WWDC 2026: Why this year is the worst year for consumers

I agree with you, my iPad 9 isn't getting any of the new features with Siri and so far voiceover has randomly stopped talking when reading something a lot, i know it's only beta 1 but for an update that is suppose to be focused on stability it's not going vary well so far.

I won’t be getting any of the new features as my primary phone is a regular iPhone 15. My secondary device is an iPhone SE 2022. So yes I’m really not getting much at all for this update in the fall. I can’t even get a new phone right now. I have no reason to my devices are working properly. So I really don’t know that I’m missing anything or not because I’m not gonna be getting the new features anyway. I do kind of wish I was getting some of the new series though. I would at least hear with the new voice it sound like and I wouldn’t even be getting those. But that’s really the only thing I would care about. It’s OK it is what it is. I will use these devices as long as they possibly can. I got my iPhone 15 in August last year so I’m definitely not ready to go get an upgrade yet. My iPhone SE is also working perfectly good now too, so I’m just trying to leave my devices as they are. At least they’re both still being supported. Yeah it’s crazy. how many watches dropped support this year. Definitely was not expecting that. I am very surprised that the iPhone 11 is still being supported though. That’s the oldest iPhone that’s still receiving support. I’ll just have to see how things go in the fall once we have the final release. I don’t do any bait testing.

Seriously, I like his leniency.

Hi,
I have to say I agree with a lot of points mentioned. Although I do have an iPhone 15 pro, and will be getting a lot of the feature. what I did not pick up on, is that according to your post, and please correct if I have misunderstood this, the new enhanced dictation will only be available on the iPhone 17 pro. If that is the case, then I am disappointed, mainly because as you say, reliable dictation should be available to most users, especially that is has been far from reliable.
The watches did also surprise me, as I was quite impressed with the way Apple have been supporting older watch models, especially that wiht a lot of them, they actually did not change that much year on year. I used to have a series 4 watch, which I only upgraded to a series 8 because the microphone was broken, otherwise I saw no reason to upgrade as there's not enough in the new watches for me personally to validate a purchase. Looks like though this year, if I want the latest software, I'll have to upgrade.

Think at EU customers that they won't have all of these new Siri features due to Digital Markets Act. I own a regular iPhone 17, so technically I would be able to run the new Siri, but won't be able to do it. And we don't know if and when Apple has the green light from the EU commission.

A lot of people can’t even afford the pro models. Or they just don’t even care about them enough to want them. I’m kind of in both categories. I don’t really care enough about a pro to want one and I also can’t really afford one. I see no reason to get a pro model and I think it’s really unfair that Apple is making people have to do that in order to take advantage of the latest features. It’s kind of ridiculous. I know plenty of people that have the base model phones and they can’t afford pro models. It’s pretty unfair to people who just got their phones a few years ago or even last year. But I’m keeping what I have and I already know I’m not getting the new features so that’s just how that’s gonna be I guess but I feel bad for people who really wanted the new features that can’t get them

Agree. Apple's stance on the EU is getting rediculous.

Have 16 pro max, this nuts. The reason I got the iPhone was for Siri 2.0. Are we sure of this? Thought I heard that it will work with most phones above 15 pro or higher.

Somehow that sounds strange. Well is apple. They want my money. I am thinking of getting the 18 pro or pro max. Hope they put 12 of RAM. oh well.

Hello everyone.

I completely agree with what have been said here. I own an iPhone 16+, which I am using as of this writing. Fortunately I will get Siri AI, but not the advanced dictation and expressive voices. I also have the iPad, 10th Generation along with the iPhone SE 2022. Neither will get any of the features. It is what it is, and that's fine as these are not my mission critical devices. Now onto the watch. Very surprised and disappointed that my Apple Watch SE, 2nd Generation, will not get the update. I've only had it since March 2025 as a Birthday treat to get me back into the watch after not doing so since acquiring the 'original' Apple Watch Series 1 in 2015. In this case I will upgrade as and when. In the meantime my Apple Watch SE, 2nd Generation should still receive security updates for watchOS 26 momentarily.

Thank you for reading.

This is well written and well said. I'd have to do more research into the Apple Watch compatibility. I have a series 9, if that helps at all.

I agree with everything about dictation. I have an iPhone 17 base model, and I use dictation quite often. I think dictation should be available to all models, at least 16 and later, the ones running Apple Intelligence.

