Next week, Apple will host WWDC 2017, the latest rendition of its annual developer show, and it will announce any number of new hardware, software, and services updates. But the stakes are high this year for the world's most valuable company, as its core product, the iPhone, has just reached a dubious milestone. It's become boring.

And, no, it's not just the iPhone. Once you look past the device that is responsible for about 70 percent of Apple's revenues, you're faced with even more boredom. Most of the firm's other products are updated at a glacial pace, utilizing designs that debuted many, many years ago.