Apple Reportedly Says ‘Screw It’ and Jumps From iOS 19 to iOS 26

Apple iPhone followers might quickly really feel like their mother and father, who needed to watch their child develop up manner too quick. The most recent experiences counsel the tech big received’t keep on with its previous naming conference. The anticipated iOS 19 will as an alternative be known as iOS 26 to line up with the yr following now. All of your Apple merchandise, out of your iPad to your Mac to your Apple Watch, will all sport the brand new nomenclature and a blanket redesign. If all goes in line with plan, subsequent yr’s replace shall be named iOS 27, and so forth.

This new naming conference signifies that as an alternative of iPadOS 19, we’ll as an alternative have iPadOS 26. Moderately than macOS 16, prepare for macOS 26. The Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional will take an unlimited leap from visionOS 2 to visionOS 26. The reported name change stems from Bloomberg tech journalist Mark Gurman’s ordinary slate of nameless sources. Apple’s huge plan is to try to unify its consumer interface throughout all platforms. We should always hear Apple attempt to clarify its reasoning at WWDC 2025 set for June 9.

Gurman’s newest experiences counsel Apple’s subsequent UI will sport extra round bubble icons for varied apps and desktops throughout Apple’s telephones, Macs, and extra. The concept, as urged by latest experiences, is to make the corporate’s total ecosystem extra cohesive for the common consumer. For patrons who’re already very used to the present consumer expertise on every of Apple’s varied product strains, the adjustments might show complicated. We received’t know the complete scale of those adjustments till we lastly see what Tim Prepare dinner and firm have been cooking. We’ll have to attend till the autumn (often September) earlier than we see any trace of what this redesign means for the iPhone 17, a reportedly chunkier iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the too-light iPhone 17 Air.

The one attractive prospect to the software program revamp is that Apple might lastly create a extra Mac-like expertise for iPad. Apple’s tablets are nonetheless among the finest within the trade, however they’re horrible for multitasking. The most recent iPad Air and iPad Pro fashions embody redesigned Magic Keyboards sporting a full operate row, but when Apple needs a full pc expertise, it must work up a UI that permits for extra freedom the place you may place apps.

There’s a precedent for Apple’s new naming scheme. Samsung did the identical factor with its Galaxy telephones again in 2020, naming units that align with the yr that they’re launched. We’re now on the Galaxy S25, with the Galaxy S26 anticipated to reach this yr. What makes Apple’s supposed determination extra complicated is its reportedly shifting the quantity forward by one yr. Gurman notes that that is much like how carmakers title their vehicles—for instance, a 2025 mannequin would have 2026 in its title. It’s complicated should you’re not conscious of this! It suggests the complete scale of every OS replace received’t arrive till a full six months after the corporate yearly reveals its replace plans. Apple usually launches its OS updates outdoors of beta round September.

Gurman additionally suggests we might see a brand new live-translation mode for AirPods together with Siri. As for these still-missing Apple Intelligence options, we might even see Apple open up its platform to permit extra third-party AI corporations, together with OpenAI and Anthropic, the makers of Claude. In any case, we’ll discover out extra in only a few weeks at WWDC.