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On Tuesday morning, Apple sent out media invites for its main annual Worldwide Developers Conference. This is a sign that we are one step closer to WWDC 2024, which will officially take place from June 10 to 14 at Apple Park. While Apple hasn’t said what to expect, if past WWDC keynotes are any indication, we’ll likely see previews of iOS 18 and MacOS 15, as well as other Apple operating systems — and perhaps new hardware.

There is speculation that Apple will share its plans to use generative AI in software and hardware at the conference. Rumors point to possible coding integrations, as reported by Bloomberg in February, as well as consumer-facing features such as improved privacy and security and the ability to create custom emoticons based on a text string, again as reported by Bloomberg.

Read more: The best iPhone to buy in 2024

One of my favorite parts of any Apple event is decoding the invite for a deeper understanding of what we can expect. This usually involves taking a long look at the invitation image and Apple’s motto to predict cryptic themes or even products that may be dramatically revealed. This year, all we have to work with for potential Easter eggs are four rainbow colored rings. But I have ideas.

Beneath those rings, the invitation offers one vital piece of information we didn’t know for sure: the time. The WWDC 2024 keynote will begin at 10am PT on Monday, June 10, which contrasts with the early 7am PT start time for Apple’s virtual May iPad event and the late 5pm PT start time for last year’s Scary Fast Mac event autumn.

It’s Apple Park – right?!

Let me get the obvious out of the way. The invitation’s colored circles look like an outline of a top-down view of Apple Park. And it could be that simple, especially since the conference is being held at Apple Park.

New and improved Siri

But let’s spit. This is just for fun.

I have to give credit to CNET’s Abrar Al-Hetti for this one — she thinks the invite might be a subtle nod to the improvements coming to Siri. And that makes perfect sense. We’ve been hearing rumors about iOS 18 for months about Siri getting an AI-powered shine, and the invitation’s colored circles might be a reference to that.

Invoking Siri currently causes a colored orb to pop up on Apple devices, and perhaps Apple wants to differentiate the AI-powered Siri from the Siri of yesteryear with these new rings. Al-Heeti’s idea makes even more sense when you see the animated version of the invitation, where the rings turn different colors in a similar rhythm to the current Siri orb on the device.

Apple Smart Ring

Hey, Samsung unveiled its ‘something else’-style Galaxy Ring at January’s Galaxy Unpacked event, so who’s to say Apple won’t be next? Apple usually previews new products at WWDC, such as Vision Pro, to give developers time to build and optimize the software.

Apple’s smart ring is not so hard to imagine. The company prides itself on the health, fitness and wellness tracking features in its devices, especially the Apple Watch. A ring wearable seems inevitable, especially if it’s priced to match the low end of the current Apple Watch lineup.

HomePod redux

While Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes there won’t be any new Macs released until the end of this year and into 2025, Apple has typically shown off new hardware at WWDC over the past few years. And that may turn out to be true because we saw Apple announce the M4 chip earlier this month for its new iPad Pros.

So if Apple does announce hardware, could we see a new HomePod or HomePod Mini, which were updated in 2023 and 2020 respectively? The invitation circles resemble a top-down view of the HomePod’s Siri screen, or even a regular speaker.

I think that is unlikely. And on that note, this is an excellent place to end our speculation. The great thing is that WWDC is less than two weeks away. So we don’t have to wait long to find out what Apple is actually up to this year.

Editor’s note: CNET used an AI engine to help create several dozen stories that were labeled accordingly. The note you’re reading is attached to articles that deal essentially with the topic of AI, but were created entirely by our expert editors and writers. For more see our AI Policy.