No iOS 19: Apple Going Straight to iOS 26

[ifxf]

Now they'll never take a year off to fix all the bugs.

They still don’t have to release every year.

 

[Yvan256]

Honestly if they are updating it based on year then I think it should be 25. When we look back it could be confusing which OS came out at which time. For example iOS 26 actually came out in ‘25. If they are looking to update the numbering to alleviate confusion I don’t think this quite fixes it.

I agree, following the car manufacturers "standard" is a bad idea. If it's called macOS '25, it should be because it was released in 2025. Having to apply a "minus one year" logic to the standard is destroying part of what they're trying to accomplish.

 

[aj8690]

Wait, Juli, is it April 1st already?

Ohhh it’s because of the year! Then why not choose ‘25 instead?

That’s addressed in the article.

 

[DHagan4755]

Microsoft called. They want their old naming scheme back.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I've hoped they would do this for ages. They should do it with the iPhones too! Instead of "iPhone 17 Pro", it would be "iPhone Pro (2025)".

 

[robvalentine]

I guess ios 19-25 were really that bad 🤣

At least Samsung had the perceived luxury of jumping to galaxy S10 to S20 in 2020.

This does make sense to me though

 

[nfl46]

Why are people mad about this? It does make sense, and it would also make sense to name the iphone/ipad/mac by year.

With that said, it should be '25.

lol. It’s 2025, but 2026 cars are already available in lots.

 

[robvalentine]

I've hoped they would do this for ages. They should do it with the iPhones too! Instead of "iPhone 17 Pro", it would be "iPhone Pro (2025)".

That would be a nightmare for merchandising and stock control.

 

[sw1tcher]

you have got to be kitten me ....

A lot of people are purr-plexed by this decision. Maybe Apple should press paws on this decision and really think this through.

 

[ricketysquire]

In case they weren’t already locked into an annual release cycle whether they had something worthy or not…

This. There's no reason for updates every SINGLE year. It's literally one of the most anti-user things they do. They just need to stop. I miss "no new features" Apple circa Snow Leopard.

 

[oneMadRssn]

That would be a nightmare for merchandising and stock control.

No it wouldn't. Merchandising and stock is all based on SKUs and serial numbers anyway. Nobody tracks stock using marketing names.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Just because a good idea was used by a competing company does not mean it's a bad idea.

Remember that Microsoft are also responsible for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X/S. The only console that has zero guesswork in their console names is from Sony.

Let’s also not forget that Apple has used years for product names before.
iLife 03
iLife 04
iLife 05 and iWork
iLife and iWork 06
iLife and iWork 08 (released in August 2007)
iLife and iWork 09
iLife 11 (released in October 2010)

 

[Hairball]

Now they'll never take a year off to fix all the bugs.

Maybe some years will be like carryovers for cars where they only work on bugs?

 

[aknabi]

“Can’t innovate my ass”…

became “innovating out my ass”

 

[JPack]

Seems like the AI and Siri team ran out of things to do.

 

[ricketysquire]

The Microsoft-ication of Apple has set in

IOS Vista XP 2026 365 Professional Edition N

 

[uacd]

Yeah, Apple is indeed in existential crisis if this is set to happen🤦‍♂️

I wonder why they chose to do so. Because iOS 20 (or iOS XX) is on the corner, why not make a grand event to celebrate 20 years iOS?

Like if 2026 gotta be somewhat better than other years, duh…

 

[jz0309]

You get 2026 cars coming out in summer 2025. Why not OSes?

By the time the thing goes OTA, 2025 is mostly over. Make it seem futuristic by calling it 26.

Plus, it probably is FY26 for them as a company, right?

yea, after I posted this I was thinking what car makers do ...

 

[yeah]

I want whatever the MacRumors team is smoking to come up with these articles.

 

[wellander1]

And no intel support?

 

[Gengar]

They should’ve dropped the numbers from the iPhone years ago to be more like the iPad lineup, but it’s good to see they’re following through with this on their software.

 

[Kylo83]

Would iPhone be like that as well so iPhone 26 pro max

 

[IceCool]

VISIONOS 26 IS ALMOST HERE!! WOOHOO!!!

 

[trajen]

I like it! They should also renamed `iOS` to `iPhoneOS` to be consistent with OS names!

They called it that until 4.0

 

[SanderEvers]

just call it Apple OS (2026) then.