- By Prateek Levi
- Thu, 29 May 2025 02:47 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
iOS 26 WWDC 2025: With just a few weeks to go until Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025, the company appears to be preparing for a major shift in how it names its operating systems.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who cites people familiar with the matter, Apple is planning to drop its current version-numbering system in favour of a naming convention based on the year. That means instead of iOS 19, we could be looking at “iOS 26” as the next update. The same naming scheme is expected to carry over to other platforms as well — including macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS.
Gurman suggests Apple’s motivation behind this move is to eliminate confusion that sometimes arises from inconsistent versioning, especially since the company’s platforms haven’t always shared a unified numbering system. As of now, for example, iOS is at version 18, visionOS is on version 2, and macOS is at 15.
Although it’s still 2025, Apple seems to be following a “+1” naming pattern — similar to what EA does with its annual FC game releases — meaning the operating systems launching later this year would be named after 2026 instead.
This wouldn’t be the first time Apple has used year-based branding. Back in 2007, it introduced iWork ’08 and iLife ’08 and later released iLife ’11, which remained available for purchase up until October 2020. Samsung took a similar approach in 2020 when it launched the Galaxy S20 lineup as the follow-up to 2019’s Galaxy S10.
In addition to the new naming strategy, Gurman reports Apple is also working to bring a more Mac-like interface to iPads in a push to improve productivity. This redesign, part of an internal initiative called “Solarium”, is expected to touch various platforms including tvOS, watchOS, and parts of visionOS.
The company also plans to open up its AI models to third-party developers, giving them access to what it calls Apple Intelligence. On the AI front, Apple is reportedly preparing to introduce new health-related features and an AI-powered battery optimisation mode.
Other rumoured updates include a live translation feature for AirPods and Siri, as well as eye-scrolling support for the Vision Pro mixed reality headset. All of these announcements are expected to take centre stage at WWDC 2025, which kicks off on June 9.
