Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is just under one month away. Normally, this event is a time for Apple to showcase all the software updates it’s been working on over the last year, which usually means tons of exciting new features across macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and more.

This year, though, there are likely to be far fewer significant updates. Sure, we’ll see a few changes here and there with systems like macOS 16 and iOS 19 expected to get a smattering of new features.

But this year’s round of updates is going to be far more sparse than usual, with most of Apple’s effort reportedly going into improving Apple Intelligence. That sounds disappointing — and I’ve shared my thoughts on why I want more from WWDC previously — but this new state of affairs doesn’t have to be a disaster. In fact, it could actually make macOS 16 one of the best Mac software updates in years.

Apple Intelligence “vaporware”

Apple Intelligence was the headline announcement at last year’s WWDC event, with the artificial intelligence (AI) system getting plenty of screen time as Apple unveiled its response to AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

The problem, though, is that while Apple pledged that Apple Intelligence would revolutionize how you use your devices, many of the previewed features have not materialized, with several prominent examples seemingly being punted to the long grass for the foreseeable future. While Apple’s customers wait patiently for the features they were promised, the company’s AI rivals pull further ahead.

That’s left a bitter taste in the mouth, with prominent Apple pundit John Gruber branding Apple Intelligence’s missing features “vaporware” and stating that their continued absence “should have set off blinding red flashing lights and deafening klaxon alarms” in his head.

If it is to establish itself as a serious force in AI, Apple has to put that situation right by getting the promised (but missing) features ready to go. Never mind adding new AI bells and whistles, last year’s additions need to finally make an appearance. In other words, we need to know they’re actually real, not just marketing bluster. Apple is already behind in the AI race, and introducing more new features when it can’t even get last year’s batch finished would be a terrible look.

But focusing on righting the wrongs of the last year, as difficult as it will feel for Apple, wouldn’t just be the right thing to do. Apple Intelligence is in a bad way, but fixing it up could actually result in better upgrades to macOS and iOS.

Correcting course

Fortunately, there are rumors that Apple could follow this course. The latest Power On newsletter from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, for example, says that WWDC will have three major themes: redesigned operating systems, enhancements to iPadOS, and improvements to Apple Intelligence.

If WWDC is restricted to those three subjects, there’s a good chance that macOS 16, iOS 19 and more will all be incremental upgrades, without the plethora of enticing new ideas that have defined recent Apple releases. With Apple’s developers channeling their efforts into a few big overhauls (the redesign, iPadOS and Apple Intelligence), there should be plenty of spare hands to squash bugs and improve performance in macOS and beyond.

And as strange as it might sound, I think that could actually be just what the doctor ordered.

Focusing an operating system update on improving what came before doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Some of the best-loved and most well-regarded updates to the Mac operating system were largely focused on bug fixes and performance improvements, such as OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in 2009 and OS X Mountain Lion in 2012. Correcting the mistakes of the past can go a long way to earning user trust.

After all, we’ve probably all come across bugs and annoyances in macOS that we wish Apple would fix. Maybe this is the time that’ll finally happen.

This is a crunch moment for Apple Intelligence, and there’s no way that Apple could leave its announced-but-delayed features undelivered and in the lurch as other new additions were revealed to the world. Rectifying that situation won’t just help remedy Apple Intelligence — its operating systems could also feel the benefits.