Apple Inc. focused on AI innovation at WWDC, the delay in Siri upgrade caused a drop in stock price.

On the first day of the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) introduced a series of updates related to artificial intelligence (AI) and unveiled a new design language called "Liquid Glass", bringing the largest interface overhaul to its latest iOS 26 operating system. However, due to long-standing market expectations in the AI field, and the most anticipated upgrade to Siri still missing, investors reacted coldly, causing Apple Inc.'s stock price to briefly drop by 1.5% to $200 during the conference. Apple Inc.'s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, stated at the conference that the company is continuously improving to make Siri more personalized, but also acknowledged that "this work requires more time to meet our high standards of quality", and promised to provide more information next year. Previously, Siri, as one of the core elements of Apple Inc.'s AI strategy, has been widely criticized for lagging behind in functionality and struggling to compete with other intelligent assistants on the market. In terms of visual design, the "Liquid Glass" interface style introduced by Apple Inc. is a major highlight of iOS 26. Vice President of User Interface, Alan Dye, described it as "the most extensive design update ever." In addition to interface innovations, Apple Inc. also announced several AI-driven features, including real-time translation in iMessage, automatic subtitles in FaceTime, and real-time conversation translation in phone calls. These features all run locally on the device, avoiding the uploading of private data to the cloud, with Apple Inc. emphasizing its privacy-first principle: "Your personal conversations, always confidential." For Apple Watch, the new "Workout Buddy" feature, which also utilizes AI technology, provides voice encouragement during workouts and prompts users to achieve personalized goals. CEO Tim Cook announced that all new systems will be available for developer testing starting that day, with a public beta scheduled for release next month, and the official version expected to launch this fall. However, analysts pointed out that while this WWDC outlined a future vision for the developer ecosystem, there was a lack of significant breakthroughs in "Apple Intelligence". Wedbush analyst Dan Ives stated after the conference that Apple Inc. was still "quite conservative" in the field of AI, maintaining their "outperform" rating on the stock price, with a target price unchanged for the next 12 months. The market had already anticipated this. Last year, although Apple Inc. first publicly introduced the "Apple Intelligence" strategy, core features, such as the launch of a new Siri, continued to be delayed. The AI features announced at the 2024 WWDC were mostly industry-standard, such as text generation, image generation, and notification summary organization, without forming a significant differentiating advantage. The promised "cross-app operational Siri assistant" has yet to be delivered, and the existing AI experience is lackluster, leading to widespread user disappointment. Since the release of ChatGPT by Apple Inc. in 2022, the company has faced skepticism for being "slow off the mark" in the AI competition. While AI has already been deeply applied in areas such as image, video, and audio processing, Apple Inc. has not been able to integrate them into practical intelligent assistants in a timely manner. The high standards for privacy and security have also slowed down the pace of feature development. Currently, Apple Intelligence is divided into three layers: the first layer is local device AI, emphasizing that data does not leave the device, but limited by hardware performance, its effectiveness is limited; the second layer is Apple Inc.'s proprietary "Private Cloud Compute", which enhances privacy but is not as powerful as other technology companies relying on NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) chips; the third layer integrates OpenAI's ChatGPT function to compensate for the shortcomings of the first two, however, Apple Inc. cannot guarantee user privacy entirely in this part. Apple Inc. emphasizes that all AI conversation content is processed in a private cloud, and no one can view it. However, this "end-to-end private control" system also means that it temporarily lags behind its peers in computing power and service experience. With over 2 billion active devices globally, every operating system update by Apple Inc. means direct contact with billions of users. However, in the face of the AI wave, Apple Inc.'s balance between "playing it safe" and "leading in technology" has made it appear conservative in the eyes of some investors. Since 2025, Apple Inc.'s stock price has dropped by 20% cumulatively, and this WWDC did not reverse the market sentiment.