All android have 16 of memory with the lowest 12. What is the logic of apple just doing less than android? Regarding Siri, I use it to send messages, hope that she is better on understanding me. Before she was good now she is getting worse. Alicia you are OK with the watch 9, regarding SiriAI. Have the watch 11 and I will be OK with it.

I bought my Apple Watch SE 2 back in June of 2025, only to find out that I bought a watch a year before expiry. What on Earth are they doing? If you can still support as early as the iPhone 11, what did you guys think dropping several models of the Apple Watch would accomplish? You might as well have dropped the iPhone 15 (what I have) while you were at it.
Just let us get watchOS 27 without all the AI, just like the prior iPhones. But no, we're stuck on watchOS 26, while our iPhones move onto 27.
I'm honestly tempted to invest in an SE 3, but 2027 will probably roll around and they'll add some brand new feature the SE 3 will never get, then do some more model throw-asides.
It's insanity.

I bought a 16 pro last year because I needed a new phone, and I wanted to future prove myself as long as possible. The fact that we are now finally getting the features that were advertised as the main selling points of getting the phone nearly 2 years later, has me taking anything Apple tries to sell me in future with a rather large pinch of salt. Don’t get me wrong I love this phone, but I be lying if I wasn’t pretty underwhelmed and disappointed with how things have gone, even though there are certain parts of the new iOS I’m looking forward to.

Well, I own Iphone 17 ProMax, and I understand that, because it has the 12 gig Ram, it will handle a lot of the requirements. However, there are quite a number of disturbing trends about Apple:
1. I am using English South Africa, and we are definitely not getting the siri expressive voices.
2. it appears, if you are not signed up for the icloud Plus, you are certainly going to get limited use of the advanced siri features. That's a bummer! Excuse my French.

This is exactly why my next iPhone will be an Android device. I am currently using an iPhone SE 2022. I don't really care about the AI stuff, or the new Siri AI. I am however, very invested in dictation. The fact that I can barely dictate a couple of sentences without having to do a massive amount of editing afterwards, it's quite sad. Just a few years ago, I would say iOS 15 or maybe 16, dictation ran like a dream for me.

Then 2023 happened...

I won't go too far into it, but I have posted about this before, I purchased an iPhone 15 Pro when they first came out. The first one I got overheated to the point of bricking after about a week or so. Got a replacement, which did the exact same thing.

I would have to put some serious thought into if I ever want to purchase another "pro model" again, at least as far as iPhones are concerned.

Anyways, after my second iPhone 15 Pro bricked from overheating, I got a refund and bought myself this iPhone SE 2022. This would've been early 2024. As I mentioned above I don't care about the AI stuff, and I definitely do not care about Face ID. So I will use this device for as long as I can, and when I eventually upgrade, it will not be for another iPhone. Apple has to seriously get their shit together before I consider purchasing any more of their products.

Thanks for reading. 🙇

Hi all,

I want to take a moment to address a couple things that have come up in this thread, unrelated to the topic at hand.

• Please do not drag other community members into the discussion. Saying things like "Can't Wait for [insert person's name] to comment," especially if their viewpoint is likely to be different from yours or from the majority, singles people out and comes across as mildly antagonistic. Sarcasm, joking, etc. really does not come across well over text, especially in a community where very few of us know each other outside of this platform.
• While we allow limited use of mild profanity (defined as non-sexual, non-graphic language generally considered acceptable for a broad audience) on AppleVis, strong or sexualized profanity, like the F-bomb, is prohibited even when used for emphasis or expression.

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled discussion... 😊

Hope the principle does not call me to his office. Check Flossy Carter, he does many android phones. Some of them are very nice. I am so invested in apple that I am to tire to change. 10 years ago it would had been different.

Already ahead of you there. 😊

This is nothing new. Ignore the hype if you don't care about these AI features like me, upgrade your hardware like they want you to, or look elsewhere for your tech products. Apple primarily sells hardware. They don't care how recently you purchased something, because that was a transaction that already happened, and they always want more revenue. They will constantly upsell everything. I think it's beyond disgusting an $800 iPhone 17 is still limited to USB 2.0 transfer speeds, but it is what it is.

