Gurman: Apple to Debut Unified “Solarium” Software Interface at WWDC

Artificial intelligence may take a back seat at Apple’s upcoming WWDC developer conference on June 9-13. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the main topic this year will be a new software interface inspired by visionOS – the operating system for the Apple Vision Pro – that Apple plans to roll out across all of its platforms.

Gurman previously reported that iOS, iPadOS, and macOS would receive a visionOS-inspired makeover, but Apple’s design work will reportedly also impact watchOS and tvOS. visionOS will also get some visual changes, but they likely won’t be as dramatic as what’s coming to Apple’s other software platforms

“Dubbed “Solarium” — after glass rooms that allow in sunlight — the new look is slicker and more modern,” Gurman explained. “The approach takes many of its cues from visionOS, which, if you’ve used a Vision Pro, feels a lot fresher than today’s versions of iOS, iPadOS and macOS.”

According to Gurman, Apple is really focused on “consistency and unification across the operating systems,” and this effort should be mostly visible across iPadOS and macOS. Many iPad fans are likely waiting for improved multitasking capabilities, and it will be interesting to see if Apple develops a more effective solution than the existing Stage Manager feature.

If this new “Solarium” software interface should get a lot of stage time at WWDC, Gurman previously reported that Apple will also have some AI news: The company could reveal a new battery-preserving feature powered by Apple Intelligence and a new health assistant. Apple is also expected to announce a new Google Gemini integration into its Siri voice assistant, and the company may also let third-party developers use its large language models to build AI-powered apps.