WWDC 2022, Apple's next event, is June 6 and it'll stay online – mostly
Apple will a special 'space-limited' day for developers and students at Apple Park
Apple WWDC 2022 is the next time we’re confirmed to see new products from the Cupertino company, and today, the start date has officially been scheduled: Monday, June 6.
The always-newsworthy Apple keynote is consistently on day one of this three-day developer event at 1pm ET / 10am PT, though this exact time wasn’t a part of Apple’s press release. Expect the time to be confirmed later along with news that it will be live-streamed on Apple’s website and YouTube.
Apple did confirm that it’ll be an all-online event, just like the last two years of WWDC during the lockdown. However, it will host a “special day for developers and students at Apple Park on June 6 to watch the keynote and State of the Union videos together, along with the online community.” Apple noted that “space will be limited.”
Apple will host a “special day for developers and students at Apple Park on June 6” and “Space will be limited.”
Google IO 2022, the Android maker’s developer event, will have its keynote event take place on May 11 and is similarly going with a hybrid format that significantly scales down on in-person attendance. It’ll be interesting to see – depending on where the world is health-wise – which major tech company has an in-person launch event with the press in attendance. The iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 are expected to launch in September, though Apple usually doesn’t announce the timing until a week (if it’s online) or two weeks (if it’s in-person with media travel required) in advance.
What to expect at Apple WWDC 2022
Apple’s recent online keynote presentation videos all been have been filled with slick transitions and they pack a lot of information into either 60 or 90 minutes (WWDC is usually longer). Apple moves faster during these audience-less keynotes and – trust me – that’s a lot harder to liveblog in real-time.
WWDC is always where we see software updates, so here’s what I expect from WWDC 2022:
iOS 16
iPadOS 16
macOS 13
tvOS 16
watchOS 9
Apple has primarily teased operating system updates and then immediately launched new iOS betas during its recent WWDC events, but it’s also launched new hardware at some (not all) of these June keynotes. I got to see the iMac Pro and HomePod for the first time at a prior WWDC, for example.
What hardware may show up? While we don’t know for sure, Apple is rumored to be readying a redesigned MacBook Air 2022 and it did confirm that it’s working on a Mac Pro with Apple Silicon (the rumor there is that it’ll be half-sized compared to the current Mac Pro 2019 tower).
Given the fact that the Mac Studio has out-benchmarked the two-and-a-half-year-old Intel Mac Pro in most tests, I don’t expect Apple to hold back on that Mac Pro update for too long. There’s little reason to buy a Mac Pro 2019 (I did recently… oops) so ushering in an update sooner rather than later will benefit both Apple and customers.
And, in case you’re still wondering, the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 should be saved for September 2022. We could see new iPad Pro tablets this year, but leaks suggest that the OLED iPad Pro everyone really wants is being saved for late 2023 or 2024.