Does the 2023 artwork have VR vibes?

Apple today announced WWDC 2023, the next edition of its annual developer conference. Although the conference will be broadcast online, the company will hold a special event in Apple Park for select guests. And with every Apple event comes a special piece of art to advertise it. But what does the WWDC 2023 artwork mean? Read on as we speculate on that.

Artwork for Apple’s special events

Apple doesn’t usually share details in advance about what will be announced at its events, and this time was no different. The company says that WWDC 2023 will be an “exciting week of technology” and that developers will learn about the “latest iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS advancements.”

But in the past, some of Apple’s special event artwork has given us clues as to what the company was about to announce. For example, the invitation artwork for the September 2013 press event also featured colored circles and some silver rings. This was a reference to the colors of the iPhone 5c and the Touch ID of the iPhone 5s.

The artwork for the September 2015 event was the Apple logo featuring Siri’s voice waves, captioned “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” At that event, Apple announced the first Apple TV with tvOS and Siri. It also announced the iPhone 6s with the Hey Siri command always on.

Another good example is the artwork for the September 2016 event, which blurred the Apple logo with a bokeh effect. The caption of the artwork was “See you the 7th.” At that event, Apple introduced the iPhone 7, the first with Portrait Mode for photos. But what about WWDC 2023?

WWDC 2023 artwork speculations

This time, Apple chose colorful waves to represent WWDC 2023. As noted by Halide, the waves look similar to what’s called a “pancake lens array,” commonly used in virtual reality headsets. Naturally, this raises users’ expectations, as Apple is rumored to announce its own mixed-reality headset at the event.

But at the same time, the waves could simply be a reference to the rainbow structure located within Apple Park. Of course, the company may have chosen to represent the rainbow structure and the Apple Park building itself in this way as a reference to the AR/VR world.

But in recent years, Apple’s artwork for events has stopped meaning much about the company’s announcements. Since 2020, WWDC invitation artwork is simply Memoji with MacBooks. And when it comes to iPhone events, the artwork doesn’t show much more than a glimpse of new wallpapers.

But what about you? What do you think of the WWDC 2023 artwork? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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