Apple will reportedly announce a major change to its operating systems at WWDC
Apple is making a big change to how it names its operating systems.
Apple is about to make a major change to the operating systems that drive the tech giant's devices. Instead of identifying each OS by its name and version number (such as iOS 18, for example), Apple will identify a OS release by year. This is being done to help prevent users from getting confused while it brings a certain consistency to Apple's various operating systems. Because this change has not yet been announced by Apple, a source cited by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman was not identified.
Based on what Gurman passed along, instead of iOS 19, the upcoming build of the iPhone's operating system will be known as iOS 26. Other devices will receive iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26. This helps give users a better idea of when the latest OS for their Apple devices was released. Currently, different operating system uses a different version number since they were not all released at the same time.
However, there is one area where there can still be confusion. Instead of naming the iPhone's next OS iOS 25 since it will be released this September, Apple will use 26 since only three months will be remaining in 2025 by the time the software is released. The other OS releases released this year will include the number 26. If Apple continues with this strategy, the version of iOS released in September 2026 will be known as iOS 27; the other OS names will include iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.
Gurman says that as part of the changes Apple is making to its operating systems, it hopes to give iPad users an experience similar to using the Mac. The goal is to make the iPad more useful in the workplace. Apple will allow third-party developers to get access to its AI models and the technology used by Apple for its Apple Intelligence AI initiative. AI will also be used to help manage the battery on Apple devices.
New features expected to be unwrapped at WWDC include a Live Translate feature for the AirPods wireless Bluetooth earbuds and the Siri virtual assistant, and a visual scrolling feature allowing Vision Pro users to scroll using their eyes.
Bloomberg reports that Apple will announce the change at WWDC which begins June 9th and the new titles will be accompanied by changes to the user interface (UI) of each operating system. Internally, Apple has given the UI changes the codename of Solarium and it will include tvOS, watchOS, and some parts of visionOS for the Vision Pro.
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