Apple’s iOS 18 software is rumored to update the design of the iPhone’s user interface this year—just don’t expect a wholesale visionOS-inspired revamp.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has offered his take on a recent report which alleged that iOS 18 would borrow design cues from Apple’s spatial operating system.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Gurman wrote that while iOS 18 will bring updated design, it won’t be a total visionOS-inspired overhaul.
Gurman also learned that Apple has kicked off a macOS redesign project. The Mac’s operating system received its last facelift with macOS Big Sur in 2020. The next major macOS revamp, he added, should be ready for prime time in 2025 or 2026.
iOS 18 could bring updated design
Gurman choice of words—he wrote Apple would update the iOS design “as early as this year” without explicitly mentioning iOS 18, which arrives in September.
Gurman said in January 2024 that Apple’s leadership considers the iOS 18 update “one of the biggest iOS updates—if not the biggest—in the company’s history.”
“Apple’s head of software engineering, Craig Federighi, told employees last year that the iOS 18—codenamed Crystal—will have ambitious changes all around,” he said.
An ambitious update
Back in November 2023, Gurman claimed that iOS 18 would sport “major new features and designs,” coming “after a few years of modestly sized updates.”
The update must be “extra-impressive because the iPhone 16’s hardware won’t have any major advances next year,” he wrote in a November newsletter. “So Apple is banking on the software to sell people on the new models.”
iOS 18 to bring generative AI to iPhone
iOS 18 is rumored to bring generative AI features to iPhone and iPad, with Apple beefing up its custom coprocessor for machine learning to support them efficiently.
The company will also update its iWork productivity suite with generative AI features. On top of that, Apple is thought to be supercharging Siri with a large language model enabling the digital assistant to carry out multi-step tasks.