Apple unveiled iOS 26 at WWDC 2025 (June 9), calling it a major update that “brings a beautiful new design, intelligent experiences, and improvements to the apps users rely on every day”. The update introduces a sweeping design overhaul, deep on-device Apple Intelligence (AI) features, and refinements across system apps. iOS 26 will launch free in fall 2025 (around September, alongside new iPhones) as a developer beta now and a public beta by July. It supports iPhone 11 and later (dropping 2017-era devices), with the latest AI-powered features requiring newer hardware (A17 Pro chips or M1+ Macs). The rest of this article breaks down the key changes in design, apps, performance, privacy, compatibility, and release timing.