Apple’s State of the Union 2026 – the small keynote after the big one | News

Even though WWDC is officially a developer trade fair, the content shown there affects almost all users – which is why the keynote is not only followed by developers. Apple has been taking a two-pronged approach in this regard for many years. First there is the big opening keynote, followed by the “Platforms State of the Union” speech with a clear developer focus. However, this event is no longer about performances on stage, but rather about recorded, more cinematic-looking performances. If you’re looking for real depth, you have to follow the individual developer sessions.

Technologies – and what they should be used for
At the Platform State of the Union 2026, Apple allowed numerous representatives of the development teams to speak and talk about new technologies. Unsurprisingly, the focus was on the developer topics behind the keynote, less on “Siri AI for users” and more on how apps, Xcode and system frameworks should use these functions. Apple describes Apple Intelligence as “fundamentally rebuilt,” which means work but also opportunities for developers.

Developers gain extensive access to AI functions
Apple Intelligence is becoming more important for developers than it was the first time around, because Apple is now opening up the architecture more broadly. Apps can process text and images, provide their own capabilities, and execute tasks locally or server-side depending on performance needs. This means that the functions presented will appear not only in the system, but also in third-party apps in a few months. The connection to Siri in particular is facing important improvements – what has theoretically worked for years, albeit with considerable restrictions, can now be used much more widely.

Liquid glass
The clean-up work at Liquid Glass is discussed not only in the main keynote, but also in the State of the Union. The basic idea remains, but Apple makes improvements in places where the interface was too busy, playful or difficult to read. Apple showed how developers should adapt their apps to the further developed Liquid Glass look – one can only hope that not only the interface, but the frameworks themselves have been cleaned up. The quality of the tools under Tahoe sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.