Bloomberg: Apple plans to change operating system names – iOS 18 will become iOS 26
The American company Apple is planning the most extensive change in the names of its operating systems, which will affect all devices, Bloomberg reports, citing informed sources.
According to the agency's sources, instead of the traditional names by version number, the following operating systems will be named by the year of release.
Thus, the current iOS 18 will change to iOS 26. Similarly, new versions for other platforms such as iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS will also be numbered by release year.
Apple, meanwhile, will use the next year, not the current one. Although its next operating system will be released around September 2025, the year will be 2026 in the name.
This change is intended to make branding more consistent and understandable for users and developers.
Today's operating systems, including iOS 18, watchOS 12, macOS 15, and visionOS 2, have different numbers because their first versions appeared at different times.
It is noted that the company will announce the change at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9.
This naming strategy is reminiscent of Samsung and Microsoft's approaches.
Samsung renamed its Galaxy S smartphone line after the year of launch in 2020, and Microsoft began naming its major operating systems after the year of release back in 1995.
Apple has tried to do something similar before with its office software packages and creativity apps.
- On May 26, it became known that Apple is developing a new AI gadget for the home. Its release is planned for the end of 2025.