For the past few years, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid Apple rumors ahead of big events. Of course, it’s nearly impossible, but even so — I was genuinely surprised this time. To me, two things stood out in the announcement: Apple Intelligence and the new design language.
Oh — and the iPad. Did you see what they did to iPadOS?!
Apple Intelligence
Now this was a solid first step — a far cry from whatever last year’s presentation was. Apple scattered both small and significant AI features across the OSes, without making loud, overblown promises they can’t keep.
The addition of local models that developers can plug into could be a game changer. Last year felt like a scramble — a panicked attempt to show something, just to avoid being left out.
This year feels calmer, more deliberate. And that’s definitely a better approach.
Redesign
As someone wise once said, “design is how it works, not how it looks.”
Looking at what was announced… maybe Apple needs to revisit that quote.
Yes, glass is beautiful (I actually liked Windows Vista), and this new “liquid glass” aesthetic is even more so. But even in Apple’s carefully curated examples — you can’t read shit.
Transparent glass is one of the worst surfaces to overlay text on. I don’t understand how Apple isn’t seeing this. And based on screenshots already circulating from Developer Betas, it’s actually worse in practice.
What the hell is that?!
It feels like history repeating itself — a la the iOS 7 release. Apple will likely tweak things based on feedback, third-party apps will look out of place for a while, and slowly, things will settle into something that feels like iOS 18… until the next major overhaul.
iPad OS redesign
Now this caught me off guard. I hadn’t seen or read anything hinting at changes this big. It’s like Apple went through every gripe power users ever had and said: “You really want all that? Fine. Take it. Hope you’re happy now.”
The sheer volume of updates packed into this one release is borderline spiteful — in the best way. And while watching the iPad announcement, one unexpected thought hit me:
What excuse is left for not adding touch to the Mac?
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a strong announcement. Apple Intelligence seems promising, and the iPadOS updates are impressive. But that redesign… it needs work. Let’s see how it evolves over the next few months.
