Apple opens its trillion-dollar app empire to AI devs at WWDC 2025—India stands to gain big

Analysts say the tech giant has quietly laid the groundwork for a developer-led AI ecosystem by opening access to its foundational models, and by integrating tools like OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 into Xcode, its proprietary app development platform.

“It’s important to remember that Apple, unlike Google and Microsoft, is primarily a product company. This is one key reason why it may not need to be a foundational innovator in AI, and might instead choose to be a consumer of AI,” said a partner at a top venture capital firm, requesting anonymity.

“With its announcements at WWDC, the subtle messaging is along these lines, and crucially, it has done what it was needed to by opening up its platforms for AI innovation by developers.”

Also read: WWDC 2025: iOS 26 unveiled with Liquid Glass design, Apple Intelligence gets ChatGPT support and everything announced

Why this matters for India

The move could prove significant especially for India, which now has the world’s second-largest developer base, with over 17 million coders, according to GitHub. For these developers, Apple’s AI frameworks—now extended to all its major hardware including iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Apple TV—offer new ways to build AI-powered apps directly for the Apple ecosystem.

At WWDC 2025, Apple said its App Store ecosystem facilitated $1.3 trillion in global developer earnings in 2024 alone. iOS, its most popular platform, currently runs on 1.4 billion devices globally—underscoring the scale of opportunity.

What Apple actually announced

Apart from opening access to its own AI models, Apple also integrated third-party large language models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4.5, into Xcode. This allows developers to use generative AI tools to write and debug code faster, and build smarter apps within Apple’s walled garden.

However, Apple’s keynote did not include updates on one of its more ambitious features teased last year—‘Personal Context’, which aims to deliver a hyper-personalized on-device AI experience.

“Apple opening up access to its AI models for developers is undoubtedly a good thing,” said Tarun Pathak, partner and research director at Counterpoint India. 

“But while there is a lot of hype and activity from tech companies supplying AI, the demand side, especially among consumers, is yet to pick up.”

“There is undoubtedly some degree of delay in Apple’s AI innovations picking pace, but this delay is unlikely to affect them massively as consumer sentiment doesn’t show rampant demand as yet.”

Also read: WWDC 2025: Apple unveils new ‘Apple Intelligence’ features bringing offline AI to iPhone, Mac and more

Some gaps remain

Apple unveiled a 3-billion-parameter on-device foundational AI model that supports 15 languages, including Indian English. However, there was no update on support for Indian languages—a key gap, especially given the size of Apple’s addressable market in India.

Apple used its WWDC keynote to showcase new features with a privacy-first design. It highlighted third-party apps using on-device AI—which works offline and doesn’t send user data to the cloud—unlike Google’s Android.

Still, some experts felt the event lacked a more visible display of AI muscle.

“The global AI marketplace is moving quickly, and not highlighting its progress in this space is problematic for customers, who see AI everywhere,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at consultancy firm Gartner.

“The Apple AI experience should be much more relevant now. Whilst people are not buying because of AI, they will also think twice if AI features are not highlighted.”

View from the street

Apple’s stock fell 2.9% during the WWDC announcement, before recovering 0.7% to close at $201.45 on Nasdaq. Still, the stock is down 22.5% from its 52-week high.

Still, analysts say the company’s move to empower its vast developer ecosystem may prove to be the right bet in the short term—especially as consumer-facing demand for AI remains tepid.

Also read: Sundar Pichai to Mint: Pro-competitive AI, powered by deep research, is Google’s path forward

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