On the WWDC 2025, Apple has announced the new versions of iOS, iPados, MacOS, Visionos, TVOS and Watchos. If you expected this iOS 19, Watchos 12 or MacOS 16, then you’re wrong. Apple has chosen to use dates instead of the Versien numbers as we know them from the past.
The versions that Apple uses are purely marketing -based songs. Apple can fit the OS versions that they themselves like best and sounds best with a release and/or device.
Year as a version number
After years of using the subsequent version numbers (iOS 7, 8, 9, etc.) Apple decides to use dates instead of successive numbers. Because the new OS versions will be available in the autumn, the successive year of the release date was chosen. This is to prevent the name from being outdated after three months.
The upcoming new version of iOS will therefore be iOS 26, which will probably be followed by iOS 27 next September.
New numbering schedule for all OS versions
For consistency, Apple also rename all other platforms to the new numbering schedule. This means that both macOS, iOS, iPados, Watchos, TVOS and Visionos will use the new year schedule.
- MacOS 15 â–¸ MacOS 26
- iOS 19 â–¸ iOS 26
- iPados 19 â–¸ iPados 26
- Watchos 11 â–¸ Watchos 26
- TVOS 19 â–¸ TVOS 26
- Visionos 3 â–¸ Visionos 26
The new version numbers make it easier to remember them.
Also a new naming for iPhone?
The big question is of course whether Apple will also use this with the devices. At the moment the iPhone 16 is the newest model, which will be followed by the iPhone 17 that will be published this fall. Apple could of course also use iPhone 26 instead of iPhone 17.
However, this seems less likely, since the iPhone branding is very dominant. Drawing the name with the software version is not enough to adjust the iphone naming schedule. Moreover, Apple sells an iPhone version for several years, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 are currently being sold at different providers and web shops. It would scare customers to buy an iPhone 26 in 2028, because it seems very old.
We don’t know what Apple is going to do, but it is more likely that the iPhone 17 with iOS 26 will be. We know more in September.