Apple’s New iPhone Software Has More Secrets To Reveal, Report Says
Apple announced a lot of new features at its recent World Wide Developers Conference, but it seems there were some innovations which didn’t appear at the event. A new report says they’re on their way.
Apple iOS 26
The new iOS 26 iPhone software is currently in its second developer beta beta, with the first public beta due next month and general release expected in September with the iPhone 17 series.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has talked about the secret new features which Apple hasn’t talked about yet. He refers to two: live translation for AirPods and a neat, new Wi-Fi feature.
“At WWDC, Apple was careful not to announce anything that wasn’t close to shipping (either in the first version of iOS 26 or an update soon after). The company didn’t want to risk repeating WWDC 2024, where it announced several features — including some tentpole technology — that were ultimately delayed by months or have yet to arrive,” Gurman said.
By “yet to arrive,” he mostly means the new Siri which was headlined last year, which leverages what the iPhone knows about you to deliver much more personal help. It did look amazing, and led to a (later-pulled) commercial showing how it could help, but it hasn’t landed yet.
Apple said that of the entire 2024 WWDC event, only four minutes’ worth of features haven’t yet arrived.
It’s also worth noting that while it’s true that Apple hasn’t delivered this feature yet, no other company has come close to launching anything similar.
“There are at least two capabilities that weren’t announced at WWDC that I expect to come this year: live translation of conversations via AirPods and the ability to sync your wireless network login information at a hotel or gym across devices. I reported on both features before WWDC,” Gurman went on.
You could be forgiven for thinking the translation element was announced: in fact, though there were several translation features announced by Apple, the one for the AirPods wasn’t one of them.
As it hasn’t been mentioned yet, it’s possible that Apple won’t talk about this feature until the launch of the iPhone 17 series in September — read this for exactly when.
The Wi-Fi feature, which will be handy for anyone with multiple devices wanting to log in seamlessly, also went under the radar, but, “there also have already been hints related to the Wi-Fi feature hidden within iOS 26 code,” according to Gurman.