On Monday, the highly anticipated Apple WWDC Conference finally kicked off.

WWDC Conference

Here are a few important updates from Apple at WWDC.

● Intelligent system - Apple Intelligence

Apple has launched a personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac on WWDC - Apple Intelligence. Apple claims that the system combines the powerful capabilities of generating models with personal backgrounds, providing very useful and relevant intelligence.

● iOS 18

Apple stated that Apple Intelligence will be deeply integrated into iOS 18, emphasizing privacy from the beginning, providing users with new ways to improve writing and communicate more effectively.

There are multiple new features in iOS 18, including: a brand new system wide writing tool built-in in iOS 18, allowing users to rewrite, proofread, and summarize text almost anywhere; The new image feature Image Playground allows users to create interesting images within seconds; The recall function in photos allows users to create their desired storyline by simply entering a description; Users can use ApplePay for new payments, including redeeming rewards and using eligible credit or debit cards for installment payments, among others.

● Siri upgrade

With the support of Apple Intelligence, Siri will integrate more deeply into the system experience. Apple claims that with richer language comprehension skills, Siri will be more natural, contextualized, personalized, and able to simplify and accelerate daily tasks.

Users can input text to Siri and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in any way they feel appropriate at the time. Siri can also perform hundreds of new operations within and between Apple and third-party applications.

Siri can also provide intelligence tailored to the information on users and their devices. For example, a user can ask "When does Mom's flight land?" Siri will find the flight details and cross reference them with real-time flight tracking to provide the arrival time.

● ChatGPT is integrated into all Apple platforms

At the meeting, Apple confirmed that it had reached an agreement with OpenAI. The company stated that the generative AI system will be deeply integrated into the upcoming iPhone software iOS18 and the latest Mac and iPad operating systems.

Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Apple, stated that the company has seamlessly integrated its artificial intelligence with ChatGPT technology. This means that users can use ChatGPT to complete tasks through Siri or within the application.

Federick said, "We also plan to increase support for other artificial intelligence models in the future."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended the meeting, but he did not take the stage. On X, Altman posted that he is very happy to be partnering with apple to integrate chatgpt intotheir devices later this year!

● Release of visionOS 2

At the meeting, Apple also released VisionPro's new operating system, visionOS 2. VisionOS 2 has over 2,000 space applications designed specifically for Vision Pro and over 1.5 million compatible iOS and iPad OS applications.

"We are eager for users to experience a series of new features in visionOS 2," said Mike Rockwell, Vice President of Apple's Vision Product Group. "visionOS 2 makes Vision Pro even more powerful."

In addition, Apple has announced that Vision Pro will be launched in multiple countries and regions around the world this month. Specifically, users in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore can book Apple's VisionPro from June 13 and launch it on June 28. Users in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK can make reservations starting from June 28th and will be available for sale starting from July 12th.

Can Artificial Intelligence Drive iPhone Sales Back Up？

The market seems to be quite disappointed with this WWDC conference.

Previously, there have been rumors circulating in the market that Apple will disclose its latest AI progress and AI strategy at this WWDC. As a global leader in smartphones, how Apple will embrace AI has always been a concern for the outside world, so people have high expectations for this year's WWDC conference.

As WWDC approaches, Apple's stock has swept away the previous decline in the past month, rebounding by about 20% from the nearly one-year low of $164.07 on April 19th. Last week, Apple rose a cumulative 2.4%, and at the close of last Friday, its stock price hit a 2024 closing high of $196.89. Since the beginning of this year, Apple's stock price has risen by a total of 2.2%.

But before and after WWDC was officially held on Monday, Apple's stock price showed a downward trend of turning around.A few hours before the WWDC keynote speech, Apple's stock price began to decline. By Monday's close, Apple had fallen nearly 2% to $193.12.

"Investors clearly want Apple to adopt a more comprehensive and ambitious strategy in artificial intelligence," said Tejas Dessai of Global X.

It is worth noting that the various new features showcased by Apple on WWDC will only be provided in beta form on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs equipped with M1 and newer models. So, how many consumers will switch their phones again due to these features? Wall Street analysts have different views on this.

Some analysts are optimistic that Apple will add AI functionality to smartphones and believe that this move can drive sales growth.

In the view of Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, this is a huge opportunity. "We estimate that over 15% of Apple users will upgrade to iPhone 16 because Apple Intelligence is a killer app that many people have been waiting for," said Ives. The iPhone 16 is expected to be released this fall.

But UBS analyst David Vogt is skeptical about this. Vogt stated in a report to clients that according to a recent survey conducted by UBS on over 7500 smartphone users in the United States, UK, China, Germany, and Japan, demand for iPhones continues to be weak.

A survey shows that people are not very interested in AI smartphones. The reasons why people are not interested in artificial intelligence smartphones include high expected prices and concerns about personal privacy.

Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee believes, "Perhaps a new upgraded version of Apple's smart devices equipped with Siri technology can stop the recent sharp decline in device revenue, but it is not enough to attract a new group of followers."