WWDC 2025: A Polished Interface, But Apple’s AI Struggles Remain

When Tim Cook opened WWDC at Apple Park, he acknowledged the challenges facing the company with a clear and direct message:

“This year, we face headwinds in AI, regulatory scrutiny, and tough questions from our developer community. We will continue to invest in technologies that shape the future—artificial intelligence, spatial computing and privacy remain our top priorities.”

With competitors moving quickly on AI, Apple needed an event that delivered both new ideas and practical results. Cook’s remarks set the tone for a keynote that aimed to balance long-term vision with immediate improvements across Apple’s ecosystem.

Liquid Glass: A Fresh Look Across Devices

The main announcement was Liquid Glass, Apple’s biggest design overhaul since iOS 7. Craig Federighi explained how translucent menus, adaptive toolbars and floating icons bring a sense of depth and clarity to every screen. He called it

“the most expressive and delightful interface we’ve ever built.”

This new look appears in:

• iOS 26 and iPadOS 26: A Clear theme, floating windows and streamlined navigation.
• macOS Tahoe 26: Live Activities in the menu bar and seamless Phone integration.
• visionOS 26: Lifelike “Personas” avatars and anchored virtual widgets.
• watchOS 26 and tvOS 26: Frosted-glass effects and updated controls for fitness and media.

By unifying these elements, Apple hopes everyday tasks—from reading notifications to organizing apps—feel smoother and more connected. Watch the entire WWDC25 keynote presentation below:

Practical AI Improvements

Instead of a dramatic Siri moment, Apple focused on real-world Apple Intelligence enhancements. FaceTime, Messages and phone calls now offer live translation to “remove language barriers for good.” Visual Intelligence lets you tap any on-screen content—photos, screenshots or articles—and ask questions powered by on-device models.

Craig Federighi noted, “Some of our Apple Intelligence features needed more time to meet our exacting standards. We’ll bring those later this year and into next.”

This approach emphasizes privacy and performance, even if it meant delaying certain features.

“The Illusion of Thinking” Paper

Ahead of WWDC, Apple released The Illusion of Thinking, a research paper examining whether today’s top AI models truly reason or simply pattern-match. The study tested models like OpenAI’s o3, Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet, DeepSeek R1 and Google’s Gemini on logic puzzles of increasing difficulty. It found that:

The results revealed a clear pattern. On low-complexity puzzles, standard language models often outperformed the more elaborate reasoning models. As the problems grew moderately harder, reasoning models began to show an edge, demonstrating some ability to handle increased complexity. However, once tasks reached high complexity, every model suffered what the authors term a “complete accuracy collapse,” frequently giving up before even attempting to solve the toughest puzzles.

Apple’s researchers wrote:

“Current evaluations focus primarily on established mathematical and coding benchmarks, emphasizing final answer accuracy. However, this paradigm often suffers from data contamination and fails to provide insights into the structure and quality of reasoning traces.”

By calling attention to the reasoning process itself, Apple argues for more detailed measures of AI performance.

Industry Reactions

Nathaniel Whittemore’s AI Daily Brief podcast examined Apple’s WWDC strategy alongside The Illusion of Thinking paper. Whittemore observed that despite launching “Apple Intelligence” last year, WWDC 2025 was “notably devoid of significant AI announcements,” and he called Siri “an absolute disgrace” for its continued limitations.

Industry voices echoed his critique.

Linus Ekenstam labeled this “potentially the most boring WWDC ever” and dismissed the new Glass UI as a “UX nightmare.”

Portfolio manager Andrew Choi warned that Apple’s lack of AI progress represents “an existential risk.” By contrast, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman praised the event’s “cohesive story” and productivity features—but still noted the “startling” absence of AI breakthroughs.

Investor Scrutiny Intensifies as Apple’s WWDC Faces AI Expectations

Apple’s WWDC is under harsh investor and market analyst spotlights this year, as questions mount over whether the company is falling behind in the artificial intelligence race. While rivals like Microsoft and Alphabet have captured headlines with bold AI innovations, Apple’s developer conference was marked by a cautious, privacy-focused approach and only incremental updates to its Apple Intelligence suite. The absence of breakthrough features—most notably, the delayed overhaul of Siri—has left many observers underwhelmed, a sentiment reflected in Apple’s 19% share price decline this year, making it the biggest drag on the Nasdaq 100.

Still, not all industry voices are sounding the alarm. Bob O’Donnell of TECHnalysis Research points out that it’s far from clear whether consumers are basing hardware purchases on AI features alone, and Apple’s strategy of seamless integration may still appeal to its loyal base. 

With growth slowing and competitive pressure intensifying, however, Apple faces mounting urgency to demonstrate its relevance and leadership in the AI era.

Building Developer Confidence

Cook closed the keynote by reminding developers that betas are available immediately, with public releases next month. He stressed Apple’s commitment: 

“Our focus remains on building seamless, reliable experiences that respect your privacy. The best is yet to come.”

While some praised Apple’s careful approach, others worry that without bolder AI moves, the company may fall further behind rivals who are integrating AI more aggressively.

Looking Ahead

WWDC 2025 reinforced Apple’s design strengths through Liquid Glass and delivered useful AI updates—live translation, Visual Intelligence and new on-device tools. The Illusion of Thinking paper and podcast critiques highlight Apple’s cautious stance, even as competitors push forward. Now, Apple’s task is to turn thoughtful research and small-scale features into meaningful advances that keep it competitive.