How many new iPhones will Apple launch in 2018?

Initially reports were indicating that three new iPhones would be announced in autumn 2018, but further reports appeared in January 2018 suggesting that Apple is lining up four new models for the autumn.

We expect that the iPhone SE 2 will appear in spring and have a separate article about that iPhone.

First up, in November 2017 KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that three new models will launch in autumn 2018, and that these will have the same all-screen design with the now familiar notch. As illustrated below that's:

a 6.5in OLED
a 5.8in OLED
a 6.1in LCD

Then in December 2017, Nikkei, citing "a source privy to the company's product designs", said we should expect two new OLED models, in 6.3in and 5.8in sizes, and an LCD phone measuring 6.1in. That's:

a 6.3in OLED
a 5.8in OLED
a 6.1in LCD
But according to DigiTimes Research senior analyst Luke Lin in January 2018, there will be four new iPhones and they will include:

a 5.7- to 5.8in LCD
a 6.0- to 6.1in LCD
a 6.0- to 6.1in OLED
a 6.4- to 6.5in OLED
The death of the iPhone X
A surprising rumour, which started doing the rounds in January 2018, holds that Apple is looking to end production of the iPhone X after only a year on the market. This appears to have been sparked by analyst Jun Zhang of Rosenblatt Securities making the noticeably less controversial prediction that "may be planning to cut iPhone X production for the June quarter by as much as 10 million units".

To us it seems more likely that Apple would simply be ramping down production of what would by then be less of a hyped product, and focusing instead on making the new phones for autumn 2018 - which as discussed above could encompass the launch of three (or four) separate form factors.

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If it's diversifying its product portfolio that much, Apple may withdraw more current products from sale than usual, which could mean the end of the iPhone X. But for the company to sell a smartphone for only a year (rather than keeping it on sale when the successor arrives, but dropping the price) would be both unusual and surprising.

iPhone 2018: Price
The iPhone X was positioned by Apple as a premium iPhone with a premium price - starting at £999/$999, while the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus were priced at £699/$699 and £799/$799 accordingly.

Apparently in 2018 you will be able to get an iPhone X-style handset for less - if a (Chinese-language) Economic Daily article from October 2017 is to be believed.

According to that site, more than one successor to the iPhone X is in the works - along with the top-tier iPhone X successor, there will be more budget friendly model to attract new customers.

This 'budget' iPhone X-style iPhone is codenamed Hangzhou, while the more expensive version is codenamed Lisboa, according to Economic Daily.

The claims of Economic Daily seem to be backed up by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who also claims that Apple will introduce a cheaper iPhone that will feature many of the same features as the iPhone X including a bezel-less display. In order to keep costs down this unit will feature an LCD-TFT screen and fewer pixels. (More on this handset below).

This cheaper handset will cost between $649 and $749, according to Kuo. (We'd expect that to translate to £649-£749, which could be a discount of £50 on the price of the iPhone 8 currently).

iPhone 2018: Design
In 2018 we expect all of Apple's new iPhones to take on the all-screen iPhone X design. This could mean that the successors to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, as well as the successor to the iPhone X, will have a bezel-free design, Face ID camera, and no Home button.

We also expect the new models to feature the same notch motif at the top of the display, incorporating the FaceTime camera and facial recognition sensors. That may all change in 2019 - South Korea's ET News has predicted that Apple is "looking into the combination of a face recognition module with a camera module" which could result in the notch being shrunk down.

Here's everything we've heard about the 2018 iPhone's design so far:

Metal or glass back?
According to Nikkei, Apple is going to continue hedging its bets when it comes to materials. There will be two OLED phones in autumn 2018, the site claims, but there will also be single LCD phone - and this will probably have a metal back. It follows that this device probably won't be able to offer wireless charging.

What they could offer is a splash of colour. Nikkei adds that it "will be available in several colours".

Screen sizes
As outlined above, there are a number of reports suggesting a variety of sizes for the new iPhone models.

There could be three or four new screen sizes - including the biggest screen on an iPhone yet.

