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Apple may postpone some major new iOS features until 2019

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Apple is always working hard on its next iteration of iOS, its mobile operating system, but recent reports suggest that some of the biggest features originally planned may be pushed to next year’s iOS 13, instead of being launched in this year’s iOS 12. Why? Apple reportedly wants to focus a little more on stability this time around.

The report comes from Axios, which notes that Apple is pushing back some pretty major updates — like a refresh of the home screen, updates to CarPlay, and refreshes to some of its core apps. Instead, the company wants to make sure that iOS 12 is as polished as possible.

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The news makes sense. iOS 11 had its fair share of bugs, and it’s likely Apple wants to ensure the next iteration of the operating system does away with those. Apple is also playing with a new form-factor in the iPhone X, so it’s possible that some of the bugs that Apple wants to iron out have to do with that.

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It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that Apple won’t add any new and exciting features to iOS 12, but it does mean that they might be a little less dramatic. The report notes that Apple may add new features in areas like augmented reality, parental controls, and health tracking.

Apple has done this in the past, too. As noted in a report from Engadget, Apple focused on under-the-hood improvements in iOS 9, and Apple generally alternates between big upgrades and small refinements each year on MacOS, Apple’s computer operating system. Other developers do the same. Google’s newest version of Android, Android 8.0 Oreo, was mostly an incremental upgrade.

We’ll likely see the first few features of iOS 12 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which will take place in June, though it won’t be until September or October that the software will first make it to the public in Apple’s new slate of iPhones. The company is rumored to be launching a total of three new phones featuring the new iPhone X form-factor, though at least one of those phones may be a so-called “budget” option without 3D Touch or an OLED display.

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