As for Apple Watches, I think the reason why they discontinued so many is because they all use the exact same underlying CPU architecture, and they got tired of supporting it. We can argue all day about how stupid it was to use the same CPU in multiple generations of products at drastically different price points, but that's for another discussion.
Meanwhile, I have a very nice M4 Mac Mini, but it remains to be seen whether it will be useful once Apple stops releasing official macOS updates. Unfortunately given the trend, I expect it to turn into a paperweight just like all those old iPhones and iPads.

Some people here acting like apple is the only one who does this lol. Samsung does. Microsoft does it. Android does it as well. Maybe at different intervals but they do the exact same thing.
As far as dictation, you do realise that the new dictation features might only be available is because of say maybe it needs a specific amount of ram, etc. Apple doesn't just do it to oh let's screw customers over haha! Plus, if your current device is good, why change? Wait, and when it’s time for replacing it, say, 2, 3 years? Then worry about new capabilities etc. I.e, my last apple watch? Series 8 bought in 2021 or there abouts. I used it for roughly 4 years and recently bought the ultra 3, but I made the 8 last.
As far as the m4 mac comment, I mean, you still have years of upgrades left about 5 so, your worrying at the moment for nothing.

I'll be upgrading for the new features. I'll go from a 16 E to an 18 pro max. Apple isn't the company to do this. So you deal with it.

I’m not gonna be upgrading for anything. My phones are perfectly working the way they are now and I will just use them until there’s no life left in them quite frankly because I don’t have time to go getting a new phone right now anyway. I do get a new phone. I probably will end up being a 16 E most likely. Either way it’s gonna be a email or a standard model. I am not interested in the profiles at all so I won’t ever get one, but people get whatever they wanna get. I hope they’re happy with their new products. I’m keeping what I have. My primary phone is iPhone 15 and my secondary device is an iPhone SE which I’m using as an iPod it’s 2022 variant in the product in the 256 gig storage my iPhone 15 is the pink ferry with the 512 storage.

I have an iPhone 14 and unless something happens I intend to keep it at least another year, if not two. I don't care about local AI that will logically be a bit less performant than cloud though I do appreciate having the option, because the AIs I need are already on my phone and they are called Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, DeepSeek, and Copilot.
I think it's both an advantage for them business-wise and a terrible oversight and they would deserve whatever lawsuit they get because this will not do anything to restore customers' trust. They could have put 12gb but they are more stingy than most poor people on the street now, and I include in this the nonsense of having usb 2 speed in 2025 2026 on a "premium" phone, or anything really.
IMO they could have gotten so much positive about Lightning if only they had actually improved the specs of it year over year like having usb 3 speed. There was literally 0 advantage for the customer in Lightning and we all thank the EU for doing what the US is unable to do.
As for the EU and AI regarding Apple, I am very hesitant here and both sides have very valid points, but for this year specifically I'd rather trust Apple than all 3rd parties eating the data they don't already have about me. It's not that I trust Apple more but more that software-wise they are the least bad in FAANG about user privacy with generally better than average user experience so I'd take whatever I get.
iPhone mirroring, this is Apple's way to force consumers to fight for them, though some people have pointed out real security risks in corporate environments with iPhone Mirroring. In any case, no blind individual should ever feel offended by this as this feature has never worked with VoiceOver at all so, EU or not EU... despite 10+ pieces of feedback in the black hole by now.
All FAANG companies
1 don't care at all about the environment when it suits their business agenda
2 planned obsolescence is a business strategy, some are just better, sometimes objectively better, so not all of their devices become e-waste at the same time, there is a real trend of gradual, subtle planned obsolescence Apple is an expert at
3 same goes for privacy with some exceptions
4 repairability too, only when it suits their agenda

The way some people on here get so physically offended when someone, like myself, says they're not happy with their current smartphone developer— I.E. Apple— and decide to see what their competitors have to offer— I.E. Android. I mean, why, for the love of all that is good and green in this world, do you, care, what device, eye, get for, myself? Those of you, and you know who you are, who cannot help but to vocalize your displeasure at someone else not being 100% satisfied with anything and everything that Apple does, and thus must articulate your displeasure to others, why not just keep your thoughts to yourself? It makes no difference to any one individual on here, if you do not like what they buy for themselves to use in their daily lives.

