This fall, Apple will make its usual operating system introductions. One of the most notable changes in these introductions is the adoption of a new standard numbering convention, which will begin at 26, with an eye to the following calendar year.
This change will introduce a discontinuity in version numbers, which usually increment by one. Specifically, Penn constituents will see:
- iOS 18.x to 26.x
- iPadOS 18.x to 26.x
- macOS 15.x to 26.x
- Safari 18.x to 26.x
- tvOS 18.x to 26.x
- visionOS 2.x to 26.x
- watchOS 11.x to 26.x
—after a few years, the older versioning scheme will no longer be visible as those systems drop off their support windows. By then, we'll likely be seeing 30.x.