At a time when most of the tech industry is building new artificial intelligence systems into our devices, Apple is focusing on making its products look prettier.
In a 90-minute presentation on Monday, Apple revealed a new design for its software powering iPhones, iPads and Macs that brings a transparent aesthetic to tabs, files and app icons. It will allow Safari web pages to cover an entire page, with the tab bar disappearing as users scroll down. It also minimizes controls into a small circle that can be brought to the surface with a tap. In Apple fashion, the company calls the translucent design “liquid glass.”
The company also introduced a new naming system for its software based on the fiscal year when it becomes available rather than the number of iterations. Instead of iOS 19, this year’s system is being called iOS 26.
The new features show how Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, is looking to increase sales of his company’s most important product with useful new features, even if those abilities are out of step with the industry’s zeal for everything A.I. In doing so, Apple is wagering it can be late to embrace an emerging technology but still take it mainstream before its competitors.
At its developer conference in May, Google revealed an A.I. search feature that functions like a chatbot, an update to its Gemini model, and glasses with an A.I. virtual assistant. In February, Amazon unveiled an improved Alexa that uses A.I. to help book concert tickets and coordinate calendars.
Apple said its A.I. system, which it calls Apple Intelligence, will add abilities such as allowing apps to use the A.I. capabilities built into its devices. As a result, the hiking app AllTrails can add a conversational search system, allowing users, for example, to write that they’re looking for a nearby family hike that is under three miles. They can refine it by adding that they want hikes with waterfalls.
A new feature called Live Translation will use artificial intelligence to automatically translate text messages, and captions in FaceTime calls, across languages. On phone calls with someone in a foreign language, the iPhone screen automatically provides captions with a live translation of a conversation.
Another new feature lets an iPhone user take screenshots of something, such as a green jacket, to do a web search for similar items. It’s a direct response to Google’s shopping tool, Circle to Search, which lets Android users draw circles around objects to do image-based searches.
The additions are small compared with what Apple promised at last year’s developers’ conference. A.I. was a major focus of that event, with the company unveiling an Apple Intelligence that included writing tools, message summaries and a partnership with OpenAI to deliver ChatGPT on iPhones.
One of Apple’s biggest promises was an improved Siri virtual assistant that could combine information on a phone — say, a message about someone’s travel itinerary — with information on the web, like a flight arrival time. But in March, Apple postponed a spring release and said the product wouldn’t be ready until later this year. It also reshuffled its Siri leadership ranks.
The A.I. stumble was the first time in years that Apple had not shipped a product that it had unveiled. It has sparked concerns among Wall Street analysts that the company may struggle to catch up to its rivals.
“In the short term, people aren’t stopping buying iPhones or Macs because Apple Intelligence isn’t delivering,” said Carolina Milanesi, principal analyst with Creative Strategies, a tech research firm. But, she said, “the big risk is that you could have users go to ChatGPT or some other product that consumers become dependent on.”
Shares of Apple fell more than 1 percent after the event, while the S&P 500 was up slightly.
A.I. is only one of the significant challenges facing Apple. Five years after Epic Games filed an antitrust suit against the company for collecting up to 30 percent of app sales, a judge ordered Apple in April to begin allowing apps to provide users with external links to pay directly for software and services. The ruling has the potential to reduce Apple’s profits as much as 2 percent, Morgan Stanley has estimated.
The company has also been whipsawed by President Trump’s tariffs. After backing off earlier tariff plans that would have had an impact on Apple, Mr. Trump threatened a 25 percent tariff on iPhones made anywhere outside the United States.
The trade conflict is expected to dampen sales of smartphones by 2.3 percentage points, as sales decline in the United States and China, according to Counterpoint Research, a tech research firm.
On Monday, Apple sought to return the focus to its products.
On the iPhone, a new call screening function gathers information about callers so users can decide whether they want to pick up. A similar tool has been included on Android phones in recent years.
The company also unveiled a new look for its Messages system for sending texts. Users can now decorate their text conversations with a background consisting of a graphic or a photo, similar to Meta’s WhatsApp. In group messages, people will be able to create polls and see an ellipsis as people begin to reply.
A number of updates showed how Apple was trying to make its devices more useful to niche users. Runners who use the Apple Watch will have access to a feature called Workout Buddy that, when paired with AirPods, can offer encouraging words like: “Fantastic run. You averaged a pace of nine minutes and seven seconds per mile.” Apple TV owners who like karaoke will be able to use their iPhones as a microphone to sing along with songs in Apple Music. And Shortcuts, a programmable feature on the Mac, makes it possible for document designers to use A.I. to read text and suggest tag lines.
The company also introduced a new Games app for the iPhone and Mac that creates a central location for video games. It will make it easier to play games with friends and remind users where they are in games they’ve been playing. Video games have become a big business for Apple, with the company generating $43.7 billion in sales from gaming apps last year, of which it kept $13.1 billion in sales, according to Appfigures, a research firm focused on the app economy.
Apple introduced new abilities for its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, which was released in January 2024. Apple is trying to make the device more useful, with new features including the ability to support video game controllers like the PlayStation VR2 Sense.
The company opened the event by promoting its new movie, “F1,” which stars Brad Pitt and will be released June 27. The emphasis on the movie showed how the company is trying to use its legacy software business to promote its newer foray into Hollywood.