The Bell (via The Investor), quoting anonymous industry sources, claimed in May 2017 that Apple and Samsung had signed a deal for the supply of 5.28in and 6.46in sized OLED panels for the 2018 iPhones. The 6.46in display would be an increase on the 5.5in screen on the 8 Plus and the 5.8in screen on the iPhone X, leading to speculation that this would be destined for an iPhone X Plus.

As for the 5.28in screen, a report in August 2017 claimed the 5.28in model had been canned in favour of a 5.85in screen - which sounds a lot like the current iPhone X, albeit slightly larger.

Then in November 2017, Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that there will be three new iPhone models. A 6.5in, 6.1in and a 5.8in model, as mentioned above.

Nikkei, as mentioned in the section above, is more conservative in its estimate, predicting that the largest model to launch in autumn 2018 will have a 6.3in screen - still a whopper, though.

A report from Commercial Times on 23 January 2018 (via Macrumours) suggests that even if the successor to the iPhone X has a bigger screen it may actually be physically smaller than that device. This could be possible if Apple uses Japan Display's "Full Active" LCD technology which allows for a 0.5mm bezel - smaller than the bezel on the current iPhone X, according to the report.

As mentioned above, a January 2018 report from DigiTimes suggested that the four new iPhones could come with screens in the following sizes: an LCD measuring 5.7- to 5.8in, two phones measuring 6.0- to 6.1in (one an LCD, the other an OLED) and an OLED screen measuring 6.4- to 6.5in.

OLED, LCD-TFT, or Micro LED screens
There is some debate over how many new iPhones will feature OLED screens and which iPhones will feature an LCD screen.

According to Kuo (in November 2017), two of the new 2018 iPhones will feature a OLED screen, like the current iPhone X, but one will have an LCD-TFT display, and therefore a lower price. The resolution of that model will be lower, too.

However, the model to get the 'budget' features will have a 6.1in screen, rather than the smaller 5.8in model Kuo is also predicting.

Kuo said: "Two new OLED models target high-end market; new TFT-LCD model aims at low-end & midrange markets: We believe the major hardware difference in the two new OLED models is size, in a bid to satisfy various needs of the high-end market. The new TFT-LCD model will differ significantly from the OLED models in hardware and design specs (for instance, the PPI will be lower). The primary selling points of the TFT-LCD model may be the innovative user experience of an integrated full-screen design and 3D sensing with a lower price tag (we expect it will likely be US$649-749)."

However, on 26 January 2018 Digitimes Research senior analyst Luke Lin said that Apple is leaning towards releasing two LCD-based iPhones in 2018. One of these LCD models will be 5.7in to 5.8in, and the other from 6.0in to 6.1in.

Lin claims that Apple is considering a larger 6.4in to 6.5in OLED model to replace the iPhone X, reports MacRumors.

There are also reports appearing that suggest Apple is looking into using Micro LED screens.

These could initially appear on the Apple Watch, as was the case with OLED, but could eventually be used for the iPhone.

Apple's interest in the technology is clear from its acquisition of LuxVue (a company specialising in the field) back in 2014.

Micro-LEDs offer low power consumption, high brightness, ultra-high definition, high colour saturation, faster response rate, longer lifetimes and higher efficiency.

While OLEDs offer many of these features, micro-LEDs offer higher brightness and colour saturation.

The Apple Watch could gain this technology in 2018, and the iPhone a year or so later.

iPhone 2018: Features
The late-2017 iPhones added Face ID and wireless charging features. Here's what we're expecting in 2018.

Face ID/Touch ID
KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has published a report in which he predicts that Apple will expand its new Face ID facial recognition tech to all new iPhones released in autumn 2018 because in-screen Touch ID fingerprint scanning remains a technological challenge - but adds that the latter is still a possibility.

Kuo warns that Apple's plans are likely to depend on how favourably Face ID is received. If users find it difficult, annoying or unreliable in use, the company will plough more resources into solving the under-screen fingerprint scanner problem.

Apple might have settled on Face ID with the iPhone X, but the company has explored the possibility of integrating the Touch ID fingerprint scanner into the display of a smartphone or tablet. In fact, Apple filed a patent describing a Touch ID display back in January 2013.