You are both probably right.
Speaking of the processor chips themselves, the 8086 was out first.
Then they designed the 8088, which had all the 8086 internals but was in a smaller package with fewer pins and a narrower external bus. This allowed designers to make a cheaper system overall, at the expense of a slower bus and thus lower performance.
The first IBM PC was basically a cookbook design from Intel’s literature, using the 8088.
I also bought my 8088 when the 286 was already out by then, so I’m one step right after bcsco.