Apple purportedly working on substantial redesigns of iOS, macOS

In his latest “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that is working on substantial redesigns of iOS and macOS. 

He says“the company is indeed working to update the design of iOS as early as this year, but I don’t believe it will be a total overhaul that mirrors visionOS” contrary to previous rumors. A February 9 report by Israeli website The Verifier claimed that iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will feature visionOS-inspired design elements. 

For example, the report claims that the Apple TV app on iPadOS 18 will feature the same translucent navigation bar that was introduced in the tvOS 17.2 version of the app last year. The design of this menu draws similarities to visionOS, The Verifier claimed.

Mark has previously said that Apple has internally referred to iOS 18 as being “ambitious and compelling.” The goal is that iOS 18 will ship with “major new features and designs” alongside significant improvements to performance and security. It also seems iOS 18 is going to be very heavily impacted by developments in generative AI.

Mark says we’ll see the changes to iOS this year, but probably won’t see the tweaks to macOS until 2025 or even 2026.

This info from Gurman is from the free edition of “Power On”. If you like it, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com—you’ll receive the newsletter earlier and get exclusive access to a Q&A section.