iOS 26 Speculation Thread

[gank41]

Just last year, we went several weeks between 18.3 and 18.4. This is such a big update, I’m sure Apple will want to take a couple weeks to polish it up before seeding the first beta.

Or maybe allow for extra time to let people update.

 

[jpsmith76]

Maybe even an RC2 today. My location services are still being stupid.

 

[Artemiz]

He never said it was. But what’s important is they have never given a release the day after. (I have not confirmed) So I’d say that’s a pretty good indicator nothing is coming today. We all know 26 has thrown a lot of curve balls so anything is possible but based on history today is unlikely the day.

Correlation is not causation. iOS 18 & 26 proved that historical data is useless and using Super Bowl as an indicator is the strangest of them yet.

 

[huanbrother]

No new update activity today? And I personally think the RC rocks in battery power (on the 17 Pro at least).

 

[drak22]

There aren't any new wallpapers this year, are there? They released the Black Unity strap, but I haven't seen any new wallpapers.

 

[N0ughtsAndCr0sses]

Public release tomorrow, Tim Apple is hungover 🤕

 

[s2mike]

Guess there’s a chance for a 1pm PST / 4pm EST release… but I’d guess we’ll get 26.3 tomorrow

 

[jaredwsmith]

Think it makes a lot of sense for 26.3 to drop tomorrow as it’s the stated deadline for the upgrade to the new HomeKit architecture.

 

[Kal Madda]

Think it makes a lot of sense for 26.3 to drop tomorrow as it’s the stated deadline for the upgrade to the new HomeKit architecture.

That’s a good point, that would make sense. 👍🏻

 

[ibookemo]

For me, on the 17 Pro Max, the RC has been the smoothest version of iOS 26 yet. It's a low bar, I know. Hoping for much better in iOS 27...wouldn't hold my breath for major UI fixes until then unfortunately. As long as it works ok I'm happy enough.

 

[jonnyb098]

Public release tomorrow, Tim Apple is hungover 🤕

It'll probably be Thursday at 4PM like 26.2 just to make everyone a little more miserable through the week. 26.2.1 is a DISASTER

 

[upandown]

Correlation is not causation. iOS 18 & 26 proved that historical data is useless and using Super Bowl as an indicator is the strangest of them yet.

It may seem strange to you but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good internal reasons for the trend that was given (but not confirmed). In fact I’m pretty sure the day with the most sick calls in the US is the day after the Super Bowl. Additionally I prefaced my statement giving room for the unknown since 26 has been non standard so pointing that out again wasn’t necessary.

 

[Artemiz]

It may seem strange to you but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good internal reasons for the trend that was given (but not confirmed). In fact I’m pretty sure the day with the most sick calls in the US is the day after the Super Bowl. Additionally I prefaced my statement giving room for the unknown since 26 has been non standard so pointing that out again wasn’t necessary.

As others have mentioned, they don’t keep working on a build till the day of the release, so getting hammered on SB Sunday has no bearing on the release date. While you’re free to make connections that aren’t there, it’s not a trend, just an observation.

I don’t see anything else I can add to this.

 

[upandown]

I never said they work on releases up to the day they release. I’m well aware of software development and how it works. Trend… observation… semantics.

 

[N0ughtsAndCr0sses]

It'll probably be Thursday at 4PM like 26.2 just to make everyone a little more miserable through the week. 26.2.1 is a DISASTER

Really, I have zero issues. Seriously.

 

[Hans300]

Guess they will release this train-wreck of software tomorrow.

iOS 27 Snow Leopard is urgently needed.

Just watch some old iOS 1 - 4 - 7 videos.

It was so pure and pristine back then.

Now everything is overloaded af

 

[JCCL]

Guess they will release this train-wreck of software tomorrow.

iOS 27 Snow Leopard is urgently needed.

Just watch some old iOS 1 - 4 - 7 videos.

It was so pure and pristine back then.

Now everything is overloaded af

iOS 7 was never considered pristine though

 

[RichP74]

iOS 7 was never considered pristine though

Wasn't some update to iOS 7 the one that bricked a crapload of iPhone 6 or 6s phones? Can't remember the specifics, but IIRC that was a nightmare. I think it also had the debut of Apple Maps.

Yeah, that was the worst iOS update in the history of iOS.

 

[iLuddite]

Guess they will release this train-wreck of software tomorrow.

iOS 27 Snow Leopard is urgently needed.

Just watch some old iOS 1 - 4 - 7 videos.

It was so pure and pristine back then.

Now everything is overloaded af

iOS 7 was never considered pristine though

Yeah iOS 6 was peak

 

[jonnyb098]

Really, I have zero issues. Seriously.

Interesting. There are times where my iPhone 15 and iPad Pro M4 feel like I'm using ten year devices that I hacked to run the latest software or something. Lags and choppy animations system wide. 26.1 was much more stable for me.

 

[Cobold]

Wasn't some update to iOS 7 the one that bricked a crapload of iPhone 6 or 6s phones? Can't remember the specifics, but IIRC that was a nightmare. I think it also had the debut of Apple Maps.

Yeah, that was the worst iOS update in the history of iOS.

No, the iPhone 6 came with iOS 8.0 (and the 6s with iOS 9 accordingly).
iOS 7 was released alsongside the iPhone 5s. So it must have been some other devices getting bricked by iOS 7 😉

 

[Hamsterhjulet]

So are Apple gonna release new hardware today together with 26.3?

 

[iSuzan]

So are Apple gonna release new hardware today together with 26.3?

Also my guess. We will see.

 

[arovik]

Also my guess. We will see.

Hardware release I the start of march, according to Bloomberg. 26.3 today together with the home architecture deadline. 26.4 beta week of 23rd

 

[iSuzan]

Press releases are normally 3 PM German time... so let's see if there is something in about half an hour.