Much as I enjoy writing serious articles for Macworld, it’s fun from time to time to be silly. Earlier this month, for example, I wrote a fake script for the WWDC25 keynote featuring, along with some relatively plausible launch predictions, an unplanned laser murder and Mike Rockwell being reborn as a cyborg. It’s nice to let loose once in a while.
So sure, I like a joke as much as the next man. Unless, that is, the next man happens to be Craig Federighi, who presumably now has the job title Vice President, Banter And Shenanigans. I won’t pretend to know the man in his day-to-day work routine; perhaps he sits in silence brooding on the sorrows of the world. All I know is that when showtime arrives, he turns into a force of dad-joke nature.
Which can be, well, a lot. Every June I tune into the WWDC keynote wondering how far his cheesy sense of humor will be indulged and how much the already punishing broadcast time will be elongated to allow for skits and bits and general time-wasting buffoonery. It’s not that these segments are unfunny, exactly: they often raise the gentlest of gentle smiles. It’s more that they’re a bit… cringe. They’re not exactly what you’d expect from a company with a vast marketing budget trying to position itself as a hip lifestyle choice.
“How will we crack the youth market, Craig?”
“How about a grey-haired man doing devil horns as he jumps out of a plane, Phil?”
“Perfect!”
Anyone hoping for a more sombre-minded WWDC25 was in for disappointment. It started with Federighi in an F1 racing car (when he takes off the helmet! His hair! Is big!), and ended with an excruciating comic song about App Store reviews. (The joke, note, was that apps are great and everyone loves them. Searing stuff.) And almost the worst part is that the 85 minutes in between were mostly played completely and relentlessly straight, so the dubious comedy didn’t even serve to break up the boring bits. It was like a wedding speech where the best man gets all his jokes out of the way at the start and then spends an hour thanking the bridesmaids.
With Apple, an excess of comedy is generally a giveaway that the company is trying to avoid talking about something else. The company’s CEO spent a criminally large portion of the iPhone 15 launch bantering with Mother Nature, in theory because the environment is important, but mainly because the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 were dull products and there wasn’t much else to discuss. It was the ethics of convenience and the humor of distraction. I like jokes that are made purely to be funny. This felt more calculated.
Ultimately, my suspicion is that this year’s mirth-heavy WWDC reflected the inconvenient truth that Apple Intelligence has been a bit of a stinker. It was equally unappealing for the company to admit this, or for it to make a load more promises it can’t keep; better to fill up time with horseplay and tomfoolery. And with a bit of luck, the company’s critics will have been cringing so hard that they were physically unable to write uncomplimentary articles.
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.
Trending: Top stories
Hold on. Did Apple Intelligence just become… good?
Apple’s latest gaming efforts won’t move the needle.
Alex Blake explains why Mac power users should rush to upgrade to macOS 26 Tahoe this fall.
RIP Mickey Mouse glove: macOS Tahoe has a new set of cursors.
Apple made a haptic ‘F1’ trailer that you need to feel to believe.
Podcast of the week
We talk about the hot new stuff from Apple, including Liquid Glass, iPadOS windowing, Live Translation, and more on episode 938 of the Macworld Podcast!
You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.
The rumor mill
Sorry Siri fans, don’t expect those delayed Apple Intelligence features until 2026.
iOS 26 seemingly points to the upcoming release of AirPods Pro 3.
Xcode 26 code raises hopes for a cheaper Vision Pro, but there’s probably nothing to see here.
Software updates, bugs, and problems
macOS 26 Tahoe fixes a major pet peeve of Google Chrome users.
watchOS 26 kills off five classic Apple Watch faces.
iOS 26 finally makes it super simple to assign a custom iPhone ringtone.
And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters, including our new email from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous take on the latest news and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, or X for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.
