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According to related reports, Apple is reportedly preparing to announce a shift in the naming convention of its operating systems during WWDC 2025. Instead of using sequential version numbers, Apple is expected to adopt a year-based naming scheme. For instance, the operating system previously anticipated as iOS 19 will instead be named iOS 26, while macOS 16 will be renamed macOS 26.
Previously, Apple’s operating systems followed a traditional version iteration model, with expectations for WWDC 2025 including the unveiling of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, tvOS 19, watchOS 12, macOS 16, and visionOS 3. Should Apple move forward with a year-based naming convention, these would be rebranded as iOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, and visionOS 26—allowing users to more intuitively distinguish between newer and older system versions by referencing the year.
This would not be Apple’s first renaming initiative. For example, what is now known as iOS was originally branded as iPhone OS, until its rebranding during WWDC in June 2010, when it was relaunched as iOS starting with version 4.0. This eventually gave rise to separate platforms including iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
Mac OS also underwent significant naming transitions. Beginning with Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah in 2001, Apple maintained the “Mac OS X” branding through to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in 2011. In 2012, the “Mac” designation was dropped with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and by 2013, Apple adopted California landmarks as names starting with OS X 10.9 Mavericks. The OS X moniker was officially retired in 2016 with the release of macOS 10.12 Sierra.
Given the varying versioning schemes across Apple’s device ecosystems, this unification under a year-based nomenclature seeks to eliminate user confusion and streamline the identification of each system’s relative recency.
Microsoft has similarly fluctuated in its approach to version naming. While earlier iterations of Windows used numerical designations, the company later shifted to year-based naming. However, it reverted to numbered versions with Windows 7, continuing through to the current Windows 11.
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