Apple to rebrand OSes by year: iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 coming this fall

Apple is set to revamp its operating system naming convention, aligning all its devices under a new software strategy. According to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman, who cites “people with knowledge of the matter,” Apple will shift from version numbers to a year-based naming system. The upcoming iOS 18 will transition to “iOS 26,” with similar changes for other OSes, including iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26, the sources said.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
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Apple is making the change to bring consistency to its branding and move away from an approach that can be confusing to customers and developers. Today’s operating systems — including iOS 18, watchOS 12, macOS 15 and visionOS 2 — use different numbers because their initial versions didn’t debut at the same time.
Apple will use the upcoming year rather than the current one. Though its next operating systems will launch around September 2025, they’ll be named for 2026 — not unlike how car companies market their vehicles. If Apple keeps the strategy, the following set of releases will carry the 27 moniker.
Apple previously attempted something similar with its software bundles for office work and creativity apps. In August 2007, it rolled out iWork ’08 and iLife ’08. That was eventually followed by iLife ’11, which went on sale in October 2010.

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MacDailyNews Take: Regarding the OS renaming and the “Solarium” visual redesign, it’s just more smoke and mirrors from Tim Cook’s lost, aimless Apple:
“Look over here! Watch another flashy, overproduced canned video! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain or our dreadful AI situation that the visionlessguy frantically pulling random levers caused and perpetuates.”

While they’re at it, Apple should finally fix their iPhone naming morass.
iPhones should be, and should always have been, named thusly:
• iPhone SE (year)
• iPhone (year)
• iPhone Air (year)
• iPhone Pro (year)
• iPhone Ultra (year)
Duh.

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