Apple (AAPL, Financial) is about to hand the keys to its AI engine over to developers—and it could be the smartest move it's made in years. At WWDC on June 9, the tech giant is expected to unveil a new SDK and frameworks that let third-party developers build AI features directly on top of Apple's own language models. For now, these are the smaller models that run locally on devices, not the heavier, cloud-based ones. But even this step could unleash a wave of creativity that Apple desperately needs in its push to stay relevant in the AI race.
Why now? Because Apple Intelligence—the platform that was supposed to mark Apple's generative AI era—hasn't exactly lit the world on fire. Developers had limited hooks to work with, and many turned to external solutions like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's TensorFlow. Meanwhile, apps like Claude and Grok are already thriving on the App Store. Apple knows this game: when it opened up iOS to app developers in 2008, it created an entire economy. Now, it's betting that giving developers direct access to its own AI models could do the same—this time for AI.
There's more coming. Apple is also prepping a unified operating system experience across iPhone, iPad, and Mac—under the codename “Solarium”—and plans to drop new features like an AI-powered battery mode and a virtual wellness coach (coming 2026). On the business side, Apple still earns a slice of subscription revenue from App Store apps, but that pie is shrinking as regulators force open payment pathways. If developer-built AI apps take off, it could plug the revenue hole—and give Apple's AI play the jolt it's been missing.