Now that I have asked the question, watch all of the naysayers get on here and publicly articulate and validate their displeasure at someone else making a choice for themselves, that does not align with their own narrative. 👋😇

Is all the Mac negativity. And that doesn't bother me because people might not get a Mac. It bothers me first because people who don't have whatever issue is pissing somebody off that day generally get jumped on for saying so, and more importantly, because I've literally seen blind people here and elsewhere say that all of the negativity has made them so scared they won't even *try* a Mac.

Beyond that, well aside from that I guess, I don't care. Whatever works for people. I always say, the more options the better. Personally it's pretty damn amazing that we pretty much have a free more or less usable screen reader on every device these days. Naturally, there are issues and they should get reported, and discussed. But I mean, if Android works for people, great.

In fact I'll go even further. I've seen people say things like "oh Android ripped feature X off of Apple"! That's exactly what I want. The more screen readers that use, say, 'h' to navigate by headings on a web page means that's less for me to learn, if I have to use one of them I'm not used to. If somebody has a good idea and it can legally be implemented by another OS/screen reader, I say go for it, it's less I have to learn. Ideally we should be converging on some sort of best practices, regardless of whomever came up with them in the first place.

I completely agree with his last comment. It is pretty amazing that we have screen readers on all these devices now. And I agree with their being less to learn if some commands overlap screen leaders. People use whatever works for them. I’m using Work for me I just hope we haven’t good update for the fall and that people enjoy it.

Apologies, have edited my post accordingly. But in situations like this where frustration can be on the high, there's only so much that can be suppressed.

Unfortunately it looks like the next batch of devices will have significant price increases due to ram shortages which means, if you do want to be future proofed, it's going to cost you. I was going to upgrade in September but I think I'll have to pass and just get the battery replaced in my iPhone 15 Pro.

Apple does pay wall features. it's a sensible move for a company who wants to sell products to make money. It's a fine balance though of what they can get away with.

why are you blaming Apple? It's the beloved EU's stance on apple that means you're not getting any of these features in the EU! I know that the EU's regarded as saitnly by many of those who live within the straightjacket of the Single Market, but this is one instance of where living in a bloated, overregulated superstructure obsessed with its own agrandisement means you can't have what you want. This, folks, is the fault of the bully boys in brussels, none of whom has ever run a successful business in their life.

What people become upset is that apple continues to sale a product and later tell all that is not going to work for the new OS or iOS. We blind people are not made of money. How come android releases phone with 16 RAM? Minimum 12 RAM. Got lucky that I got my 11 watch but 16 pro max will not be able to use the new dictation? What are they going to be 2 type of it? One for old phones and another for the new phone?

Speaking of active development, Google is going above and beyond Apple with their AI development on the Android platform. Let's not forget that Apple Intelligence, technically, has been around since 2023, yet it really won't shine until the latest iOS 27 is released, with Google Gemini integration.
That is to say that Google had to bail Apple out of the hole it has dug itself with the initial release of Apple Intelligence. As has been mentioned above, the AI features will work on devices nearly a decade old on the Android side of the street. Meanwhile Apple is telling us that you need to have a device circa 2025, to enjoy all of the latest features coming out with the latest iOS update.

That's just sad... 🙄

On the flipside, a developer here on AppleVis has developed a screen reader for Android, that is essentially a VoiceOver clone. Bottom line, it's a great time to switch over in my humble opinion. 😇 📱

Edit: had to fix all of my dictation typos.. for reasons.. 😬

Upgrading is out of the question because I haven't finished paying for this phone yet. It's a disappointment, but one I can live with. If I had to miss out on the new accessibility features, that would be something else. Dictation doesn't affect me since I use BSI, but I understand that this will affect a lot of people who need it. Also, when you get a couple of generations behind the newest model, there's always something you're not going to get, so nothing new there.

To some extent, I agree - the EU does attempt overregulation (chat control and age gating are excellent examples of this).
That said, it is proved time and time again that big tech, if left to its own devices, will favor its own walled gardens and ecosystems, which in the long run is counterproductive. We can thank the EU, among others, for increased support for USB C, right to repair legislation, alternative app stores etc, which is a good thing.
I'll buy that Apple might have legislative reasons to limit some features for the time being, sure, but in other cases, Apple seems to just be holding out on the EU to flex its muscles.

Hi Tunmi, no harm done with your original post (though thank you for revising it) - I appreciate your frustration and we certainly do not want to suppress anything, least of all criticism of Apple.

