There has to be a better way to indicate what iOS version launched in a particular year, and the easiest one is to use the last two digits, just like most vehicle manufacturers do to indicate that they have new models rolling down the conveyor belts. This way, in a decade from now, you wouldn’t have to calculate what iOS version got launched in, say, 2027––you’d immediately know it should have been iOS 27.
It’s simple, but super-effective.
It’s so effective that a fairly dim lightbulb went off in my head. Shouldn’t Apple apply a similar naming change to its iPhones as well?
The iPhone naming problem
Now imagine a person who doesn’t really pay that much attention to mobile technology: they’d be pretty much lost without .
A possible solution? Simply adopt the upcoming iOS naming convention.
Digits or…
If Apple wants to keep things tidy and logical from now on, the iPhone 17 generation wouldn’t exist.
In its stead, we’d get the iPhone 26 range, which will be Apple’s flagship through the majority of 2026. Next year, we’d get the iPhone 27, which would be the flagship for 2027. I know, it’s not pretty, and sounds like a pretty drastic change to just about anyone who has been following Apple and the iPhone for years now, but at the end of the day, the pros of this name change outweigh the illusionary cons.
If Apple does that, then we’d have a much more logical and easy to follow iPhone naming going forward. This could also make things easier for the second-hand market, as discerning between older and newer devices could be slightly easier and more logical. But Apple isn’t really concerned about the second-hand iPhone market which is gnawing at its profits, so the change could only be beneficial to regular customers.
… expressive names?
Who knows, after sunsetting the iPhone Plus name in favor of the iPhone Air one, which would go magnificently well with its thinner body, Apple could finally go ahead and end the “Pro Max” lineage in favor of a more coherent “Ultra” one. So, instead of an iPhone Pro Max, we’d get an iPhone Ultra, which at this point has been a long-time coming.
But imagine what would happen if Apple actually employs both changes, so this or next year we get an iPhone 26 Ultra or an iPhone 27 Ultra? Until yesterday, such an idea would have sounded out of the ordinary, but today, when iOS 26 is most certainly happening, there might be a chance.
Should Apple change anything at all?
The answer is no. Whatever you call them and regardless of whether we like it or not, iPhones will sell like hotcakes.
However, seeing how Apple could be keen on shaking up such well-established traditions like the sacred iOS naming scheme, we might get treated to some intricately named devices in the following years.
