macOS Sonoma was announced at last year’s WWDC event and turned out to be my favorite macOS update – and I expect to see a new version of Apple’s desktop operating system, macOS 15, at WWDC 2024.
Apple’s biggest competitor, Microsoft, has jumped into the AI race first, implementing a plethora of AI-powered features and somewhat useful tools like Copilot, in addition to spreading features across the operating system. Even Chromebook Plus laptops get the benefits of Google Gemini. It’s time for Apple to finally get into the AI race and show what it has to offer.
You may know by now that the company is rarely ‘first’ at anything – Apple will play the long game and look before deciding to introduce a new feature, trying to make the most perfect version of it. While we knew Apple wouldn’t be hurry To put some AI into the Macs, we’re pretty sure we’ll see a fair amount of AI at this year’s WWDC.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top prospects for feature additions to macOS 15 that we might see at WWDC 2024.
Finally a change in the System Settings
Perhaps the most exciting possible move will be a revamp of the menus and apps in macOS 15, with System Settings reportedly seeing the biggest change. If you’re a long-time Apple user (or use multiple Apple products), you’re probably very familiar with the layout of the Settings menu, so perhaps a fresh coat of paint will add to the sense of novelty that comes with a operating system. update.
According to Apple Insider, the respective settings are sorted by priority and importance. For example, notifications and sound settings are lower in the list, while general settings are higher (right below network settings). A source apparently involved in these changes told Apple Insider that the wallpaper and display settings will also be shifted and will no longer have their own section, but will be merged with other options.
To add my own speculation, I believe that eventually there could be a dedicated section in the Settings menu for AI-related feature management. I don’t think we’ll see something like this right away at the operating system’s launch, but I do think that with macOS 15, Apple will lay the groundwork for the introduction of a Copilot-like assistant, hopefully by giving Siri a huge boost. Speaking of which…
A smarter Siri and more AI
After much hope, I’m pretty sure we’ll see a complete transformation with Siri. While Apple’s Assistant may not be at the level of ChatGPT’s voice capabilities, I do expect Siri to play a slightly more active role beyond setting timers.
That said, we’ll likely see an improved version of Siri on iOS before macOS, but we can use these iOS rumors to potentially figure out what could eventually make its way to our Macs. According to the latest iOS 18 rumors, Siri will have deeper app integration, allowing the virtual assistant to control what your phone apps can do, move files, email documents, and more.
We can guess that Apple will port these skills to the Mac once they land on the iPhone. I don’t think we’ll see it all the features have been ported, but it would be interesting to see what Siri could do on a powerful M3 MacBook running a new macOS!
Tom’s guide notes that Tim Cook claimed at a shareholder event that Apple will “break new ground in generative AI” this year, which makes me worry about the upcoming WWDC event. While it looks like iOS 18 has a lot more potential features in store (or at least more information floating around than macOS), we’re sure the generative AI love will carry over to Macs.
These AI features will undoubtedly benefit from the powerful M-series chips, which should be good news for AI enthusiasts who have been waiting for Apple to join the race. We already know that the M3 Max and M3 Pro chips are very powerful processors, so it will be exciting to see what these features will look like with access to all that raw processing power.
Overall, as a fan of Sonoma and all its new features, I’m very excited about a new version of macOS. We still know very little about macOS 15, as macOS updates seem to be cards played closer to Apple than iOS. So while I can only sit here and hope for a better settings layout and an improved Siri, I’ll have to wait until WWDC itself to find out what Apple has planned.