WWDC 2025 marked the beginning of Apple's biggest AI push to date. The last year has seen a steady rollout of Apple Intelligence features across iPhone, iPad and Mac, revamping Siri's capabilities, adding generative tools to core apps and giving developers new ways to build with AI.
As Apple prepares for WWDC 2026, kicking off on Monday, June 8, the company faces another major transition: It's moving into its post-Tim Cook era. Cook's final day as Apple CEO will be Aug. 31, after 15 years in the role. John Ternus, head of hardware engineering, will take over the role from Cook, so the changing of the guard will come just in time for Apple's annual September hardware event.
Together, Apple's AI rollout and leadership changes will undoubtedly shape the next chapter of the company's strategy and ecosystem of devices and services. Until then, let's reflect on Apple's major AI launches since WWDC 2025 and what Tim Cook's departure means for the company.
Apple Intelligence becomes a core platform feature
Rather than launching as a standalone product, Apple Intelligence has evolved into a system-wide layer woven throughout iOS, iPadOS and MacOS. The platform brings generative writing tools, smart summaries, contextual suggestions and more natural interactions with Siri directly into Apple's operating systems.
Apple's goal seems to be making everyday tasks faster while keeping much of the processing on-device and maintaining Apple's privacy-focused approach.
Siri gets smarter and more personalized
One of Apple's most significant AI upgrades over the last two years has been its work on Siri. The updated assistant can access information across apps such as Mail, Messages and supported third-party services to complete multistep tasks. You can ask Siri to find information buried in conversations, draft responses or take actions that previously required navigating multiple apps.
To expand Siri's capabilities further, Apple introduced selective integrations with third-party AI models for requests that may benefit from external systems. The approach allows Apple to combine its own platform intelligence with broader AI capabilities while maintaining a familiar user experience.
Apple has been reportedly working on a Siri app, a new interface and deeper AI features, which could signal the rollout of its biggest overhaul to date at WWDC 2026.
AI comes to Apple Messages, Mail and Photos
Apple has focused many of its AI efforts on the apps people use most often. Messages and Mail now offer AI-generated summaries that condense lengthy conversations and email threads into quick, readable overviews. Apple has also paired these features with user controls that determine how and when AI can analyze content.
Photos has also gained generative editing tools, including the ability to remove distractions, replace backgrounds and create highlight videos from existing photo libraries. More advanced tasks can leverage cloud-based models while preserving familiar editing workflows.
Watch this: Pay Attention to These Topics at Apple's WWDC26
New creative tools for content creation
Apple has expanded AI-powered creative tools across its media ecosystem, helping users produce videos, presentations and content with less manual work. Features such as AI-assisted scene selection, storyboarding and music creation are designed to streamline production while integrating with existing workflows in Final Cut Pro and iMovie.
The additions reflect Apple's broader effort to make advanced creative tools accessible to both professionals and casual creators.
What Tim Cook's departure could mean for Apple's future
Tim Cook's departure represents one of the most significant leadership transitions in Apple's history.
While Apple's long-term strategy is unlikely to change overnight, new leadership will likely influence how aggressively the company pursues AI initiatives, strategic partnerships and emerging hardware categories, like AI wearables and glasses. The transition may also accelerate decisions around custom AI silicon, future device experiences and the pace of product development.
At the same time, leadership changes often create short-term uncertainty as investors, developers and longtime customers look for signs of how a new executive team will shape Apple's priorities going forward.
WWDC 2026 is expected to build on the foundation Apple established over the past year. Potential announcements could include deeper AI integration across system features, new developer tools for building AI agents and a revamped Siri. Whether the focus is software, hardware or both, WWDC 2026 is likely to reveal how Apple plans to compete in an industry increasingly defined by AI.
