94% of CNET Readers Think New Apple CEO’s Big Splash Will Come at WWDC

Apple is expected to make big waves over the next few months, and all the action starts on Monday. 

The company’s Worldwide Developer Conference begins with a keynote address at 10 a.m. PT at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. We’ll get a glimpse of Apple’s upcoming features and software updates, like previews of iOS and WatchOS, but likely won’t see any new hardware, like Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone, yet.

For now, WWDC 2026 is all about Apple’s software features and AI developments. And everything is still a big mystery. But that makes it fun to speculate about what might be coming next week. 

To lean into the excitement, the CNET Group is hosting a Big Guessing Game contest across its websites — CNET, Lifehacker, Mashable, PCMag and ZDNet. Three rounds of guessing let you make predictions on what Apple will unveil this year. Each answer you get right earns you one chance in a drawing to win the latest Apple Watch announced in September. 

The Big Guessing Game Round 1 was all about Apple’s new software (like iOS, iPadOS, VisionOS, WatchOS and MacOS). Your guesses ahead of June’s WWDC event are in and are outstanding. 

Most readers think Apple’s new CEO will speak at WWDC

June’s WWDC keynote is expected to be the last one for Apple CEO Tim Cook before he resigns in September. Whether Apple’s incoming CEO, John Ternus, will speak at the event is still unknown. The vast majority of CNET readers (96%) believe Ternus will speak during Monday’s keynote, while 4% think he won’t. 

Here’s some food for thought. Cook was Apple’s chief operating officer before being named CEO. He was less involved with product development and announcements and instead created and refined Apple’s robust supply chain ecosystem, which helped Apple become a trillion-dollar company. 

Ternus is currently Apple’s vice president of hardware engineering, and has been a part of Apple event keynotes before. We’ll have to see if Ternus lands onstage at any point as a presenter, but it’s almost certain that Cook will kick off the event with his usual, low-key “good morning.”

MacOS 27 may not have a nickname this year

CNET readers didn’t come to a consensus on what MacOS 27 will be named, but there are a few guesses that stand out. Since 2013, MacOS has always had a nicknamed based on a California landmark, like Mavericks or Catalina. Prior to that, Apple’s Mac software had big cat names like Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma.

The names readers guessed for the new OS varied, but slightly over 9% believe it could simply be named MacOS 27 without a California nickname this year, which would be a first. Some readers think it could be Redwood (6%), Shasta (4%) and Mammoth (3%). Other names that stand out include Big Bear and Emerald Bay. 

Here’s a look at earlier versions. Keep in mind that Apple changed its numbering conventions in 2025 to reflect the year following its release. 

• MacOS 26 (2025): Tahoe
• MacOS 15 (2024): Sequoia 
• MacOS 14 (2023): Sonoma 
• MacOS 13 (2022): Ventura
• MacOS 12 (2021): Monterey 
• MacOS 11 (2020): Big Sur 
  

The frequency of ‘Apple Intelligence’ mentions is a toss-up

Based on guesses from CNET Group readers, the term “Apple Intelligence” could be mentioned anywhere from zero to a billion times during the WWDC keynote on Monday. Even among the reasonable guesses, there was a wide variation.

The median guess, or the middle number of all the guesses, was 26, but the average guess was much higher at 68. (There were some very high guesses.) 

We first heard the term Apple Intelligence at WWDC in June 2024, and it began rolling out to iPhones, iPads and Macs in October 2024. Since then, Apple Intelligence has become a buzzword for Apple amid the recent evolution of AI. 

Apple Intelligence launched with a few features, including text rewriting, photo cleanup to remove unwanted objects, and notification prioritization. However, AI has advanced significantly since 2024, and Apple is increasingly investing in its evolution. 

Recently Apple Intelligence updates to accessibility features were unveiled for hardware: VoiceOver and Magnifier, to describe what’s on your screen. Apple Intelligence now supports natural language, letting you speak like a regular person to control your iPad or iPhone. 

As Apple evolves to embrace AI, we’re likely to hear a lot about Apple Intelligence as it weaves into more OS features, like the overdue Siri update expected to run on Google’s foundational models for Gemini AI. We’ll need to wait to see exactly how much AI dominates Monday’s WWDC keynote.

Readers are certain WatchOS will get an AI health coach 

Speaking of AI, most CNET Group readers (89%) believe the next WatchOS upgrade could include an AI health coach, while 11% don’t believe so. WatchOS 26 came with a few fitness upgrades, notably Workout Buddy, which is an AI-powered personal trainer that acts in real time. 

Vanessa Hand Orellana, CNET’s lead smartwatch writer, said in her commentary that Workout Buddy could be Apple laying the groundwork for fitness and AI. It’s also a chance for Apple to see what it can do with AI on the smartwatch. Orellana added that an AI-powered coach helps you understand your health data and motivates you to build better habits. So a health coach that focuses on your overall well-being isn’t far-fetched based on what we’ve seen from Apple. 

Could the iOS 27 public beta drop as early as June?

I like that Apple gives us a chance to test out the new software before it’s officially released through its Apple Beta Software Program. But we never know for certain when the official public beta versions will be publicly available until they are. 

A surprising number of CNET readers — 53% — think Apple will release the public beta version of iOS 27 this month, while only 17% predict it will come in July. Others think it could come in August (9%) or September (21%). 

Even though it was the third-most-popular guess, there is a strong argument for July — the public beta of iOS 26 came out on July 23, 2025, and the public beta of iOS 18 came out on July 15, 2024. We’ll have to see whether Apple follows the same pattern and whether we’ll get any hints on Monday. 

Mark your calendars for July 7 for the second round of CNET’s Big Guessing Game, where we’ll focus on Apple devices, like Apple’s beloved iPad and iPhone. Remember, every correct answer gets you closer to a chance at winning the latest Apple Watch in September.