Cupertino, California (June 9, Reuters) – Apple Inc. began its annual software developers conference on the 9th, where key executives are expected to outline the current state and strategy of the company’s technological development. The company is currently facing headwinds, with increasing scrutiny over its business practices and its lag in the competitive race for artificial intelligence (AI) innovation becoming increasingly apparent.
Many AI features unveiled at last year’s developers conference and initially expected to launch early have been delayed until 2026. Improvements to key functions of the voice assistant Siri are also experiencing similar delays.
Apple's business operations are also facing mounting challenges. There are growing criticisms that the fees Apple charges on its App Store lack justification. As a result, competition authorities in the U.S. and the European Union (EU) have been seeking judicial rulings on Apple’s business model. Further concerns have emerged over the Trump administration’s proposed 25% tariff on iPhones manufactured outside the United States.
While Apple has introduced some AI tools in the past year, it continues to rely heavily on outside players like OpenAI, the U.S. company that developed ChatGPT, for conversational AI technologies.
Apple is also considered to be lagging in the development of "multimodal" models, which can process images, voice, and language simultaneously. Although such technology has the potential to be adapted into lightweight, affordable smart glasses—much more accessible than Apple’s Vision Pro headset—it is seen as unlikely that a related announcement will be made at this year's conference. In this field, Meta Platforms is leading, with Google reportedly catching up.
However, some experts caution that it remains unclear to what extent consumers prioritize AI capabilities when making purchase decisions.
