In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman shared his thoughts on what to expect from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. Earlier this week, Apple announced WWDC 2022 for June 6-10 in an online format once again.
Apple’s WWDC events focus mainly on the software side of the company’s ecosystem. “Apple’s iOS 16 (Sydney), watchOS 9 (Kincaid), macOS 13 (Rome) and tvOS 16 (Paris) will obviously be the highlights of the conference,” Gurman wrote in his newsletter.
While the veteran Apple analyst doesn’t expect big design changes to the User Interface in iOS 16, he does expect advancements and new features. “On the iOS side, I’m looking for some fairly significant enhancements across the board, including an update to notifications and new health-tracking features.”
Gurman also said there might be a new multitasking interface for iPadOS, along with upgrades to activity and health tracking for the Apple Watch.
That said, the Bloomberg reporter doesn’t think Apple will be completely silent on the hardware side either. Gurman doubled down on his bet that we won’t see Apple’s upcoming VR/AR headset at WWDC, but he does expect a couple of new Macs from the tech giant in the coming months.
“Apple is gearing up to launch some new Macs in the next few months,” said Gurman. “I’m told there are two new Macs coming around the middle of the year or early in the second half. One of those is likely to be the new MacBook Air.”
Last month, Gurman reported that Apple had delayed the launch of its redesigned MacBook Air. The MacBook Air refresh is rumoured to sport Apple’s next-generation M2 chip and come in an assortment of different colours.
“Other models in the works include an updated Mac mini and 24-inch iMac, as well as a low-end MacBook Pro to replace the aging 13-inch model. And let’s not forget that new Mac Pro and iMac Pro models are in development.”
As for Apple’s efforts in the mixed reality space, Gurman believes we will see a product announcement during the iOS 16 cycle — just not at WWDC.
Gurman said that “beta versions of iOS 16—codenamed Sydney—are chock-full of references to the headset and its interactions with the iPhone,” so we may even get a sneak peek at Apple’s mixed reality Operating System, codenamed ‘Oak’, at the event.
