Report: Factories Receive iOS 18 ‘VendorUI’ Builds for Quality Control Testing
iOS 18 Unveiling Anticipated at WWDC 2024, Pre-Event Details Possible
Anticipation is mounting as Apple gears up for the launch of iOS 18, slated for the latter half of this year. With the stage set for the unveiling of its next iPhone operating system update, all eyes are on the tech giant as it prepares to showcase its latest innovations at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024.
Ahead of the official debut, reports suggest that Apple is already taking proactive steps to ensure the seamless integration and optimal performance of iOS 18, with the company reportedly issuing an early version of the update to factories and other key partners for quality control testing.
This preliminary iteration of iOS 18, dubbed “VendorUI,” is purportedly being distributed by Apple in a controlled manner to factories and relevant vendors. According to insights gleaned from a private X (formerly Twitter) account known for its credible leaks related to Apple, the VendorUI version offers a glimpse into some of the key elements expected to be showcased by the company at WWDC 2024. Notably, this version of iOS 18 is tailored specifically for testing purposes, with extraneous applications and features stripped away to streamline the quality control process.
Apple’s development process for iOS encompasses five distinct versions annually, each serving a specific purpose within the broader ecosystem of iOS development. Among these iterations, the VendorUI version occupies a pivotal role, offering factories and testing facilities a pre-production glimpse into the forthcoming iOS update. Alongside VendorUI, Apple also develops InternalUI, utilized exclusively by its in-house engineers, while the Release version represents the culmination of these iterative efforts, delivering the final product to users worldwide complete with all iOS visual elements, apps, and features.
iOS 18 is expected to be released in the second half of this year and Apple is expected to take the wraps off its next iPhone operating system update in the coming months at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. The iPhone maker is reportedly issuing an early version of the iOS 18 update to factories and other partners for quality control testing. This is said to be a limited version of Apple’s iOS operating system, with irrelevant applications and features removed from the user interface (UI) before it is distributed by the company.
According to a MacRumors report that cites a private X (formerly Twitter) account that is said to have a good track record of leaking details related to Apple, the iPhone maker has begun sharing a version of iOS 18 called “VendorUI” in a controlled manner with “factories and relevant vendors”. This version contains some elements of iOS that are expected to be unveiled by the company in the coming months at WWDC 2024.
Apple develops five different versions of iOS every year, according to the report. Two of these — LLDiags (a low-level diagnostics version) and NonUI (a version for hardware engineers and calibration machines) are prepared without the iOS user interface. Meanwhile, the VendorUI (used in factories for testing) and InternalUI (used by Apple’s engineers) contain pre-production versions of iOS. Apple’s “Release” version is the one that is finally rolled out to users with all iOS visual elements, apps and features.
