Apple's WWDC 2026 and Why I'm Not Holding My Breath for Industrial Applications

It remains unclear whether Apple has any interest in this market at all. The company didn't mention manufacturing once in the preview materials, according to The Verge, though admittedly their coverage focused on the consumer stuff.

Here's what I'd want to see (and won't):

• CoreML models optimized for predictive maintenance, not just photo sorting
• Industrial-grade Siri that can parse commands over 85 decibels of ambient noise
• ARKit applications for assembly line training that don't require a $3,500 headset
• Actual partnerships with automation vendors (Fanuc, ABB, hell, even my old employer)

Instead we'll get, what, better emoji suggestions? A slightly smarter way to set kitchen timers?

I sound bitter. Maybe I am, a little. When I started in this industry, Apple was the company that thought different. Now they think different about the same consumer products everyone else is chasing. The M-series chips are genuinely impressive silicon. I've seen benchmarks that would've made our control systems engineers weep with joy back in 2015. But Apple seems content to use all that power for making photos prettier and Siri slightly less stupid.

The Cook era ends with this event, apparently. I don't know who's taking over or what direction they'll push. Probably more of the same. Consumer electronics companies don't suddenly discover manufacturing exists. That's not how this works.

But if anyone from Cupertino happens to read this (they won't), there's a whole industry out here that could use what you're building. We just need you to, I don't know, actually build it for us.

I'll watch the keynote anyway. Old habits. And who knows, maybe iOS 27 will finally let me control my Roomba without three apps crashing. That'd be something.

James Chen · 2 days ago · 4 min