Is iOS getting rebranded?
The 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is staring next week. It will be an online-only affair and amongst other things, the company is expected to reveal iOS 14 during the event. According to a well-known leaker (via AppleInsider), the iPhone's operating system is getting a name change.
Jon Prosser says that Apple will be reverting to the iPhone OS name. For the first three generations of its smartphone, Apple called its mobile operating system iPhone OS, before renaming it to iOS in 2010.
iPhone OS.
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) June 18, 2020
The iOS doesn't just run on the iPhone, but also on the iPod Touch. From 2010 through 2018, it also powered the iPad, before the introduction of a dedicated OS for the slate during last year's WWDC.
iPhone OS aligns better with other Apple operating systems
It's isn't clear why Apple is going back to the original name, but it could be that the company wants to have a more uniform naming scheme for its different operating systems. After all, the Mac computers run macOS and the iPad now comes with iPadOS. Similarly, the Apple Watch Series ship with watchOS and the Apple TV runs tvOS.
Regardless of what Apple decides to call the next iteration of its smartphone OS, what we do know so far is that it wouldn't be a major upgrade in terms of features. Rather, Apple will be prioritizing stability, quality, and performance. That's not to say it wouldn't be getting new features at all, and some exciting things to look forward to include offline Siri, an integrated translator, a Fitness app, and an AR app.
After getting previewed this month, iOS 14/iPhone OS will be released in fall alongside the iPhone 12.
Apart from iPhone OS, Apple is also expected to confirm its transition to Arm chips for Macs and reveal new products such as a new iMac, AirPods Studio, and AirTags. The WWDC is primarily a software-centric event and the company will likely announce iPadOS 14 and watchOS 7 during it too.
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