Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Apple is reportedly facing an unusual backlog in the development of iOS 18.
- As a result, some major iOS 19 features may have been delayed till 2026.
- The company will likely unveil iOS 19 during WWDC25 in early June.
During its 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple officially announced iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and other upcoming OS versions. Naturally, the initial iOS 18.0 release didn’t pack all of the unveiled additions, such as Apple Intelligence. Instead, the company has been gradually introducing them through iOS 18.x updates that will stretch till next year. Although this has always been the case with new feature introductions, Apple appears to be dealing with an exceptionally colossal backlog this year. Consequently, the firm may push certain iOS 19 features till 2026.
According to Mark Gurman, “The gradual rollout of features across iOS 18 to iOS 18.4 is leading to delays of some features scheduled for iOS 19. That will lead to a long term rollout of features next cycle as well. Engineers are stuck working on iOS 18 projects when they’d usually already be on to the following OS.”
While it’s typical for Apple to roll out new OS updates over a few months, the company would have already started allocating its resources to the next release by now. Gurman highlights that certain teams are still working on announced iOS 18 features — presumably the context-aware Siri — when they should’ve moved on to iOS 19. As a result, certain iOS 19 features will reportedly be delayed until future updates, expected to roll out during the first half of 2026.
If Apple follows its pattern, the first betas of iOS 19 and macOS 16 should debut to developers during WWDC25 in early June. The stable releases should then follow in fall 2025, potentially around mid-September.
