Apple is reportedly going to rename all of its operating systems
theverge.com
theverge.com
IMO this makes sense when a product lasts for so long. Unity and JetBrains have also done it for their products. It’s easier to remember, especially when related products have different versions like in Apple’s case.
> However, the numbers will apparently align with the year after the one the update is actually released in, similar to cars. That means that the next big iOS update will be iOS 26 instead of iOS 19.
I don’t understand that (or why it’s done for cars either). Are they afraid the OS will be delayed into the next year and would rather its name be a year ahead than behind?
My understanding is that it's a marketing gimmick--_you're buying the car/phone of the future!_.
More importantly, once a few sellers do it, game theory pushes the rest to follow the same convention (otherwise their flagship models could be mistaken as last year's by buyers on first glance).
If Android moves to the same year-numhering convention, I'd bet they'll do the same year-in-the-future strategy for this reason
It makes sense of you compare the month on the front page with the one on the calendar. Similarly, if you're still running macOS 26 in 27, it's time to upgrade, 26 in 26 is still fine.
Linking version numbers to years could be seen in effect to make each one seem less monumentally important.