The MacRumors Show: Google and OpenAI Step Up AI Tech Ahead of WWDC

[MacRumors]

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss all of the major announcements from Google's AI-focused I/O conference this week and the mysterious device former Apple design chief Jony Ive is designing at OpenAI.

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At its I/O 2025 conference, Google unveiled a wide range of artificial intelligence enhancements surrounding its Gemini AI platform. Chief among these is a dedicated AI Mode for Google Search, which leverages contextual understanding to return more relevant, nuanced results and allows follow-up questions. Within Google Chrome, Gemini has also been integrated to assist with summarizing web content, composing messages, and providing intelligent suggestions. Gemini Agent Mode is designed to be an autonomous assistant that completes tasks on your behalf, while Gemini Personal Context pulls from your Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and more to offer personalized, proactive help.

Google introduced Gemini Live, which brings real-time AI assistance to iPhone users. The feature supports screen sharing, camera access, and integration with services like Google Calendar and Maps. The company also devoted time to generative models: Veo 3 for video generation, Imagen 4 for image synthesis, and Deep Research, a tool designed to provide thorough, AI-powered insights across complex subjects.

Moreover, Google introduced significant developments in wearable computing with Android XR, a new operating system designed specifically for augmented reality headsets and smart glasses. The platform gains features like live translation, turn-by-turn directions, and real-time contextual support powered by Gemini. Samsung will be the first partner to release a headset running Android XR later this year, followed by a smart glasses product.

Google's own smart glasses initiative was also showcased. The new glasses are equipped with in-lens displays, microphones, speakers, and cameras, allowing users to see and hear the world with real-time assistance from Gemini. The glasses will be designed in partnership with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

In other news, OpenAI this week set out plans to acquire io, a hardware startup co-founded by legendary former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a deal valued at approximately $6.5 billion. The acquisition brings a team of influential former Apple designers, including Evans Hankey and Marc Newson, into OpenAI. The company is working on developing a new category of device described as a "third core device," envisioned to complement the smartphone and laptop without replicating either.

The new hardware is neither a phone nor a pair of glasses, but a compact, screenless device designed to sit on a desk or in a pocket. Unlike legacy devices, it apparently seeks to reduce dependence on screens and offer more ambient, contextual interactions with AI. According to reports, the device is aware of its surroundings through microphones and cameras, and integrates tightly with a user's life while remaining unobtrusive. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described the product as "the coolest piece of technology the world will have ever seen."

Development of the product remains highly secretive. Comparisons have been made to the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin, but the involvement of Jony Ive and his team designing around OpenAI's industry-leading technology suggests that this product could be different. The device is expected to be revealed in late 2026.

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Article Link: The MacRumors Show: Google and OpenAI Step Up AI Tech Ahead of WWDC

 

[bmustaf]

I know I am going to be very impressed by WWDC, because my expectations could not possibly be lower. If they could just release even a very basically functional Siri and mildly useful AI features it will be a major win.

 

[cjsuk]

I literally have no interest in any of these vendors any more. Over promise. Under deliver.

Don’t announce anything until it’s on the market and actually works. Then I might have some interest.

Hype needs to die.

 

[TMail]

No live Keynote at WWDC is emblematic of a deeper problem: a company once revered for its bold innovation now seems trapped in a loop of controlled, overly polished presentations that mirror its increasingly incremental product updates.

 

[UpsetTheAppleCart]

I’m looking forward to a smarter Siri with personal context. Hopefully Apple gets their stuff figured out pretty soon.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Great. In ten years from now people will be lost when they leave home without their phone-companion device.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

io’s “third core device” sounds something like a smartphone without a screen. Since a redesigned smartphone (a couple more cameras and microphones, etc.) might be able to do all the things that io’s device is rumored to do, and you can already set a smartphone on a desk or put it in a pocket (I’ve tried it), I’m wondering if people will instead opt for such a redesigned smartphone and keep their carry-around “core device” count down by one.

 

[Piggie]

Just to say I enjoyed your podcast very much.
I was surprised you totally skipped over the whole Fortnite story as that is one of the biggest things (for certain reasons in years to hit a few days ago)


But anyway........

It seems my past requests about the low volume of this podcast has still not been addressed, and as has been the case for ages, The MacRumors Podcast is only about 70% ish the volume level of every single other podcast.

Does no-one involved in the creation of the podcast ever read this so they are aware they have a problem to address?

 

[Blue Nova]

Just to say I enjoyed your podcast very much.
I was surprised you totally skipped over the whole Fortnite story as that is one of the biggest things (for certain reasons in years to hit a few days ago)


But anyway........

