Apple is expected to unveil iOS 26—not iOS 19—at WWDC 2025, according to a new report that suggests a major shift in the company’s software versioning strategy. Instead of continuing with its traditional incremental numbering system (iOS 17 to iOS 18 to iOS 19), Apple reportedly plans to align future version numbers with the calendar year.
As reported by 9to5Mac, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims Apple will adopt this new approach to create consistency across its platforms and simplify branding. According to Gurman, the current naming convention can be confusing for both users and developers, and this change is aimed at eliminating that confusion.
Under this updated system, Apple would skip several version numbers and rebrand all of its major operating systems to reflect the year 2026. That means iOS 26 would replace iOS 19, macOS 26 would take the place of macOS 16, iPadOS 26 would follow iPadOS 19, and watchOS 26 would leap ahead from watchOS 12. Similarly, tvOS 26 would supersede tvOS 19, and visionOS 26 would jump from visionOS 3.
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