The annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place online from June 7 to June 11, according to an announcement by Apple today. The event will be completely virtual. All developers are invited to participate for free. The World Wide Developers Conference will help reveal the future directions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
“Glow and Behold” is Apple’s tagline for WWDC 2021.
“We are working to make WWDC21 our biggest and best yet, and are excited to offer Apple developers new tools to support them as they create apps that change the way we live, work, and play.” According to Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise and Education Marketing.
What to expect at Apple’s WWDC21
In 2020, Apple’s PC already had a big year, thanks to Apple silicon and macOS Big Sur, and WWDC21 will likely continue that momentum with an event that focuses largely on Macs. A large portion of last year’s keynote contained announcements regarding the transition of Macs to Apple’s custom silicon processors. Given that this transition is still ongoing, it appears that Apple will be able to share an update on its progress. It could mean that macOS 12 is more of a maintenance release that fixes and refines many things, complimented with a dozen or so new features. Here are some of the features we’re hoping to see:
- Siri improvement
- More Control Center shortcuts
- Desktop widgets
- Shortcuts for Mac
Apple recently discontinued the iMac Pro and several configurations of the iMac, but signs indicate that an Apple silicon iMac will be coming soon. There are rumors that the new iMac will be available in 27-inch and 24-inch models and that its design will be similar to Apple’s Pro Display. Apple will likely retain the $1,099 Intel-powered 21.5-inch iMac as a reasonable option for consumers.
A new GPU named M1X GPU is also probably on the list. It is expected to have more cores than the M1, supplemented by AMD GPUs for more heavy-duty graphics work. Among the premium iMac models and 16-inch MacBook Pros, AMD has installed discrete Radeon GPU upgrades. This suggests a serious graphics card power from the M1X.
More details of WWDC 2021
In addition, Apple announced that submissions for this year’s Swift Student Challenge, an opportunity for young developers to showcase their coding skills by creating a Swift playground. With Swift Playgrounds, iPad and Mac users can acquire Swift programming skills in the most fun and interactive way. The Swift Student Challenge is now open through April 18, when students can submit their Swift playground. They will receive a pin set and WWDC21 apparel with exclusive designs.
Even though WWDC21 will be hosted online, and as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, Apple has also committed $1 million to SJ Aspires, an initiative funded by the City of San José to promote education and fairness for all. Apple’s support for technology programming has been an ongoing partnership with the City of San José and the San José Public Library Foundation.
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