This year, Apple might launch iOS 26 instead of the widely expected iOS 19.
This is according to a new report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who claims that Apple is working on a major rebrand across all of its operating systems, which will be identified by year instead of version number.
This means that, in 2025, Apple might launch iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.
It’s a pretty big deal for Apple, who only changed the branding of iOS once — the first three versions were called iPhone OS, with Apple switching to iOS in 2010. The company kept the naming scheme until 2024.
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Older tech nerds will also remember that Microsoft used to identify its Windows operating systems by year in 1995, 1998, and 2000, though it later switched to version numbers (the latest version being Windows 11).
For Apple, the change does make sense. The company’s operating systems currently don’t have a consistent naming scheme — the current version of Apple’s mobile operating system is iOS 18, in contrast to macOS 15 and visionOS 2.
If the report is accurate, though, Apple will use the next year for its operating system, meaning that the versions that launch in 2025 will be called “26,” and so on.
According to Gurman, Apple will announce this change at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 9.
It’s not just about the name, though. Apple will reportedly introduce a new look across its operating systems — something we’ve heard in previous reports.
