Apple Faces Criticism for Underwhelming WWDC Updates, AI Strategy

Apple's 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) revealed mostly incremental updates with limited innovation in artificial intelligence, leading to disappointment among investors, developers, and analysts. The company introduced modest AI features through its privacy-focused, on-device framework called Apple Intelligence, but delayed significant upgrades to Siri and provided no major breakthrough AI tools, which some described as a "dud." The gaming community found the new gaming app and related announcements pedestrian and lacking in impactful opportunities, though native developer tool improvements were welcomed. Apple's conservative AI approach, prioritizing privacy and measured integration over rapid innovation, contrasts sharply with more aggressive strategies by competitors, resulting in a 1.2% stock drop. While design updates across Apple’s ecosystem suggest a refined user experience, they were viewed largely as cosmetic and insufficient to drive a new iPhone upgrade cycle. Overall, the event underscored Apple's ongoing challenges in the AI space amid heightened market and developer expectations.