Apple’s WWDC 2026 keynote was one of the most significant in the company’s history, with Tim Cook taking the stage for the last time as Chief Executive Officer before handing the role to John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, on September 1, 2026. Cook moves to the role of executive chairman. The event was a software-only presentation with no hardware announcements, and artificial intelligence was the central theme throughout. Apple announced iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27, with all updates expected to arrive in the fall.
The headline announcement was Siri AI, a complete rebuild of Apple’s voice assistant that Apple’s VP Mike Rockwell described as the biggest overhaul since Siri launched in 2011. Apple says it rebuilt the assistant from the ground up on a new architecture rather than bolting more features onto the old one, with the new version powered by Apple’s next-generation Foundation Models built in deep collaboration with Google using Gemini. The rebuilt Siri leans on what Apple calls personal context, allowing it to surface hotel confirmation numbers from old emails, pull up recent trip photos, and remember the thread of a conversation so users can keep asking follow-up questions without repeating themselves. It can read the screen and take action across apps, so a text about a potluck can become a brainstorming session with Siri that ends with a recipe dropped into Notes without leaving the conversation. Siri AI is free with a daily allowance and charges extra through iCloud Plus, though it will not be launching in the European Union at first.
Apple also introduced a standalone Siri app, giving users a place to continue longer conversations and revisit past interactions, a major shift from the old experience which was best suited to simple commands. The new Siri can handle more detailed tasks including comparing files, creating shortcuts from natural language, summarising content, and responding based on what is visible on screen. Alongside Siri AI, Apple released a broad range of Apple Intelligence updates across its core applications including tab management for Safari, one-tap password updating, cross-app context awareness, a new spatial Reframe feature in Photos that lets users adjust image perspective using artificial intelligence, and expanded Shortcuts integration that allows automations to be created through natural language prompts.
Apple also revamped search across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, rebuilding the foundation that powers Spotlight, Mail, and Photos for greater stability and efficiency. Parental controls and child safety features received significant attention during the keynote, with parents and guardians gaining the ability to set up child accounts, reflecting the growing global regulatory scrutiny on technology companies around child safety online. macOS Golden Gate marks the official end of Intel Mac support, moving fully to Apple silicon. The developer beta for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate were released immediately after the keynote, with the public beta expected in July and the final stable release arriving in September.
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