Apple announced that this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place June 5-9, 2023 — and it could be the virtual launching pad for the tech giant’s long-awaited mixed-reality headset.
WWDC23 will be presented in an “online format,” free to all registered Apple developers, although the company also will stage an in-person “special experience” at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif., on the opening day of June 5. As in past years, the confab will serve as a venue for news and updates about Apple’s latest hardware and software products, including iOS and tvOS.
The highlight of WWDC23 could be a new mixed-reality headset, which has been in development since 2015 and is finally scheduled to be unveiled at the June conference, according to a Bloomberg report last month. The mixed-reality headset will carry a $3,000 price tag and feature a “3D-like view of an iPhone interface” with apps for messaging, mail, web browsing, videoconferencing and “immserive video streaming” as well as “realistic avatars,” according to the report. The tech giant showed off the headset, which could be called “Reality Pro” or “Reality One,” for its 100 highest-ranking execs last week, Bloomberg reported. (Apple has declined to comment on the reports.)
WWDC23 will include keynote and “state of the union” presentations from Apple execs livestreamed on June 5. The online conference also will include technical sessions, one-on-one labs, and “opportunities to engage with Apple engineers and other developers,” the company said.
The star of last year’s WWDC was iOS 16, the next major smartphone operating system release. Among other enhancements, iOS 16 includes a new privacy tool called Safety Check, which Apple said is designed for users “whose personal safety is at risk from domestic or intimate partner violence” and can instantly disable information-sharing access to specific users.
Apple will share additional information ahead of WWDC23 through the Apple Developer app and on the Apple Developer website.
