So, Apple just held its annual WWDC conference where it announces all the new software for the next year. And the company proudly announced the next version of iOS for the iPhone, iOS 26. If you have an iPhone model newer than the XS, you will be able to update to iOS 26 for free later this year.
But the current version number of iOS is iOS 18. So what happened to iOS 19? Why did Apple jump to 26?
The simple reason is that OS version numbers are based on marketing rather than hard science, and Apple can name its platforms whatever it wants.
Apple has taken this opportunity to align the iPhone operating system version number with the current calendar year. But isn’t the current year 2025, and 2026 is next year? Yes, but the lifetime of the new OS will mostly reside in 2026. iOS 26 will be in developer beta this summer and only officially launch to the public in September 2025.
iOS 26 will then be the current operating system all the way through to September 2026, when we assume iOS 27 will be ready. But that means for nine out of the twelve months of iOS 26’s lifespan, it will be the 2026 operating system.
So, that is why Apple has decided to number iOS after the digits of the coming year. For consistency, the company is also moving all of its other platforms to the 26 numbering scheme as well. This means they will all become:
- iOS 19 -> iOS 26
- iPadOS 19 -> iPadOS 26
- watchOS 11 -> watchOS 26
- macOS 15 -> macOS 26
- visionOS 3 -> visionOS 26
- tvOS 19 -> tvOS 26
That certainly makes it easier to keep everything straight in your memory. The big question is whether Apple will follow suit and rebrand the iPhone model version to also follow the calendar. Right now, we are on the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 17 lineup is coming this fall. So, Apple could call it the iPhone 26 rather than iPhone 17.
But this seems less likely as the iPhone branding is so dominant. Harmony with the software version is not enough of a justification to upend the iPhone naming scheme. Additionally, Apple likes to sell iPhones for multiple years.
Whereas OS versions are out-of-date annually and customers can update for free, iPhone customers might be buying the 2026 iPhone as new three years later. For instance, even though the iPhone 16 is the current new model, Apple still sells the iPhone 15 through its website and carriers stock new inventory of iPhone 14 and iPhone 13, even.
Apple could go wild and make it the iPhone 26, but right now, the odds-on bet is that will continue incrementing by one and we will see the iPhone 17 running iOS 26 officially debut in September.
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