Apple’s iOS 18 will be absolutely huge, report claims

Apple’s upcoming iOS 18, which will likely be announced at the company’s WWDC event in June, could be one of the biggest in the company’s history.

That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who discussed the upcoming release in the subscriber portion of his newsletter (via 9to5Mac). He says iOS 18 is “regarded within the company as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, iOS updates in company history.”

The fact that Apple considers iOS 18 very important is not new; Gurman himself spoke about this in November 2023, while also reporting that Apple then took the unusual step of pausing development of iOS 18 to focus on fixing bugs.

What’s likely to characterize the next version of Apple’s mobile platform is its focus on generative AI. According to Gourmetthat means a smarter Siri and much deeper integration of AI into core iOS features, including Messages and Apple Music.

But Gurman now says there’s “much more” coming with iOS 18, although details on what, exactly, are absent.

Macrumers underlined that Apple announced support for the RCS cross-platform messaging standard on the iPhone later in 2024, which could coincide with the launch of iOS 18. For users, support for RCS means that Android users will have a better experience when exchanging messages with iPhone users, and vice versa.

Either way, with so much on the line, this year’s WWDC will likely be exciting. Apple’s developer-focused conference hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it usually takes place in June.