Apple could also be on the verge of an enormous change in the best way the corporate names its software program updates — and it is an strategy which will appear acquainted to anybody who’s conversant in Home windows 95 or a ’57 Chevy. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Apple is rebranding its working techniques through the use of the final two digits of the upcoming yr. So the present iOS 18 will likely be changed by iOS 26, not iOS 19, when it arrives within the fall of 2025.
A consultant for Apple did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
Bloomberg cites unidentified sources who say that the extra updates will take the names iPadOS 26, MacOS 26, WatchOS 26, TVOS 26 and VisionOS 26. In line with the sources, the hope is to carry consistency to Apple’s branding and take away confusion. Bloomberg notes that present working techniques, together with iOS 18, WatchOS 12, MacOS 15 and VisionOS 2, use totally different numbers since they did not debut on the identical time.
The corporate is predicted to announce the identify change and extra cohesive person interfaces throughout units at its Worldwide Builders Convention on June 9.
It is noteworthy that the Bloomberg story made no point out of renaming iPhones. The present iPhone mannequin is iPhone 16, which got here out in February. The iPhone 17 lineup is predicted to be introduced in September, however there isn’t any phrase on it being renamed to iPhone 26 relatively than iPhone 17.
The brand new numbering system would replicate the final two digits of the upcoming yr, 2026, relatively than the present yr of 2025, much like new cars. Samsung and Microsoft have each used year-based naming techniques.
