New mail and messaging tools expected for iPhones, WWDC

LOS ANGELES – New iPhones won't be out until the fall. But Monday, we'll get a sneak peek at what new features Apple has planned for us, not just for the next models but recent iPhones and iPads as well. 

At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple invites app makers to hear a road plan for what the company has in store, hoping that in return, the developers get excited and use the tools in their apps. 

As always, leaks of new features for what's expected to be called iOS13 have made their way to Apple enthusiast sites. More on them shortly.

Apple welcomes developers to San Jose, California, against a backdrop of storm clouds brewing over its practices with them. The Supreme Court said an antitrust case can go forward from iPhone users who allege that Apple engages in monopolistic practices in the App Store. Music streaming giant Spotify pushed the European Union to investigate its antitrust complaint against the App Store, and the hugely popular app Netflix recently stopped making itself available in the App Store, saying Apple's commissions were too high.

On Wednesday, Apple defended its business practices in a newly built app developer webpage, noting that it has paid out $120 billion to developers over the years for their share in fees from the site and arguing that it allows competitive apps to be side by side with Apple apps in categories like music, calendar, mail, messaging and cloud storage. 

"We believe competition makes everything better and results in the best apps for our customers," Apple said. 

Tim Bajarin, a longtime industry analyst and the president of Creative Strategies, said Apple is smart to get its defenses out of the way before WWDC starts. "It takes it away from a lot of discussion at WWDC. They don't need disruption there since their main purpose is to give developers more opportunities to make more money from Apple."

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Back to next week's event.

At WWDC, Bloomberg reports that Apple will announce that the iTunes software is being shut down, and will be replaced by three new apps for music, TV and podcasts.

Here are some other new features we expect: 

—Dark Mode: Similar to a feature introduced on the macOS Mojave operating system upgrade for Macs, this tool allows users to get a black background on their screens for iPhones and iPads. The enthusiast site 9to5 Mac says it has screenshots of the new feature. 

—Find my Friends meets Find my iPhone: The two features are expected to be combined into one, to share locations of both your whereabouts and that of your device. 

—Mail. Apple looks to follow in Google's footsteps with more tools to discard unwanted mail from sight, with categories for marketing, travel and "read later."

Overall, look for a redesigned iPhone/iPad home page and just "faster" operations from the software, says Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. 

"Speed is a big deal now, in terms of streaming entertainment content and other new initiatives from Apple," he says. "For those, you'll need a faster iOS."

Traditionally, Apple announces the software updates in June, releases a beta version in the summer and final in September, usually a few days before the release of the new iPhone. 

While the WWDC shows us new features for the phone, what we won't know until the fall is the full extent of the new hardware upgrades for the next iPhones, specifically relating to power and camera capabilities, Bajarin says. 

We've reached out to Apple to request comment. 

Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham (@jeffersongraham) on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.