WWDC 2022 officially kicks off Monday with Apple’s inaugural conference at 10:00 p.m. During this conference, Apple will officially present updates that include iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and macOS 13. Before the start of WWDC, we are seeing some last minute rumors about what to expect, including the possibility of a new MacBook Air. , major updates to the multi-tasking features of the iPad 16 and more.
Head over here as we gather some of the breaking news about what’s to come at WWDC 2022 …
Details of WWDC 2022
As a quick refresh, WWDC is a week-long event featuring the inaugural conference of Apple, the state of the Union with more technical details, the Apple Design Awards, and hundreds of sessions of developers, labs, individual meetings, and month.
- WWDC Conference: June 6, 10 a.m. PDT
- Platforms State of the Union: June 6, 2 pm PDT
- Apple Design Awards: June 6, 5:00 p.m. PDT
This year, WWDC 2022 also includes a small face-to-face component in addition to online options. A small group of developers and press has been invited to Apple Park for the conference, as well as partner labs, interviews and much more. Of course, we’ll have full coverage of everything that happens all week right here at 9to5Mac.
AR / VR headphones are not expected
While the announcement or mockery of the long rumors of Apple’s AR / VR headphones once seemed like a guarantee for WWDC 2022, it doesn’t seem to be. Due to ongoing development issues, supply chain issues, and complicated hardware and software integration, Apple headphones are now likely to debut in 2023.
Bloomberg reported in January that Apple’s headphones have faced a number of development issues, including overheating issues. Apple has also had issues with proper hardware and software integration, as well as issues with camera hardware.
Last month, The Information corroborated many of these details and added additional context. According to this report, Jony Ive’s decision that Apple headphones should be a fully standalone device has proven to be a problem.
Apple’s first plans were for the first version of the headset to work with a base station, which allowed the headset to be smaller and rely on that base station for things like performance and battery life. Jony Ive, however, did not think that this product was an attractive option for consumers.
I’ve reported that this decision has caused a lot of development problems, including those reported by Bloomberg. The team working with Apple headphones has struggled to “balance” battery life and performance while minimizing the heat generated so people don’t get dirty while carrying the device.
With that said, it’s clear that Apple isn’t quite ready to announce its AR / VR headphones at WWDC this year. While we may have some sort of teaser, the most likely scenario is that no Apple headset will be announced or released until 2023.
MacBook Air is possible, but not as colorful as rumored
As for the new hardware at WWDC, the rumors are a bit mixed. The most likely candidate, however, appears to be a new MacBook Air. A redesigned MacBook Air has been rumored for almost a year, but Apple has been battling ongoing supply chain issues.
Rumor has it that the new MacBook Air will feature a new flat-edge design that takes cues from the 24-inch iMac. Although previous reports suggested that the new MacBook Air would be available in similar colors, if not the same, as the iMac, it may not be so.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg took to Twitter on Friday evening to share some breaking news about this MacBook Air. According to Gurman, reports of the MacBook Air appearing in “various colors” are “probably exaggerated.”
According to Gurman, we should expect the new MacBook Air to come in the same colors as the current model. This would include space gray, silver, and gold. Gurman notes that gold will be “more like champagne” than the current color. Gurman also says the new MacBook Air could be available in a blue color similar to the 24-inch iMac.
As for the release date, Gurman says the new MacBook Air “has been planned to launch at WWDC.” The only thing that would prevent this is if supply chain problems in China “create a supply and release gap that would make no sense to announce on Monday.”
IPad iOS 16 multitasking updates
Finally, a Bloomberg report this week indicated that iPadOS 16 is expected to be one of the most important announcements at WWDC on Monday. According to the report, iPadOS will provide a “redesigned multitasking interface that makes it easy to see which apps are open and switch between tasks.”
The update will also provide new ways to resize application windows along with “new ways to manage multiple applications at once.” Apple’s goal is to make iPadOS a more “laptop experience” in terms of multitasking and window support.
It remains to be seen what exactly this means, but in fact there seems to be growing evidence that this could be the year that Apple will finally bring a major overhaul to the iPad multitasking.
More to come
WWDC 2022 starts on Monday and we will most likely see more last minute leaks about what’s to come for iOS 16, iPadOS 16, new hardware and more.
What are you most excited to see at WWDC 2022 this year? Let us know in the comments!
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