Apple WWDC 2023 is official, with the start date for the weeklong event set for June 5, 2023.
Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference is the company's major industry event, normally chock full of panels and tech demos for Apple software developers to learn about new changes to OS features and the underlying programming languages, but occassionally we do get product announcements during the event.
“WWDC is one of our favorite times of the year at Apple because it’s an opportunity to connect with the talented developers from around the globe who make this community so extraordinary,” Susan Prescott, Apple’s VP of Worldwide Developer Relations, said in a statement announcing the event (opens in new tab). “WWDC23 is going to be our biggest and most exciting yet, and we can’t wait to see many of you online and in person at this very special event!
The event will be online for all registered developers, with a special in-person event on June 5 at Apple Park in Cupertino, California.
Last year, Apple unveiled the Apple M2 chip, along with the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch. In 2019, Apple debuted a new Mac Pro as well, and it's very possible that a new Mac Pro with M2 Ultra chip might be shown off.
Apple is being characteristically tight-lipped about it, so we can't say anything for sure yet. Still, there are any number of products that Apple might show off at the event, and these are some of the most likely in our opinion.
Mac Pro (2023)
Last year, hopes were high for a new Mac Pro at WWDC 2022, which is traditionally an industry conference more than a consumer product event. A Mac Pro, which is an industry-grade workstation costing a gajillion dollars (ok, not literally), is perfectly suited for a debut before all the developers who might reasonably be working on one or at least developing with that workstation in mind.
It's also the last major Apple product that hasn't switched over to Apple's in-house silicon, so it makes sense to finally cut ties with Intel and put out a new workstation PC.
Apple M2 Ultra
In addition to the new Mac Pro, we expect that an M2 Ultra SoC will also be shown off. Apple has already shown off the M2, M2 Pro, and M2 Max chips, with an M2 Ultra the last remaining tier of silicon to debut.
If it's anything like the M1 Ultra, it will be two M2 Max chips interconnected to effectively double the power of that chip, which makes it appropriate for a workstation PC like the high-end Mac Studio. The latter device uses the M1 Ultra, but it's not clear that this kind of chip is powerful enough for the kind of thing that industrial users need.
The 2019 Mac Pro had a max capacity of 1.5TB of memory. The M-series chips use unified memory and if the M2 Ultra is two M2 Max chips fused together, then its max unified memory would only be 256GB. That's not nearly enough to edit a major Hollywood film or score an orchestral piece with hundreds of samples, all of which require a lot of memory.
Still, if the M2 Ultra is going to appear, WWDC 2023 makes the most sense.
Maybe a new iMac
Finally, on the computing side, there really is just the iMac.
The iMac (24-inch) debuted two years ago powered by the then-new M1 chip, so it's definitely due for an upgrade. Its bold color options definitely made it a hit, especially with me, but that color trend seems to have all but vanished ever since.
I would love to see a purple iMac (M2), and might even buy one if it's actually revealed in June, but this one is less likely than a Mac Pro, in my opinion.
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