iOS 18 set to come with major visual changes

We still remember when Android made the shift to Material Design with Android Lollipop. For those on the Apple ecosystem, a similar change was observed between iOS 6 and iOS 7. Since then, however, neither Android nor iOS has seen a major shift in visual design.

Both smartphone operating systems have instead opted to focus on smaller UI elements every year, emphasising more on things like privacy, security and ecosystem-leveraging features. That could change for iPhone users soon, and no, we’re not talking about an update that’s years away. We’re actually talking about iOS 18.

iOS 18 could look and feel very different

As per a Bloomberg report, iOS 18 is set to sport a new visual design. Until now, all we heard about iOS was how the operating system would pack a suite of AI-powered features like Samsung’s Galaxy AI, but it seems that’s not all.

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While the report does tell us to keep our expectations in check, and not expect change on the scale of iOS 7, this would still be a major switch for long-term iPhone users.

While the flat design is not something we’d complain about, it’s about time we got some new duds for our software, given how customisation on iOS is nowhere close to Android counterparts like OneUI or OxygenOS.

Is iOS 18 going to be inspired by visionOS?

Possible, but highly unlikely. While the glossy, somewhat see-through 3D textures and elements of visionOS (Apple’s software platform for the Apple Vision Pro) does look very futuristic, most of its aesthetics also have a practical function.

The see-through elements, for instance, make more sense when you’re wearing a headset that can granularly control how much of your sight sees the actual world around you.

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For iPhones however, this doesn’t really offer any real-time benefits. While it is possible that iOS 18 does pick up a few tricks from visionOS, we wouldn’t exactly count on an “inspired” design.

Do note that none of this information is official for now. The good news, is that Apple usually lets us have a peak at the next iOS version during its annual WWDC event. With WWDC 2024, we don’t have a lot of waiting time ahead of us.