Apple’s iOS 26 software for the iPhone has now been released. But hang on a second, weren’t the latest Apple smartphones just on iOS 18? What happened to iOS 19 through to 25?
A few months ago, Apple announced that it’s tweaking its iPhone software naming system going forwards. In fact, it’s part of a platform-wide update, meaning the same thing has happened with iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and so on. But why exactly did this happen? Here’s everything you need to know.
Why Apple went straight to iOS 26
If you’ve seen anything about iOS 26, you’ll have noticed that the headline feature is a brand new design. This redesign has extended to iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS as well. Apple’s goal here is to create more unity and continuity between the platforms. While features might allow you to seamlessly switch between devices, the look of software will now also be seamless.
And in the spirit of bringing all devices together, Apple wanted to have one naming system for all its software. That’s why 2025 marked the transition from iOS 18 to iOS 26, skipping out software versions 19 through to 25. The same thing happened with iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and visionOS. It was an even bigger leap for some of those platforms, with visionOS going from version 2 to 26 overnight!
But why iOS 26 if we’re in the year 2025?
You know how many new cars opt for the year ahead in their model name? This typically happens once we pass the mid-point of the year, but can happen a bit earlier. The reason behind this is that most customers are going to see the new model in the year ahead. And that’s Apple’s thinking here. Thankfully the iPhone hasn’t followed the same naming convention, so we got the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in addition to the iPhone Air.
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