AI not served here, would you like a glass of liquid? Apple unveils new design, disappoints where it counts

Apple unveiled Liquid Glass, its most significant iPhone design overhaul since iOS 7 in 2013, at this year’s WWDC developer conference. The new design language features transparent glass-like elements, curved corners, and fluid animations that will transform the visual experience across all Apple devices when it launches later this year, though the announcement disappointed investors hoping for major AI breakthroughs.

What you should know: Liquid Glass represents Apple’s first major visual redesign in over a decade, directly inspired by the company’s Vision Pro headset interface.

• The lock screen will appear made of glass, with buttons transforming into “glass pills” that slide fluidly over glass rails.
• New animations include enhanced phone call answering experiences and transparent interaction elements throughout the interface.
• The design will roll out across iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, tvOS, and VisionOS when the updates become available.

Market reaction: Wall Street responded negatively to the announcement, sending Apple’s stock down 1.2% as investors sought more aggressive AI advancements.

• UBS analyst David Vogt noted that “many of the AI features announced were more incremental in our view, and already available through competitor applications.”
• Investors continue pressuring Apple to match the frontier AI capabilities of rivals like Google and OpenAI.

AI developments fell short: Apple provided limited updates on its artificial intelligence strategy, particularly around the delayed Apple Intelligence features.

• The company offered no new timeline for its “more personal” Siri that was originally demonstrated last year but delayed in March.
• “This work needed more time to meet our high quality bar,” said Apple software chief Craig Federighi, maintaining only a vague “coming year” timeline.
• Apple did expand ChatGPT integration, allowing users to send screenshots directly to OpenAI’s service for text summarization and image analysis.

Technical capabilities: Apple attributed the design overhaul to increased processing power in its devices.

• “Apple Silicon has become dramatically more powerful — enabling software, materials and experiences we once could only dream of,” Federighi explained.
• The company introduced real-time phone call translation that processes AI locally on the iPhone without requiring server connections.
• Users can now translate conversations between different languages using AI-generated voices during calls.

Major naming change: Apple is abandoning its traditional sequential numbering system in favor of year-based naming for all operating systems.

• Starting in September, users will upgrade to iOS 26 instead of iOS 19, with similar changes across iPadOS, WatchOS, tvOS, and VisionOS.
• The change simplifies references across different device platforms and maintains pressure on Apple to deliver annual updates.
• Currently, 82% of recent iPhone users had upgraded to iOS 18 within a year of its release.

Mixed reception: Early reactions to Liquid Glass varied widely across social media and tech communities.

• Some users expressed excitement about the fresh visual approach, while others compared it unfavorably to Windows Vista from 2007.
• The design emphasizes “delightful” user experiences, according to CEO Tim Cook, though implementation details remain limited until beta testing begins this summer.