Apple renames of one of its biggest brands in shock makeover – and I'm convinced the iPhone is next up for a new name
IS it time for the iPhone to get a new name? Absolutely – and it's looking likelier than ever.
Today, Apple decided to totally rebrand its operating systems. That's what your gadgets run on. We've got iOS for iPhone, iPadOS for iPad, macOS for Mac, and so on.
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Their names had become a bit mad, honestly.
This year, we were expecting to see iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, tvOS 19, watchOS 12, and visionOS 3. What a mess!
Thankfully Apple finally (and sensibly) said iBye to that nonsense, and replaced all of those numbers with the year.
So now we've got iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26 all due out later this year – and only likely to be replaced in September 2026. Then we'll get 27, presumably.
Now anyone can look at their iPhone and easily work out whether it's running the latest software.
And if you're buying a new model, it's fairly easy to check if it can get the latest download – or if it's going to be left abandoned without updates, features, and security fixes.
Yearly naming is just common sense.
You can see where I'm going with this. Apple, it's time to do the same for iPhone.
Later this year, Apple is widely expected to launch the iPhone 17. Please don't.
Call it the iPhone 26 instead and be done with it.
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As a technology journalist, I'm regularly asked the same questions by people. 'What's the latest iPhone?', 'is that the latest iPhone?', 'what iPhone are we on now?', and 'is my iPhone the newest one?'.
I don't blame people for not keeping up. It's messy – but easily fixed.
It wouldn't be the first time Apple had skipped a number.
Long-time Apple watchers will not that there never was an iPhone 9.
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We went straight from iPhone 8 to the (still curiously named) iPhone X, which stood for iPhone 10. This came out in 2017 in celebration of the 10-year iPhone anniversary.
But we needn't wait for 2027 for another iPhone rebrand. Let's just get on with it.
Apple is also clearly willing to experiment.
Remember the the iPhone 3GS? The iPhone XS? The iPhone 5C? Last year's iPhone 16e? They all had weird names, and Apple still flogged bucketloads of them.
Changing the name of the iPhone clearly isn't a mortal wound.
So let's ditch this whole bonkers naming system and just call it iPhone 26.
It'll get a few jokes on the first year, and then no one will think twice about it. It'll just work.
Samsung is already playing ball.
This year it released the Samsung Galaxy S25. The year before that? The Galaxy S24. And before that? The S23. Nice sensible names. Names you can take home to your parents.
Last year, Apple put out an iPhone 16 running iOS 18, that you could pair with an Apple Watch Series 10 and a pair of Apple AirPods 4. I spend all of my time thinking about tech, and even I struggle to keep up.
It makes sense for other products to not follow a yearly system.
The successor to the PlayStation 5 should not be called the PlayStation 2028.
That will only beg the question 'is there a PlayStation 2029?' the very next year. Parents would be driven to insanity.
But for annual (or near-annual) products – like the iPhone and software updates– it makes much more sense to just go with the year.
There's probably some marketing guru in Apple's Cupertino, California HQ worriedly predicting that releasing new iPhones with yearly names will make the old models sound even older – and put people off.
But that might also drive people to snap up the newer models too, so the grand Apple coffers won't go empty.
And it'll make it easier to buy older gadgets and refurbished devices, which is good for wallets and the planet.
It's time to get with the times. Literally.
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