Apple surprises with a new design and a 'different' AI

This year's developer conference launch, WWDC 2025, was expected to be a challenging day for Apple . It was a far cry from what Apple is used to and a far cry from the triumphant parade that all its presentations typically entail, with executives flexing their muscles and unveiling dream devices or software.

And this time, the conference was preceded by a series of delays and criticisms in what is undoubtedly the biggest technological battlefield of the moment: Artificial Intelligence . Despite what was promised a few months ago, Apple's AI seems to be failing to take off. And the new Siri, designed to always understand us the first time, has yet to arrive. Meanwhile, Google's Gemini, Microsoft's Copilot, and Open AI's Chat GPT continue to update their AI systems at a frantic pace.

But none of the company's executives were fazed. Today, Apple had a tougher time than ever, but it emerged victorious by unveiling new versions of all its operating systems, all of them with profound changes in both their appearance and how they work, and yes, also with new AI features that make them "different" from everything else. According to many, we are witnessing the biggest changes yet to the way Apple's devices work.

This time, Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, immediately handed the floor to Craig Federighi, who started directly with the most delicate topic: AI. The executive gave a thorough overview of AI's capabilities in terms of texts, help, shortcuts, specific functions, user knowledge, and announced that it will be available in more languages, including Spanish, this year. Apple's AI, said Federighi, will help us perform many new tasks, and do the same old ones much faster and more efficiently. Tasks that we'll also be able to share across all devices. The new, powerful chips allow for a new landscape filled with innovations that Federighi described as astonishing.

A new design, new animations, new icons, and a new interface based on the semi-transparency of liquid crystal, which permeates all platforms. Liquid Glass, like Magic Island on the top of the iPhone, now extends to the entire screen, with translucent icons that appear, unobtrusively, only when needed, but always revealing the open app underneath. Buttons, functions, apps, notifications, widgets... everything is affected by the new design, which extends to tablets, watches, and even computers.

Such a profound change requires a name change. And to unify the platforms, they will all have the number 26 after them, i.e., next year's date, regardless of the number they were originally on.

Federighi also announced significant software updates for various apps, from the camera to Photos, Maps, Music, and Safari. New translucent elements are everywhere and, along with AI specifically designed to simplify things, make use simpler and more intuitive, with floating buttons and commands that appear and disappear as we need them.

The redesign even extends to CarPlay, which is now more intuitive and simpler, with more customizable widgets so the screen always displays what's most important. Apple is also showcasing a revamped version, CarPlay Ultra, which not only offers information and apps on the console but also integrates into the car's dashboard.

Now, all iPhone communications, whether phone calls, video calls, or social media calls, will appear in a single list from which we can take any action related to our contacts. The Call Screening feature shows us an "island" on the screen with the name of the caller, and even what our interlocutor is leaving in a message. Messages, by the way, now support dynamic or custom backgrounds, with our own images. AI also enables new group functions.

Apple Live Translation, thanks to Apple Intelligence, makes it possible to translate phone calls or FaceTime video calls live. And it works both ways. Apple's general services are also improving. Apple Music, for example, translates songs, but also indicates how they are pronounced in the original language. In the Maps app, among other features, iOS 26 learns from our usual routes and suggests the best paths, while also passing through the places we always visit—for example, first the coffee shop, then dropping the kid off at school, and then work. Of course, we can also invoke a liquid crystal widget of the app on the home screen whenever we need it.

Apple Pay, meanwhile, adds new features, such as Order Tracking, which informs us at all times of the status of each order or purchase. Games, thanks to the power of Apple Silicon, continue to display in high quality, but the AI ​​can now inform us of matches, duels, or tournaments we're participating in, and take us directly from one game to another when necessary. The Challenges option also allows us to keep all our "enemies" on a single list, even if they're from different games.

Visual Intelligence, on the other hand, works by simply tapping on photos, objects, or addresses, and thanks to AI, it enables very different functions directly on the screen. A nice jacket on a social network? Take a screenshot, and Visual Intelligence will show you similar ones. A poster advertising a concert? Capture it, and Visual Intelligence will show you a (translucent) widget to add it to your calendar with a single click. Apple believes developers will be able to include these functions in a multitude of applications.

Just like the iPhone, the Apple Watch display also features Liquid Glass, changing many of the things we can do with the watch. Combined with Apple Intelligence and the iPhone, the Workout Buddy app will not only measure our physical activity, but will also give us statistics, such as how much we've run in a given time, whether we've beaten any of our records, and so on.

Apple Watch features Smart Stack, which customizes how we receive notifications, sounds, translations, maps... everything we need at any given moment.

tvOS 26, meanwhile, makes Apple TV more elegant and easier to use than ever. When playing content, the familiar translucent buttons appear unobtrusively, such as fast forward, rewind, volume up, and more. New user profiles ensure everyone gets what they like best, without disturbing others. Apple Music also appears in tvOS 26, and we can control it directly from the iPhone. The new Liquid Glass design fills the entire space.

And now we're moving on to the new Mac OS, which Apple claims is the most beautiful and functional computer operating system they've ever made. It's called Mac OS Tahoe, and this is where the new design really shines, thanks to the larger screen size. We can turn each control into a transparent button, and each folder into a container with its own icon.

Continuity also lets you start a task on your computer and continue it on your iPhone without the hassle of transitioning. New shortcuts help us do everything faster. AI is always there to help you compose messages or review texts. And it gives you smart advice on how to do whatever you're doing faster or better. The new Spotlight is now much more integrated with Apple Intelligence, and more than just an internal search engine, it allows you to ask the system questions directly.

Quick Keys are short sequences of letters that, when typed, do something specific. We can type as many as we want. A new app, Games, turns the computer into a console with spectacular graphics.

The new iPad OS 26, of course, is no exception and fully incorporates all the changes. Multitasking is now much more powerful, and the familiar widgets make switching between tasks, or doing several at once, much easier. We can have five or six apps open on the same screen, switch between them with a tap, zoom in or out like photos, and by simply hovering over any of them, the control buttons magically expand. A top menu also appears in each app, allowing you to control any of its functions.

Finally, Vision OS, the software that powers Apple's smart glasses, has also been updated. The intention here is for Apple Intelligence to increase the immersive experience the glasses provide, and for the controls, as with the company's other devices, to be as unobtrusive as possible and increase the user's ability to take action.