Apple reportedly ditching its OS naming system for something more... confusing?

If you own an Apple device you'll likely be au fait with the company's OS naming system. We're currently on variants of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, etc, and iOS 19 and we're fully expecting iOS 19 and its equivalents to be announced during WWDC in a couple of weeks.

However, it turns out we could be very wrong.

It is claimed that Apple is set to shake-up the naming convention for the software coming to its best iPhones and other devices. And rather than simplify things, it could be more baffling than ever.

Bloomberg's resident Apple expert, Mark Gurman, has reported that Apple will switch to yearly identifiers from this year's OS updates. However, much like EA does with its annual EA Sports games, it'll opt for the forthcoming year, not the current one.

What will the next iOS be called?

According to "people with knowledge of the matter", that means we'll get iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26 this year, while next year will see iOS 27 release, and so on.

The software will be the same as the rumoured iOS 19, etc, but the name will be different.

Of course, once we get into the swing of it, it'll make sense. And we get why Apple would want to use the proceeding year rather than current one, considering each OS is likely to release towards the end of 2025 (in September). However, it could make it particularly confusing when scanning through app compatibility, for example. The jump from 19 to 26 leaves quite a gap for the uninitiated.

It's also been pointed out just how Samsung this all seems.

Samsung has, since 2020, named its flagship Android phones after years – although as they launch in February or March, they use the current date. The Samsung Galaxy S25 family is the latest, therefore.

It doesn't do so with its software though, with One UI 8 (based on Android 16) set to be its next big phone OS release.

We'll find out more about the new naming structure on 9 June during during Apple's WWDC 25 opening keynote (or should that be 26?).