If you’ve been sitting and hoping to get your hands on iOS 19 in a couple of days, well you’re getting something else instead. According to a report from Bloomberg (link), Apple is not going to release iOS 19 this year; instead, it’s going straight to iOS 26.
Obviously, all the iOS 19 features, nay, iOS 26 features we expect to see remain the same, and so does the compatibility list for iOS 19, I mean, iOS 26.
The naming is part of Apple’s push to make all of its software versions appear unified and similar to each other. This means that we’ll get iOS 26, macOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 this year. Apparently, Apple wants to go with a year based naming scheme for its software versions from this point forward.
If you’re wondering why it’s iOS 26 and not iOS 25, it’s because Apple is taking a page out of car manufacturers’ playbooks. Since iOS 26 will be available in stable form later this year, and go well into 2026 before it’s replaced by a newer update, Apple is taking the number 26 for the iOS (and other operating systems) update.
The naming comes in at a time when we already know that Apple is trying to unify the appearance of its many operating systems’ user-interfaces. We have heard about UI changes coming as one of the features in macOS 16 26, and we also recently reported that watchOS and tvOS will also be redesigned this year to bring them in-line with iOS, macOS, and watchOS.
Toasty Take
The idea behind Apple’s naming scheme this year isn’t entirely new, though it is surprising. After all, Microsoft has done this in the past with Windows releases (remember Windows 98? Loved it!). It’s also not unprecedented in Apple’s own history with iLife products.
What I’m interested in knowing is how Apple will position this naming change. It could justify skipping straight to iPhone X because it was the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. It isn’t, after all, the 26th anniversary of iOS (or any of the other software on this list).
The good thing is that it will become infinitely easier to remember which version of iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS, and visionOS is the current one, thanks to the year based naming. I, for one, am tired of remembering whether watchOS 11 is the latest one, or is it something else. Here I go to Google once again…
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