WWDC 2025: Apple delivers biggest visual overhaul after iOS 7 in AI era
Published on Jun 10, 2025
By IANS
- CUPERTINO
(CALIFORNIA) — Analysts on Tuesday said that this year,
Apple highlighted its one of the core strength: delivering a unified and
seamless experience across all its hardware and added an additional visual
appeal to it — the biggest visual overhaul after iOS 7.
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- Apple has previewed iOS 26 at its flagship developer
conference ‘WWDC 2025’ here — a major update that brings a beautiful new
design, intelligent experiences, and improvements to the apps users rely on
every day. The new design provides a more expressive and delightful experience
across the system while maintaining the instant familiarity of iOS.
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- Counterpoint Research Director, Tarun Pathak, told IANS
that the updated visual design, featuring the new "liquid glass"
aesthetic, is set to further enhance user engagement across Apple's device
ecosystem.
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- “However, two announcements particularly captured our
attention: ‘On-device AI for Developers’ and ‘iPadOS Reimagined’. The ability
for developers to access Apple's on-device models through the Foundation Models
framework, coupled with the introduction of Apple Intelligence across iPhone,
iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro, is a positive move in its AI
journey where it is being perceived as being behind wrt the competitors,”
Pathak explained.
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- However, AI of 2025 is different to the AI hype of 2024.
Users are still getting warmed upto AI use-cases and “we have not see a killer
use case yet”.
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- The most impactful revelation came from the iPadOS
updates. These enhancements will solidify the iPad's position as a robust
device for both content creation and consumption on the go, Pathak noted.
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- The tech giant showcased watchOS 26, offering a beautiful
new look and even more intelligence for a more personalised experience, to
support users in staying active, healthy, and connected.
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- A new design with Liquid Glass makes features like the
Smart Stack, Control Center, the Photos watch face, and in-app navigation and
controls more expressive, while maintaining the instant familiarity of watchOS.
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- According to Prabhu Ram, VP at CyberMedia Research (CMR),
Apple adopted a fundamentals-first approach, emphasising user interface (UI)
enhancements over AI. Rather than chasing speculative AI trends, Apple focused
on delivering immediate, tangible value to users.
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- “A key highlight was the introduction of on-device access
to Apple’s large language model through the new Foundation Models framework.
This move signals a decentralised AI strategy, empowering developers to create
differentiated experiences directly on Apple devices,” Ram told IANS.
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- However, the success of this approach will hinge on
developer adoption, the strength of Apple’s tooling, and the company’s ability
to iterate quickly.
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- Apple’s tightly integrated hardware ecosystem gives it a
significant advantage and a unique opportunity to lead in AI monetization.
However, this window of opportunity may close rapidly if Apple fails to keep
pace, especially as agentic AI and cross-platform innovations accelerate
elsewhere, said Ram.
