WWDC 2021 Predictions
WWDC is once again around the corner and will as it was last year be a digital only event . While there is definitely some aspect of community lost by not having a meat-space conference, Apple does a great job (arguably better than they do in person) of presenting the material in a useful and democratized way, so kudos to the folks in Cupertino! There’s a lot going on with Apple and their somewhat strained relationship with developers going in and I’m hoping we see some positive movement on that front, but it’s unlikely that there’s going to be anything extreme. With that said, here are my predictions of what we’ll see.
iPadOS Inter-Process Enablement: This is probably my longest shot bet here, but I think (and hope) that apple is going to loosen up iPadOS (don’t call it iOS 😉) to allow more macOS-like utility, enabling greater productivity (read non-consumption) workflows; if they don’t, it’s a shame, especially now that the iPad Pro is powered by the impressive M1 chip. In my mind, the simplest way for Apple to enable more productivity-oriented workflows would be to not only enable but encourage inter-process (read app) communications. They have something rudimentary in Workflow, but enabling true developer / SDK level interop would be a game-changer.
Swift Concurrency Improvements: Ok, so this one is pretty much a “duh” for anyone keeping an eye on Swift Evolution, but it’s actually a pretty big deal. I am particular excited about async let bindings that will make writing concurrent Swift code a lot cleaner; ok, this is a little trivial and maybe nobody else cares, but damnit, I do! More information on the proposed change can be found on the Swift Github.
No AR Glasses: Unless Apple has solved some pretty significant physics problems related to battery life and batter size, there is no way that we are getting AR glasses this year. I’d love to be wrong, but I just don’t see it; there’s maybe a small chance that they do something like the original Apple Watch, making the glasses a relatively simple target screen that an iPhone is powered, but even that seems unlikely to me. However, I do have hope there will be significant improvements to ARKit based solely on Apple executives repeatedly talking up AR up to and including Tim Cook.
SwiftUI > Combine: Casey Liss of ATP has a great post about the relationship and relative attention Apple is giving Combine and SwiftUI. I generally agree with him on this. SwiftUI is going to see some significant attention this WWDC and I think the writing might just be on the wall for Combine as an independent alternative. Apple seems to be sending some clear signals that SwiftUI is the favorite child and there’s no reason to think that will change.
What do you think? Do you agree or maybe I’ve been hitting that Apple cider a little too swiftly? If you need iOS or Python development work done, please reach out! You can also find me on Twitter.
