off with the completion of the new campus-just skip WWDC, all it is-is correcting what they previewed with iOS 11 and High Sierra-bug features and *cough* highlighted features (imessages in the cloud, oh but still waiting on APFS for ‘fusion’ drives) for last years updates just went live to the public this week... I guess they made it in a week before the year mark.
 
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