Summary
- Apple has announced seven new education and technology facilities in Türkiye.
- Five free Developer Academies will begin opening in 2027.
- A Developer Center is also scheduled for Istanbul in 2027.
- A Manufacturing Academy is planned for Ankara in 2028.
Apple is expanding its presence in Türkiye with seven new education and technology facilities focused on app development, artificial intelligence and manufacturing.
Announced on 9 November 2026, the plan includes five Apple Developer Academies, an Apple Developer Center in Istanbul and an Apple Manufacturing Academy in Ankara. These are seven distinct facilities with different audiences and purposes.
Five free academies for app development
Apple plans to launch the five Developer Academies over the next three years, beginning in Istanbul in 2027. Each academy will offer a free, intensive nine-month programme covering coding, design, marketing, project management and AI technologies.
Accessibility, privacy and sustainability will also inform the curriculum. The goal is to help learners develop skills for careers in the app economy or for starting businesses. Apple says its academy programme dates back to 2013 and currently operates 19 facilities worldwide.
An Istanbul Developer Center in 2027
The new Developer Center will serve developers, startups and teams already building applications. It will offer in-person events, workshops and one-to-one appointments with Apple experts, helping participants improve app design, quality and performance.
It will join Developer Centers in Bengaluru, Berlin, Cupertino, Shanghai and Singapore. Apple also points to existing initiatives such as the Swift Student Challenge, developer support programmes and AI-assisted search for technical documentation.
Apple’s first Manufacturing Academy outside the US
A Manufacturing Academy is planned for Ankara in 2028. It will be Apple’s second facility of its kind globally and its first outside the United States, offering free education and consultancy to small and medium-sized businesses, students and entrepreneurs.
Its curriculum will cover machine learning, predictive maintenance, advanced automation, robotics, lean operations and production efficiency. Hands-on labs, live demonstrations and collaborative spaces will support a programme aimed at manufacturing rather than app creation.
Why creators and developers should care
For a photographer or filmmaker developing a tool for asset management, image processing or production planning, learning to code is only one piece of the puzzle. Combining technical skills with product design and entrepreneurship can help turn a prototype into an application people actually use.
Privacy is also particularly important for apps handling photographs and sensitive content. Data protection is already a significant issue in Apple’s ecosystem, as illustrated by its warnings about targeted spyware attacks, although those warnings concern a separate issue from the newly announced education programme.
What we think
What stands out is Apple’s decision to put app development, design and business skills in the same curriculum. Anyone who has tried to turn a creative idea into useful software knows that writing good code is only part of the challenge. Understanding the user’s problem, building the right experience and getting it into people’s hands matter just as much.
Free nine-month programmes could create opportunities for people who would otherwise struggle to access specialist training. The practical questions now are admissions requirements, capacity and where the remaining academies will be located. Apple has not announced those details.
For image makers, the most valuable outcome would be new tools that solve everyday problems, from photography and video workflows to accessibility. That is a more meaningful measure of success for creators than the number of new buildings.
