iOS 19 promises to be a total look change. It is actually something much more important for Apple

Apple prepares to execute the greatest redesign of its operating systems in a decade. As Mark Gurman filtered in Bloomberg, iOS 19 will involve a radical transformation of the iPhone interfacewith Changes in icons, menus, windows and system controls.

A risky bet for a manufacturer whose income slowed down after boom pandemic and whose star product – the iPhone – has finally accumulated the feeling of Touch in income even with some fall.

The interesting thing about this redesign is What tells us about Apple’s strategy. The cook company usually marks trend in interface designs, but now it is seen in a paradoxical situation: seeks inspiration in its less sold product, the Vision Pro.

His mixed reality helmet does not seem unify the experience Among all Apple devices.

It is a fine irony: the product that has the least users is the one to mark how we will interact with our devices the more than one billion iPhone users.

This movement speaks of another important change in Apple’s product philosophy. For years it has maintained a clear distinction among its platforms, resisting the temptation to merge iOS and macOS as competitors have tried (Microsoft, Google).

GIF: Apple.

Now, without abandoning that functional separationApple seeks a visual coherence that makes the transition between devices more fluid. It is no accident that it occurs in a very marked context: Difficulty increasing income in the last two yearswhich translates into the need to stimulate the renewal of devices and consolidate its ecosystem

The redesign also indicates a possible vulnerability in the current Apple position: the iPhone interface, once revolutionary, He has become familiar to the point of invisibility.

Innovating in hardware is increasingly complicated when the product is mature – at the smartphone now happens to what at the time happened to the computer – so The perception of novelty must be created through software. If you cannot revolutionize physical experience, visually change it.

It is a technological, but also psychological game: to make the known feel new. But without alienating a base of heterogeneous and massive users accustomed to certain interaction patterns. It is not the same to make changes in the Mac OS X of 2007 (for a niche of users, the majority enthusiasts) than in the IOS of 2025 (for people of all ages, technical levels and cultural contexts, from children to the elderly).

The question is not whether Apple will technically implement these changes – it has talent and resources to do so and will do it – but If they will achieve the delicate balance between innovation and familiarity that defines the best product evolutions. As he taught us iOS 7 It makes twelve years, reinvent what works always entails risks.

But maybe that is precisely the point: Apple needs to risk again.

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Outstanding image | Apple