Forget iOS 19, your next iPhone update could be iOS 26 as Apple plans major OS overhaul

Tech giant and iPhone maker Apple Inc. plans to rebrand its operating system names across devices starting from the next update, Bloomberg reported citing a source.

The company is likely to make this announcement at the coming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 9, it added.

A spokesperson for Apple decline to comment, as per the report.

Apple iOS rebrand — What we know so far

• As per the report, this is among “the most sweeping change yet” to Apple's operating system names, adn will extend to all its devices.
• What is the change? From the next update onwards, iOS will be identifed by year, rather than the version number, the source told Bloomberg.
• How will this look? For user, the current iOS18 will be succeeded by the iOS26 on iPhones. The same is applicable on all Apple devices — iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26, they added.
• Why the change? The report said that this comes as a way to “bring consistency to branding and move away from an approach that can be confusing to customers and developers”. At present, all devices have differently named OS — i.e. iOS 18, watchOS 12, macOS 15 and visionOS 2, due to their different debut times.

Apple new update: What else is new?

Besides the name change, the new OS promises a fresh user interface across devices — an attempt to bring users “a more cohesive experience”. Internally, this is being called “Solarium”, and will include tvOS, watchOS and parts of visionOS, as per another Bloomberg report.

• Other design features include giving the iPad “a more Mac-like experience” and likely branding it for office use, the report added.
• Further, Apple will open up its AI models to third-party developers, letting them tap into the underlying technology used by the Apple Intelligence platform.
• Other new features coming this year include a live-translation mode for AirPods and the Siri voice assistant, as well as an eye-scrolling option on the Vision Pro headset.
• On the AI side, Apple is planning health features and an AI-enabled battery management mode.
• There also will be a new bidirectional Arabic and English keyboard, a digital calligraphy pen for Apple Pencil users and a new app for gaming on Apple devices.

Apple following Samsung, Microsoft's footsteps?

The report noted that similar rebranding strategies were undertaken by rivals Samsung Electronics Co. and Microsoft Corp. in the past.

In 2020, Samsung renamed its flagship Galaxy S phone line to reflect its year of launch — i.e. the Galaxy S20. Its predecessor, which debuted in 2019, was the Galaxy S10 (10th generation).

In 1995, Microsoft shifted to naming major operating systems after the year of launch, which means Windows 2000 followed the Windows 98, which came after the Windows 95.

The small difference is that Apple will use the coming year, instead of the ongoing one — iOS 26 (not iOS 25) despite launching in September 2025.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)