It seems my past requests about the low volume of this podcast has still not been addressed, and as has been the case for ages, The MacRumors Podcast is only about 70% ish the volume level of every single other podcast.

Does no-one involved in the creation of the podcast ever read this so they are aware they have a problem to address?

The MacRumors Show is hosted on a great site — MacRumors.com — which many of us follow daily for timely updates on Apple and its competitors. But the issue with the show is that it often just repeats what’s already been posted on the site. For regular readers, there’s not much new to gain from watching.

Even when guest speakers are brought in, they tend to be fellow rumor-watchers rather than people actually involved in the industry. It would really elevate the show if it featured deeper analysis, original insights, or interviews with insiders who are part of the decision-making or product development processes. Right now, it feels more like a recap than a show that adds value beyond the headlines.

 

[Fuzzball84]

Great. In ten years from now people will be lost when they leave home without their phone-companion device.

We are living in fast changing times. I suspect that regulation will fail to keep up with the advances in AI. Throw into this the increasing toxicity of social media. Overpopulation, cost of living crisis, climate change, persistant pollution.

No wonder the super rich are looking at ways of getting off the planet.

This will all come to a head one day and it’s not going to look nice.

 

[Macaholic868]

I know I am going to be very impressed by WWDC, because my expectations could not possibly be lower. If they could just release even a very basically functional Siri and mildly useful AI features it will be a major win.

You can go ahead and remove “a very basic functional Siri” from the list of things you’ll be hearing announced at WWDC. I’ve yet to hear any rumors of Siri improvements outside of what they already announced and failed to ship as a part of the iOS 18 fiasco so unless they surprise us all and actually have some of those features ready for the beta then prepare your already small expectations to go unfulfilled. I don’t think we’ll see a functional Siri until the all LLM version is ready for prime time a couple of years from now. Until then it’ll continue to be Frankenstein Siri that uses the old Siri code for some requests and updated code that uses AI for other requests.

As for new AI features, I’m afraid that outside of better battery management that Apple is touting as being achieved through AI, I’ve not heard of much in that department either. IMO that is pretty yawn inducing unless it results in a noticeable improvement.

What may prove to be the most impactful feature in the iOS 19 AI department is releasing the API that allows developers to use the on-device Apple Intelligence functionality.

How useful that API proves to be may ultimately be what makes iOS 19 a success or a failure more so than any specific AI features that they will announce this time around.

I’m very curious to see what these API’s can actually do and how useful they actually are because I’ve read conflicting information about how successful Apple’s on-device AI has actually proven to be for them internally. My understanding is that there were features they originally intended to be a part of iOS 18 that were slated to be primarily implemented and run on-device that had to be offloaded to the cloud.

So if they are only opening up the on-device stuff will that be meaningful and what will it allow developers to do that, say, OpenAI’s API doesn’t allow for?

 

[Nuno Lopes]

Hey,

It's happening to Apple what I feared and have been warning around macrumours threads of these danger. I find a lot of analogies with what happened to Microsoft. Microsoft once got tangled up with governamental regulations, trying to squeeze the market if not control users and businesses through the hegemony of its products and services. In a way, Tim Cook reign over Apple reminds of Steve Balmer and in a lot of ways the last years of Bill Gates over Microsoft.

Take the two images attached for comparison sake and remember that Microsoft was already huge when Steve Balmer took it from Bill Gates, also his reign ended in 2014. Notice how Apple is slowing down ....

AI like Gemini is the new iPhone. Actually looks poised to be more as unlike iOS ecosystem, is poised to touch deeply multiple ecosystems given these companies open strategies. Microsoft did not had one when Apple took the market show. Apple does not have AI as well. Apple AI looks like Windows CE back then. Furthermore it seams to be handling the transition more or less has Steve Balmer did. Why would users, want this and that, and that and this.

It will transform how we use Smarphones and Desktops, deeply into the OS. I suspect OSs in 4 years will look quite different.

The thing to me that concerned the most on this presentation. Actually maceumours is already doing some calculations is ... If the UI to the world is some AI Search console, it does not take much to manipulate it .... for instance, introduce agentic payment and Gemini can become a middleman between consumer oriented shops and its customer ... getting a fee. Imagine disguised Global App Store as a search engine across any and all OSs. Now EU will be of course looking at it and introduce regulations to protect MacRumours from the potential of the value and power transfer.

PS: Only had an iPhones, even bought and Android just once to play on the side, but I am considering buying an Android phone just to be witness this revolution, just like I did when I bought the iPhone 3G. I am bit tired of emojis Apple, ... actually was never excited about it. It kind of reminded me of Balmer's Monkey Dance yet way more stylized, way more calculated.

