At a time when the tech industry is regularly releasing new artificial intelligence products, Apple is using more traditional technology to improve the iPhone’s appeal.
At the beginning of what is expected to be a two-hour 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 and have the tab bar disappear as users scroll downward, and minimizes controls into a small circle that can be surfaced with a tap. In Apple fashion, the company calls the transparent design “liquid glass.”
The company also introduced a new naming system for its software based on the company’s fiscal year of introduction 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 the A.I. capabilities built into its devices available to apps. As a result, the hiking app All Trails can surface 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 between two languages.
The additions are small compared to 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 won’t be ready until later this year. It also reshuffled its Siri leadership ranks.
The A.I. stumble marked 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.”
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 by 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.
Phone calls from unknown numbers can show a warning when the caller is a spammer, similar to the call screening tool that has been included on Android phones for several 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 are beginning to reply.
Apple 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.
Tripp Mickle reports on Apple and Silicon Valley for The Times and is based in San Francisco. His focus on Apple includes product launches, manufacturing issues and political challenges. He also writes about trends across the tech industry, including layoffs, generative A.I. and robot taxis.
Brian X. Chen is the lead consumer technology writer for The Times. He reviews products and writes Tech Fix, a column about the social implications of the tech we use.
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