It looks like Apple really will be jumping to iOS 26 this year.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman was first to report that Apple was planning to start tying the version numbers of its software platforms to release years. For example, Gurman expects Apple to announce iOS 26 at WWDC next month, instead of iOS 19.
The rumor has since been corroborated by AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic.
"I can independently confirm that Apple's '26' version branding is real," he said, in a post shared on X on Wednesday.
Yes, iOS 26, not iOS 25. Even though iOS 26 is likely to be released in September 2025, it would be the current version for the majority of 2026. Gurman said Apple will be using a year-ahead naming convention, similar to car makers. For example, the 2025 Honda Civic began arriving to dealerships in late 2024, even though it has 2025 branding.
This naming convention is expected to extend to all of Apple's major operating systems, including macOS. Zivkovic said that internal versions of macOS tested this week were still labeled macOS 16 in some places, but macOS 26 in others.
The names of Apple's next operating systems, according to Gurman:
- iOS 26
- iPadOS 26
- macOS 26
- watchOS 26
- tvOS 26
- visionOS 26
The names that were expected before this rumor:
- iOS 19
- iPadOS 19
- macOS 16
- watchOS 12
- tvOS 19
- visionOS 3
Apple should announce all of the software updates during its WWDC 2025 keynote, which begins Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
