Rest in Peace, iOS 19. You hadn’t even cleared the womb before Apple chose to send you to the shadow realm. Allegedly. According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is considering ditching its present numbering scheme for OS updates, instead identifying them by year. Enter iOS 26.
Apple’s not done yet
Except we’re not in 2026. Like FIFA games of old, Apple’s new update numbering scheme will align with the following year after its release. So, rather than the iOS 19 upgrade scheduled to be released this year, we’re instead going to see iOS 26 come to life. Next year’s update will be iOS 27, and so on. It’s certainly, uh, a decision.
Apple isn’t stopping at iOS, either. Gurman reckons that the entire Apple ecosystem will receive the makeover, according to “people with knowledge of the matter,” who preferred not to be named because the plans are still private. Or they were, anyway. Other updates will be known as iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 going forward.
Apple plans to formally announce the change at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on 9 June 2025, where the company had previously teased a more software-focused slate instead of any monumental announcements or upgrades to hardware this year. If this is all the innovation Apple can deliver…
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If you’re wondering why Apple feels the time is ripe to make such a big change with seemingly little value, join the club. According to Gurman, “Apple is making the change to bring consistency to its branding and move away from an approach that can be confusing to customers and developers.” All of Apple’s current operating systems feature different version numbers because they did not debut alongside each other, leading to the discrepancy.
iOS was first released alongside the original iPhone in 2007, and is on its 18th iteration. VisionOS, on the other hand, debuted in 2023 and is on its second iteration, due for another upgrade this year. Was that really so hard to understand? Apple seems to think so. At least it’ll give ’em something to talk about at WWDC, right?
With the changes comes a new look for the ecosystem, reportedly codenamed ‘Solarium’ internally. It’s not yet known how extensive these updates will be, but the idea is to offer a more cohesive experience when users are quickly jumping between all their devices.
