iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users are about to get a big jump in numbering of the operating software from simple numbers to years.
It’s been widely reported that at the upcoming WWDC (WorldWide Developers Conference) Apple will change how they number their operating systems. Up to now, it’s been a simple integer for each major new version. We’re currently on iOS 18 for the iPhone.
Instead of expecting iOS 19, the next major version of iOS will likely be iOS 26, following a jump in the version number. The numbering is based on the major year of release not the year of first release. So the next software releases will be ‘26’ or ‘2026’ – not 2025.
It might seem strange but car makers often do the same thing. The ‘2026 models’ being released in the year before.
According to Bloomberg, in coming months there’ll be:
- iOS 26 (iPhone)
- iPadOS 26 (iPad)
- macOS 26 (Mac laptops and computers)
- watchOS 26 (Apple Watch)
- tvOS 26 (Apple TV)
- visionOS 26 (Apple Vision Pro)
The upcoming ‘26’ releases are reported to include a revamp of the interface to make it more consistent across devices. In particular, iPadOS will look more like a Mac computer screen.