Please Apple, come back with live Key Notes. It makes you at least look detached from the pulsating world. We need that Steve Jobs technical ambition for the future. Not the same thing over and over just little bit better, not the fear mongering over users security, not treating everyone else in the world but Apple has thief looking to steal from Apple and its users. Not videos were people look like coming from a dyspotian happy world. It's a garbage way to look at it compared with meaty, gritty way, punchy of Steve Jobs.

Cheers.

 

[DeepIn2U]

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss all of the major announcements from Google's AI-focused I/O conference this week and the mysterious device former Apple design chief Jony Ive is designing at OpenAI.


Moreover, Google introduced significant developments in wearable computing with Android XR, a new operating system designed specifically for augmented reality headsets and smart glasses. The platform gains features like live translation, turn-by-turn directions, and real-time contextual support powered by Gemini. Samsung will be the first partner to release a headset running Android XR later this year, followed by a smart glasses product.

In other news, OpenAI this week set out plans to acquire io, a hardware startup co-founded by legendary former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a deal valued at approximately $6.5 billion. The acquisition brings a team of influential former Apple designers, including Evans Hankey and Marc Newson, into OpenAI. The company is working on developing a new category of device described as a "third core device," envisioned to complement the smartphone and laptop without ...

@Hartley Do you not proof read our article or even use Ai toproof read before submitting? Unless it's me the sentence mentioning Jony I've the first time above seems convoluted .

For those of us that are fully into tech and personal wearable devices and have watched over it's evolution for a very long time, will notice the category name evolves multiples faster than what the products actually do vs it's potential.

"The platform gains features like live translation, turn-by-turn directions, and real-time contextual support ... " Since Sergei Brin was desparately showing off Google Glass this is ALL this product category/segment has EVER DONE! Over 25yrs now and despite the pizzaz and subtle differences in 5he HUD UI and i mean subtle NOTHING of what it doss has changed!! Its still created eith the assumption it SHOULD BE AND ONLY WILL BE A consumption device.

At least Qpple hinted at a far reaching vision... various forms of data inout even if limited to a keyboard concept!

I feel like this is the PDA era where for years many if us were forced to learn Jot in order for scribbling data entry, letting PalmOS have 5yrs of dominance,

Here again we're making the same mistakes - forcing humans to adapt to computing interfaces vs the other way around!

And this so called product, a third core device, is STUPID I'm sorry! A screen on a desk or in your pocket, and that's gonna blow everyone's mind?! We have nearly 4 billion if this devices already in use - the cellphone and I'll bet that even Samsung's Z Fold product category starter premise already fills this void! We already have cost effective leading XR glasses that's powered by thr Z Fold's or Oppo Open N5's usb port (also for data) to have a 150 ft virtual screen in your glasses at great br8ghtness colour accuracy if not yet still more fashionable subtle appearance.

Jony when are you going to STOP THINKING you work for Apple.?! Its ok and much more efficient for a product to replace an existing one. Having more products in our lives is NOT better! Bikes, motorcycles, cars and trucks do NOT have legs cause we don't need more of them! Sedans have almost effectively replaced sports cars along with Sport Utility Vehicles did also.

In the 1980's almost every major international car company had a sports car: Honda, Nissan, BMW, Toyota, GM/Eagle, Ford, GM/Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Mazda, etc. Now only only 3 does ... the fourth has theirs built by 1 of the 3 and simply tuned it, building and assembling different body panels as the Supra. More is NOT better!

The other issue will be device compatibility - this entire ecosystem lock-in BULL on accessories MUST STOP! Essentially by doing this you're enacting people as products or product marketing signs and FR talk its getting old and dumb!

Article Link: The MacRumors Show: Google and OpenAI Step Up AI Tech Ahead of WWDC

 

[GermanSuplex]

We are living in fast changing times. I suspect that regulation will fail to keep up with the advances in AI. Throw into this the increasing toxicity of social media. Overpopulation, cost of living crisis, climate change, persistant pollution.

No wonder the super rich are looking at ways of getting off the planet.

This will all come to a head one day and it’s not going to look nice.

We haven’t even figured out how to regulate social media yet. I’d love to be optimistic but I also have no reason to be. I do fear the negatives will outweigh t benefits.

 

[Hartley]

Just to say I enjoyed your podcast very much.
I was surprised you totally skipped over the whole Fortnite story as that is one of the biggest things (for certain reasons in years to hit a few days ago)


But anyway........

It seems my past requests about the low volume of this podcast has still not been addressed, and as has been the case for ages, The MacRumors Podcast is only about 70% ish the volume level of every single other podcast.

Does no-one involved in the creation of the podcast ever read this so they are aware they have a problem to address?

We think we've got this fixed now! Thanks for the feedback.