After WWDC, Apple left many doubts, and Cook's ambitions began to emerge

Now Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference has ended. The 2017 WWDC was unforgettable, and in terms of content it was one of the most exciting in recent years. In addition to launching a new generation of operating systems, Apple also brought us a series of new hardware products in its keynote speech. However, this WWDC still left us with a lot of questions, which may be questions that Apple does not want to answer, or may not be able to answer for the time being.

What don't we know about HomePod?

We're still six months away from the release of Apple's new HomePod, and in the meantime, the product has left us with a lot of questions. Apple's Home speaker processes audio to send different parts of the music to different tweeters, but how does it understand the acoustics of the room it's in? Are its audio settings adjusted through an app or Siri?

Siri, and how it's built into HomePod, is a big question. When launching HomePod, Apple focused on music, which makes sense. It's a premium speaker, after all. But we haven't seen how HomePod will interact with someone's voice through Siri. Several slides from Apple's keynote showed that Siri will be present in HomePod, so you can ask questions about the weather or when a game is. But how much can you ask? How will it work? Nothing is known.

Then there's the top of the HomePod, which appears to display a dynamic Siri icon that also appears to display a volume icon. Is it a touchscreen, a touch control area, or something else? Does this place display information about the status of a Siri query, similar to the colored ring around an Amazon Echo?

Will Apple TV and iTunes embrace 4K this year?

No one expected Apple to unveil new Apple TV hardware at this year's WWDC, but this fall it's a completely different story. If you're paying close attention, there's at least one sign that a new Apple TV is coming: support for higher-quality 4K / HDR video formats.

The first is for Apple to adopt the HEVC or H.265 video codec in its operating system and its hardware. This is a more efficient format than the current H.264 codec and is the basis for 4K Blu-ray discs. It is also worth noting that if Apple will launch a 4K-capable Apple TV, it may also need to start offering 4K content on the iTunes Store. This would require an overhaul of its video catalog and a commitment to a new, more efficient codec.

Second, Apple has uncharacteristically claimed that the screens on the iPad Pro are "HDR ready," since their extreme maximum brightness and support for wide color gamut should enable them to display HDR video content. When? Perhaps the answer is: later this year, when HDR content is added to iTunes.

What about the new Mac Pro?

The iMac Pro launched at WWDC, like the HomePod, will not be officially available until December. Do you remember that in April, Apple announced that it was building a new Mac Pro, which is expected to be available next year? Now we all know what the iMac Pro is equipped with: an impressive multi-core Xeon processor, a powerful graphics card, and plenty of memory. So the question is, what will the Mac Pro be like?

Presumably the Mac Pro won’t just be a screen-less version of the iMac Pro. But in a world where the iMac Pro exists, what is the role and positioning of the Mac Pro? The existence of the iMac Pro could make the Mac Pro situation even more awkward. The iMac Pro will undoubtedly be the fastest Mac ever when it goes on sale, so how will the Mac Pro surpass it?

How big is Apple's AR ambition?

A highlight of the WWDC keynote was a series of augmented reality demos, and Apple announced ARKit, a new tool for app developers to create augmented reality apps on iOS. This fall, the App Store may bring more AR-related apps. But the question must be asked: Does Apple have bigger ambitions in this area? Yes, we all have devices with cameras and beautiful screens, which are very useful for augmented reality apps today. But at some point, augmented reality hardware may move to glasses or other head-mounted devices.

So what are Apple's plans? Will we see AR hardware from Apple soon? This is clearly an area of ​​interest for Apple, and ARKit shows Apple's determination to move forward, but whether it will launch hardware products is still hard to say.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.