With WWDC set to kick off at 10 am Pacific Time and 1 pm on the East Coast, we thankfully won’t have to wait too much longer to see what type of software advancements Apple has been working on over the last 12 months. And while it doesn’t appear that Apple will have any huge surprises in store, this year’s keynote should still provide us with no shortage of important and exciting announcements.
To help get things started, we here at BGR have put together a short but sweet list highlighting which features we’re most excited to see Apple introduce later today.
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Zach Epstein
For me, WWDC 2016 is all about iOS 10.
Apple is fighting its way through a negative news cycle right now and it looks like the huge iPhone upgrade everyone is waiting for won’t happen until next year for the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. There’s a whole lot of time between now and September 2017, and the last thing I want is to see Apple play defense the whole time.
Thanks to all the leaks over the past couple of months, the designs of this year’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are all but confirmed and they’re anything but groundbreaking. You and I know that design is only half the story and we still have no idea what new features the iPhone 7 has in store, but the public at large is very negative right now. With iOS 10, Apple has a chance to change the conversation.
WWDC 2016 marks the first time in years that we’re going into an Apple event without knowing just about everything Apple has planned. In fact, we know almost nothing, and it’s pretty exciting. iOS 9 brought Apple’s mobile platform to a place where it’s stable and feature-rich, and now it’s time to focus on real innovation.
Chris Mills
This isn’t going to happen, but: I really hope Apple announces a new Thunderbolt Display with a graphics card built in. I know, a new display is about the most boring thing I could wish for, but bear with me. I’ve been juggling a desktop and laptop daily for years, because anything thin enough to carry around all day isn’t powerful enough to run multiple displays (or at least, run them well).
Other companies have tried external GPUs before and failed, but I think Apple’s in a good place to succeed. It would have complete control over the hardware and software, and it’s even experienced with the USB-C connector that would make it possible.
Think about it: tiny, portable 12-inch Macbook for carrying around, and then a hulking 27-inch display with more power (and more ports!) for when you get home. Done correctly, it could slim me down to needing just one computer forever. That’s progress.
Chris Smith
I’m still dreaming about an iPad Pro that runs both macOS and iOS. While I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon, I’m certainly looking forward to Mac-related announcements at WWDC 2016. Siri for Mac might be a game changer as Apple would get a chance to vastly expand the capabilities of its voice-assistant. Because Apple likes a sort of uniformity across devices, it’s likely that any Siri advancements on the Mac side of the business would trigger similar upgrades on iOS and other platforms.
I can’t wait to be able to tell my computer what to do while I’m focusing on a certain task. It’s a whole new level of multitasking that Siri on Mac can enable.
Also, I’m seriously hoping that the radically redesigned MacBook Pro we keep hearing about will be unveiled at the show.
Jacob Siegal
It’s about time Apple fixed the App Store.
I spend hours every week sampling the latest and greatest that mobile developers have to offer, but the experience of browsing the App Store is atrocious. In fact, as the App Store has grown in size, it has become increasingly unwieldy, but a report last week seemed to indicate that major changes are inbound.
Whether or not they’ll be enough to make the App Store a less frustrating element of the ecosystem remains to be seen, but any improvements would be welcome.
Yoni Heisler
I’m actually most excited to see what Apple announces regarding Apple Pay and person to person payments. Given how easy and convenient Apple Pay is in its current form, the idea that Apple Pay might support money transfers via integration into iMessage is incredibly intriguing. Imagine, for instance, going out to a restaurant with some friends. The bill comes, and predictably, some people have cash and some people have cards. Instead of having to spend 10 minutes figuring out how everyone is going to pay, imagine one person putting it on his card and everyone else simply transferring funds to the cardpayer via iMessage.
Lastly, make sure to check out our comprehensive WWDC 2016 preview over here.
