Since the last update to IOS 26.0 (23A5276f) the AirPods connect to my IPhone and the Audio is still running through the phone. They are shown in the Bluetooth Icon that they’re paired.
Audio of AirPods won’t work
You should probably raise this as a bug in the usual way. It won't really get progressed if it's only posted in these Developer Forums.
You need to raise each issue you find separately at https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/ You can post the FB numbers here if you want, so that others can link to them.