diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-08-20-14-02-33.gh-issue-156115.KXr8wU.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-08-20-14-02-33.gh-issue-156115.KXr8wU.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..612180d3b65db21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-08-20-14-02-33.gh-issue-156115.KXr8wU.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+iOS simulator builds are now configured with
+``-mios-simulator-version-min`` instead of the device's
+``-mios-version-min``. The device flag made the linker reject libraries
+resolved from the simulator SDK, so library detection silently failed.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ea560d600722592..1b03d29e91a8336 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -4895,8 +4895,13 @@ case $host in #(
      ;;
 esac
 
-case $ac_sys_system in #(
-  iOS) :
+case $host in #(
+  *-apple-ios*-simulator) :
+
+    as_fn_append CFLAGS " -mios-simulator-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"
+    as_fn_append LDFLAGS " -mios-simulator-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"
+   ;; #(
+  *-apple-ios*) :
 
     as_fn_append CFLAGS " -mios-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"
     as_fn_append LDFLAGS " -mios-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7dfc6ca29297a8b..99444990cf0c741 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1006,8 +1006,12 @@ AS_CASE([$host],
 )
 
 dnl Add the compiler flag for the iOS minimum supported OS version.
-AS_CASE([$ac_sys_system],
-  [iOS], [
+AS_CASE([$host],
+  [*-apple-ios*-simulator], [
+    AS_VAR_APPEND([CFLAGS], [" -mios-simulator-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"])
+    AS_VAR_APPEND([LDFLAGS], [" -mios-simulator-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"])
+  ],
+  [*-apple-ios*], [
     AS_VAR_APPEND([CFLAGS], [" -mios-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"])
     AS_VAR_APPEND([LDFLAGS], [" -mios-version-min=${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}"])
   ],