14 DAY TRIAL // Apple will kick off the WWDC conference next month, but even though it’s essentially a developer event, it has all the chances to become a hardware party given the new products that Cupertino is planning to introduce.
New iPads and new MacBooks will almost certainly see daylight at WWDC, with analysts also expecting some other devices, including a Siri speaker.
While at first glance it makes sense for Apple to unveil these products at its own conference, the new product launches are the company’s own response to Microsoft, the Redmond-based software giant that has expanded to hardware with its Surface lineup.
Specifically, the Surface series has expanded to include well-selling devices that compete directly against Apple’s, and with Microsoft going all-in on innovations, the battle in this market got fiercer than the iPhone maker imagined a few years ago.
In fact, Apple itself made fun of Microsoft’s original Surface that put a keyboard on a tablet, calling it a mix between a toaster and a refrigerator, but due to the success that this concept recorded over the years, the company had no other option than to embrace it as well.
So next month’s developer event is becoming next month’s hardware event, with Apple to take the wraps off the next Surface Pro rival - a bezel-less 10.5-inch iPad Pro and upgrades to the MacBook lineup to compete against Microsoft’s own Surface Book laptop.
The WWDC conference
Historically, the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference has been an event mixing both hardware and software launches, though in the last couple of years the focus has been switched to the latter. Microsoft’s growth in hardware, however, forces Apple to consider its options, and this is why this year’s WWDC is expected to bring a plethora of new devices.
In 2010, Apple used the WWDC to launch the iPhone 4, plus FaceTime and iMovie, while the following year, the company decided to stick with software and introduced Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5. In 2012, WWDC brought us new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, as well as OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6, while in 2013, the mix included updated Mac Pro, AirPort Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, and MacBook Air.
The 2014 edition of WWDC witnessed the introduction of iOS 8 and OS Yosemite, while a year later, Apple unveiled iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan. Finally, 2016 brought us the OS X rebranding to macOS, iOS 10, watchOS 3, and tvOS 10.
After two years of full focus on software, Apple’s WWDC is making hardware a hot topic again in 2017, so expect new iPads, new MacBooks, as well as software news like a preview of iOS 11.