As per Bloomberg, Apple will rename all of its operating systems this year to have the year as the suffix, so iOS 26 instead of iOS 19, watchOS 26 instead of watchOS 12 and so on.

Chance Miller, writing for 9to5Mac:

My first reaction to this news was confusion. The more I think about it, though, the more it makes sense. It’s always been tricky to remember version numbers across Apple’s platforms, especially when the version numbers are close, but not exactly the same (think iOS 18 vs macOS 15 vs watchOS 12). Those numbers are just close enough to make you pause. 

My second reaction to this news was: “Ok, so wouldn’t this year’s update be iOS 25, not iOS 26?” After all, the calendar currently says 2025. 

Well, it seems that the model Apple is following is the same one that automakers follow. For example, the 2026 Toyota Tacoma will actually start shipping towards the end of 2025.

My final thought is wondering whether the iPhone names will follow suit. Might we get the iPhone 26 this fall instead of the iPhone 17? That doesn’t seem like a crazy possibility at this point.

Okay, this does make sense, but my first question is: why not 25? The Toyota Tacoma example makes sense, but it’s hard to wrap my head around it.

And speaking of software releases, how are they going to handle a point release or a dot release? And what about a minor bug-fix release? When we get an iOS 26.1 in this rumoured naming scheme, does it mean January (with ‘1’ being the first month, because 26 is based on the year), or does it refer to the first point release? It might sound a bit daft, but when naming software versions based on the year, these things aren’t as obvious as they should be.

Speaking of hardware, the iPhone 16 is actually the 18th generation of iPhone, and the number 16 makes no sense. Thanks to the ‘S’ years, this is where we’ve ended up. At this rate, we’d eventually end up with an iPhone 42 — and that’s just as absurd as it sounds. But if the naming were based on the year, it would at least seem a bit less ridiculous.

That said, 16 is currently the highest number in the iPhone naming lineup. People understand that 16 is newer than 15, and 15 is newer than 14, and so on. However, with the introduction of the iPhone 16e, does this mean the ‘e’ model phones will carry higher numbers than the latest flagship? Are we going to see something like an iPhone 27 Pro Max (releasing in 2026) followed by an iPhone 28e (releasing in 2027)? — leading some customers to believe the 28e is better than the 27 Pro Max?

And if Apple goes ahead with staggering its iPhone releases from next year, will they go with iPhone 28 for the base model (releasing in 2027)? Or will they break their naming convention based on the upcoming year and simply call it iPhone 27, indicating that it belongs to the iPhone 27 family?

I just have questions, and I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong answer to this. For now, we’ll have to wait until WWDC for official details, and hopefully some answers.