Zach, thank you! You said the quiet part out loud. I'm an iPhone 14 Pro user, and I tuned into WWDC knowing full well that I was probably going to get a whole crud ton of nothing when it came to exciting features this year. That said, I finished the keynote feeling more ticked off than I expected. I posted on here a while back saying we need to stand up and speak out, but it's frustrating when the acorporate PR narrative has such a hold on every single person and tech reviewer that someone just spouts chip requirements in response to a livid 14 Pro user absolutely losing their ever-loving mind over a software gate.
Translation: I 1000% agree with you! I would even go so far as to say that the last three WWDC's have either been incredibly frustrating, boring, or a combination of the two!

Remember original Siri? It could have easily worked on the iPhone 4, iPad 2, etc due to communicating with a server rather than running locally, but they artificially restricted it to the brand new phone to get people to upgrade. The same is true with most of these features, especially if they're already using Apple Private Cloud Compute, but they want you to buy new hardware. It's frustrating, not fair, evil, etc, but it is what it is. The frustrating thing with Apple is unlike Microsoft where you can bypass all their silly restrictions, it's not really possible since Apple controls the entire experience so tightly.
I understand wanting to run as much locally as humanly possible, so why did they cheap out on RAM in the flagship iPhone 16, 16 Pro, and 17 if they knew it would require more down the road? They know exactly what they're doing and simply don't care. They could utilize their cloud servers for everyone else, but why do that when they can manufacture yet another artificial limitation to promote more purchases?

Hope that iOS 28 does not limit it's offerings to the iPhone 19 lineup... 🙄

iOS28 will need 30 RAM and people would need watch 13 and iPhone 19. Nuts.

Is there a sample of the new series voices available somewhere? I won’t be able to get them as they only have a regular iPhone 15 and an iPhone SE 2022, but I still want to hear them. The voices we have are OK now but we really do need new ones for South Africa and Ireland in Indian English and we Scottish ones since there’s a Scottish voice voice already.

Apple clearly made a huge error of judgement unveiling Apple Intelligence the way they did 2 years ago. They clearly were nowhere near ready, had no particular plan to get there and were selling products based on hope not knowledge.

I think as consumers we should be wise enough to not buy something purely on the basis of a promise of something to come in the future. Always buy tech if it does something now that you want, and the future promise can just be something to look forward to. But if you only need the future thing, wait until that day arrives and then splash out.

But maybe it's only things like this that make us wise to it.

I worry that the AI race will make more phones obsolete more quickly with the rush to cram all these new features in. I tend to buy phones and cling onto them for dear life until they work no more. But this might become less appetising given the AI race we are in.

I think Apple has also made me all so confusing now - in terms of figuring out which devices support which features. Is it only 17 Pro and Pro Max that support on-device AI? But you get other features if you are on a 16 or something? I don't know how many people are going to really understand all this.

I have an iPhone 13 Pro Max. I am thinking that this could be the year I upgrade it. The feedback I'm hearing about the new image recognition stuff is making me very tempted. I'm actually liking the fact that I might be buying a new device because I want what it can do for me, rather than feeling obliged to buy it because my old device has packed up or isn't getting the latest OS. I would feel less good about it had I bought an iPhone 16 or base 17.

I am actually quite angry about the watch. I have a (very expensive) Apple Watch Ultra gen 1 which I don't feel is that old. I'm not so bothered about the new Siri or AI features or anything else. What I want is for my watch to actually work properly. Since 26.4 it has become unresponsive, or too responsive (no new notifications, no new notifications, no new notifications etc). And just doing basic things like telling the time has become problematic (yes obviously hearing "watch widget microphone" is much more useful than the time on a watch, thanks Apple.) And knowing it's unlikely to be fixed now really annoys me. I don't particularly care about new features, I just want a good product and right now my Ultra is not a good product, even though it was in 26.3. I have a total love/hate relationship with this watch - it goes through periods where it works well, but even then it's mostly just being judgmental about my life all the time.

I would feel much better about this if I got the new upgrade, but missed out on some really compelling new thing, such as Siri which was enough to tempt me to upgrade anyway. I just don't like being forced to do so because my existing version has become bad.

Given that the new versions of all the operating systems seem to based on improving the existing experience rather than adding new things beyond AI, I don't really understand why my Ultra can't get WatchOS27.