iOS 12 release date & features news: Next update may not include a cross-platform user interface

The iOS 12 is expected to be unveiled by Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2018 in June, although the reports are already in regarding the next software update's primary features. For one, it has been rumored that the iOS 12 will boast a cross-platform feature that will support both Mac and iOS applications. However, the latest report suggests that this feature will skip the iOS 12 this year.

iOS 11 preview in different Apple devicesApple

It was first tipped by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg that Apple is working on a special project that will make all apps supported by both the iOS and Mac platforms. Gurman believes that this cross-platform user interface will be first introduced in this year's iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 updates. However, Daring Fireball's John Gruber speculates that Apple will postpone the project until 2019.

At this point, the cross-platform development that will link the iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 together may not be as ambitious as it first sounded. According to Gruber, the project will only be a "declarative control API" that will allow application to be designed for multiple user interfaces at the same time.

With this, developers will still have to code their apps that suits an iOS or Mac platform before having them ported to an iPhone or iPad device. Moreover, Gruber believes that the iOS 12 will not boast this feature just yet as the cross-platform project is not yet ready for a WWDC 2018 announcement. 

In other news, the recent WebKit development reports show that Apple is studying the possibility of the iOS 12 running in older iPhone 5S model. The said development testing reports have the line "iPhone 5s running iOS 12" in multiple sections.  Although, this does not guarantee that the iPhone 5S will support the iOS 12 update, considering that the iPhone model was excluded from the iOS 11 list.

Still, this is a good sign that the iOS 12 will have lower hardware requirements that Apple will be able to bring the next major update to older iPhone models, apart from the iPhone 5S.