Apple WWDC live blog 2026: Live updates on iOS 27, Siri, Apple Intelligence and smart glasses

By Kyle Kucharski, Senior Editor / June 8 at 11:43 a.m. ET 

What's new in MacOS 27? According to rumors, it's looking like a "Snow Leopard" update. This nickname comes from 2009's MacOS Snow Leopard, which Apple famously touted as having "zero new features" -- instead focusing on performance improvements and software polish. 

At the time, Apple also dropped support for machines running PowerPC processors as the company focused on Intel-based architectures. Fast forward to MacOS 27, and it now looks like the end of the road for Intel, as MacOS 27 will require an Apple M1 chip or newer to run. 

In terms of optimization, Apple appears to be refining the Liquid Glass interface in MacOS, which isn't as polished as on the iPhone or iPad. Siri is also getting a redesign, imbued with multimodal AI and agentic features that, if they make their way to MacOS 27, will give MacBooks a whole lot more AI power. 

By Nina Raemont, Health and Wearables Editor / June 8 at 11:41 p.m. ET

Tim Cook's first product launch in 2011 included the debut of Apple's Siri. Today, the digital assistant is reportedly getting an AI makeover, turning the 15-year-old assistant into an AI agent powered by Gemini. As Cook passes the baton over to Apple's next CEO, John Ternus, he will say goodbye to Siri as he knows it to usher the company into an actualized AI era - one that finally fulfills its long-awaited AI promises. 

By Nina Raemont, Health and Wearables Editor / June 8 at 11:33 a.m. ET

ZDNET Editor-in-Chief, Kerry Wan, just touched down at Apple Park. He'll be on the ground today as Apple announces its latest software news. You can see what Kerry is up to by following along here, of course. He'll also be sharing videos of Apple's most notable news on ZDNET's Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Be sure to follow along for more. 

By Nina Raemont, Health and Wearables Editor / June 8 at 11:12 a.m. ET

There are several helpful AI features I look forward to Apple introducing today. One rumor suggests it's building a Grammarly-adjacent AI grammar checker for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, which could come in handy while drafting in the Notes app, sending a text in Messages, or writing an email in the Mail app. 

But one feature I hope Apple abandons is its useless AI-generated text responses. I don't mind Gemini-suggested email responses in Gmail, for example, where professional conversations often follow similar response patterns and goals. People text, on the other hand, to interact with friends, coworkers, family group chats, and more -- and I don't think I'm alone in admitting I don't text my aunt the same way I do my best friends.

Also: The Apple Watch needs a better Siri more than the iPhone right now

Predictive text works better for professional communications, where a limited set of topics follows a more formulaic pattern: meeting scheduling, task confirmation. Personal texts, on the other hand, are too unpredictable and involve more personality and emotion that AI has yet to effectively reproduce. 

By Nina Raemont, Health and Wearables Editor / June 8 at 10:45 a.m. ET

We're hours away from learning the latest software updates across Apple's ecosystem, and I'm hopeful for a few health- and fitness-related updates to WatchOS 27. 

Apple debuted Sleep Scores on its newest smartwatches in September, and I'm hoping the tech giant builds upon its momentum to introduce new ways to quantify rest, recovery, and activity. Most of the wearables I've tested include a sleep, activity, and readiness score -- some even calculate daily stress. 

Also: The 10 Apple Watch features that convinced me to switch to the wearable full-time

The company could easily implement an activity score by finessing its Exercise, Stand, and Move rings to spit out a daily activity rating. It could also improve its Training Load feature by rating recovery out of 100, instead of rating training intensity as well below, below, steady, above, or well above. 

By Kerry Wan, Editor in Chief / June 7 at 5:15 p.m. ET

Much of the anticipation around WWDC centers on how Apple handles its AI narrative for the rest of the year, but Apple has a chance to do something even bigger tomorrow: reveal its upcoming hardware products in some way, shape, or form. Give me a teaser video, a graphic tucked in the corner of the iOS 27 bento box, or even Ternus putting on a pair of smart glasses as he leaves the stage.

Also: Apple's Meta Ray-Bans killer is only one of four major launches in 2027 - here's the list

We've heard rumors for years now that the company is working on a pair of smart glasses, competing against the likes of Meta, Spectacles, and now, Google and Samsung. The Cupertino giant will eventually find itself competing similarly when it releases a foldable iPhone. But there's one advantage that Apple has, and I hope it leans heavily into it leading up to September: developers.

While competitors have set the stage for foldables and smart glasses, they're still mostly lacking a quality app ecosystem. Apple, on the other hand, can leverage WWDC as the opportunity to get developers excited, excited enough to build intuitive, thoughtful, and convincing software around these newer form factors. You've got the framework already with iOS, iPadOS, and VisionOS.

By Radhika Rajkumar, Senior Editor / June 7 at 5:00 p.m. ET

Apple has been breadcrumbing us with a supposed AI-first Siri revamp for at least two years now, but it's finally expected to land on Monday, backed by a partnership with Google -- specifically its Gemini assistant. 

The only reason to believe this now more than in previous years is that Gurman's latest report on the matter included Bloomberg-rendered mockups of what the new Siri could look like, based on information Gurman obtained.  

Also: This handy Apple Intelligence feature saves me over $200 a year

A revamped Siri would function more like a full AI agent, able to assess what's on your screen and use it as context for your queries. With autonomous capabilities, it would edit images or share files for you, similar to the agents we've become used to over the last 6 months or so, including the ever-controversial OpenClaw. 

It will allegedly have its own app, similar to how you'd access another chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude on your phone.

By Radhika Rajkumar, Senior Editor / June 7 at 4:55 p.m. ET

WWDC will give us a look at the new operating systems coming in the fall, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27, MacOS 27, TVOS 27, WatchOS 27, and VisionOS 27. 

We expect these to come with some new AI features as well, based on Gurman's reporting: similar to the new Siri, natural language updates will let you tell Apple Intelligence to intuitively run tasks for you, like creating shortcuts. 

Also: The first settings I immediately change on every new iPhone - and why

For WatchOS 27 specifically, Gurman predicts a sleeker, simpler face for Ultra. On the VisionOS front, while the company will likely wait another year to release new hardware, the Vision Pro will get some new accessibility features announced in May, such as controlling wheelchairs with eye movement. 

Current rumors, again from Gurman, also anticipate new AI photo editing tools, called Extend, Enhance, and Reframe. The first will mimic generative fill-style features that other AI applications offer, while Enhance could function similarly to a Google Photos AI tool that adjusts elements like color and lighting. Reframe uses 3D spatial data to change the perspective of images.  

By Radhika Rajkumar, Senior Editor / June 7 at 12:02 p.m. ET

Apple may release a high-end line of "Ultra" devices (Gurman's terminology) this year, balancing out the company's new budget Neo laptop. The Ultra name calls back to Apple's existing Apple Watch Ultra and M-series Ultra chips, as well as CarPlay Ultra. 

A foldable phone could be the next addition to that tier, mimicking a smaller iPhone when closed but looking more like an iPad when unfolded. 

However, this and other devices in this potential lineup, including a touchscreen MacBook, may not come until Apple's September event, which is more hardware-focused.