Through it all, we spend a lot of time talking through Apple’s ongoing approach to AI. The supposedly Siri-centric future of everything remains basically on hold, as Apple tries to make the tech work, but Apple Intelligence figures into a lot of the company’s new software. It seems Apple has gotten back to what it does best: making the tech just work for people. But there’s simply no way to watch this year’s WWDC without thinking of Apple’s 2024 pitch for a completely new way to think about and use our devices — and the comparatively straightforward stuff it’s shipping a year later. How you feel about the next era of Apple software will depend entirely on how you feel about what might have been, and what might still be.