WWDC 2025: No more iOS 18.4.1, Apple may switch to yearly names for its software; check details here

As anticipation builds for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 9 going to be held the US, reports of upcoming changes to the company’s product lineup continue to surface, fuelling further excitement.

In a recent post on X, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman revealed that in this year’s WWDC, Apple plans to rename all its operating system redesigns by replacing version numbers with year-based suffixes.

“Apple will announce its biggest ever software rebrand at WWDC, tied to operating system redesigns. Apple is moving from version numbers to years (like Windows in the 90s). The new OSs: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26,” said Gurman in a post on Thursday.

This will be part of the major software overhaul expected to be unveiled at the conference. The new branding will come alongside refreshed user interfaces across Apple’s operating systems, aiming to create a more cohesive experience as users move between devices. Internally dubbed "Solarium," the updated design will extend to tvOS, watchOS, and parts of visionOS.

“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,” Gurman wrote.

The key difference in Apple’s new naming strategy is that, like automobile manufacturers, it plans to use the upcoming year to label its current-year software releases. So while the next wave of operating systems is expected to roll out around September 2025, they will be branded as the 2026 editions.

Currently, Apple devices such as iPhones and Macs use version numbers like iOS 18.4.1, macOS 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, watchOS 11.4, and visionOS 2.4.1.

Did Apple learn this from its peers?

The latest naming strategy from Apple echoes approaches previously adopted by both Samsung Electronics Co. and Microsoft Corp. In 2020, Samsung rebranded its flagship Galaxy S line to align with launch years, jumping from the Galaxy S10 in 2019—marking the 10th generation—to the Galaxy S20 in 2020. Microsoft made a similar move much earlier, shifting to year-based naming for its major operating systems with the release of Windows 95, followed by Windows 98 and Windows 2000.

Meanwhile, Apple’s counterpart in the mobile OS space, Google, initially named its Android versions after desserts in alphabetical order, beginning with Cupcake (Android 1.5). This tradition continued through Android 9 (Pie), but in 2019, Google transitioned to a more straightforward numerical naming system—starting with Android 10—citing feedback that dessert names were often unclear or culturally unfamiliar to its global users.

Apple, however, has taken a similar approach to naming and bundling in the past with its productivity and creativity software. For instance, in August 2007, it introduced iWork ’08 and iLife ’08—marking a shift from version numbers to year-based branding. This made it easier for users to identify the most current versions of the software. The strategy continued with iLife ’11, released in October 2010. These bundles included key apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote (for iWork), and iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand (for iLife), and the naming convention helped reinforce the idea of annual refreshes tied to specific years.

Apple’s expected move to year-based OS naming at WWDC appears to build on this same logic—simplifying version tracking while unifying the software experience across platforms.

What else is expected to change?

As part of the upcoming changes, Apple is set to give the iPad a more Mac-like experience, potentially making it more practical for office work. The company is also opening up its AI models to third-party developers, allowing them to access the core technology behind the Apple Intelligence platform. Other new features expected this year include a live translation mode for AirPods and the Siri voice assistant, as well as an eye-scrolling option for the Vision Pro headset. In the AI space, Apple is reportedly developing health-related features and an AI-powered battery management mode. Additional updates may also include a new bidirectional Arabic-English keyboard, a digital calligraphy pen for Apple Pencil users, and a dedicated app for gaming across Apple devices.