iPhone 18

Once upon a time, there was just a single iPhone. Today, things are rather more complicated, with a choice of four new models plus two older ones remaining on sale directly from Apple.

Next year may see the most fragmented iPhone lineup we have ever seen in the company’s history – and that could be bad news for some of us …

While Apple first started supporting eSIMs back in 2018, it’s only this year that it has taken full advantage of the technology.

For the first time, Apple is using the space previously occupied by an insertable SIM card slot for additional battery capacity …

Apple is apparently preparing its supply chain for an uptick in new iPhone sales next year, according to a new report by Nikkei. The company has apparently targeted sales of about 95 million iPhone 18 models in 2026, noting that the new lineup won’t arrive until the fall.

While the new foldable model will draw interest, Apple is expecting sales to be up across all iPhone 18 models. The company seems to be indicating that it expects a halo effect, where people are enticed into upgrading based on the flashiness of the shiny new folding iPhone, but some will ultimately opt to upgrade to a traditional slab iPhone 18 regardless.

Sure, the iPhone 17 lineup hasn’t even shipped yet, but that doesn’t stop the news cycle rolling on. A new report details the chipset we can expect to find inside the iPhone Fold and the iPhone 18 Pro models.

This will of course include the A20 chip, the first to be made using a 2-nanometer process, but the report suggests we can expect mobile data speeds to be faster thanks to a new Apple modem chip …

This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: all the latest expectations for next year’s iPhone 18 lineup, including iPhone Fold and iPhone Air 2, based on current rumors.

Six people have been arrested after Apple chipmaker TSMC said that several then-employees tried to steal trade secrets relating to the company’s most advanced chip process. TSMC fired the individuals concerned and is now taking legal action against them.

Update: Three of the six have now been indicted, and prosecutors are seeking a 14-year prison sentence for one of them – see the update at the end …

Earlier this week, a random report from an account with zero track-record claimed that the iPhone 18 will drop the Camera Control button. We were skeptical of the rumor at the time, and now a new leak from a more reliable source has the full context.

As it turns out, Apple isn’t planning to remove the Camera Control from the iPhone 18 altogether, but rather introduce a dumbed-down version of it.

A random report from an account with zero track-record for anything claims that the iPhone 18 will drop the Camera Control button as too few people are using it.

The claim is entirely meaningless, but I strongly suspect that it’s right in one respect: that hardly anyone is using the feature …

The iPhone 17 unveiling is only weeks away, and iPhone 18 rumors are starting to pick up. A new report corroborates previous claims that the iPhone 18 launch lineup will drop a surprisingly important model.

We’re just weeks away from Apple unveiling its iPhone 17 lineup, but a new report corroborates prior indications that next year’s iPhone 18 models are due for an especially strong performance boost thanks to innovations with the A20 chip.

One of the bullet points in Apple’s announcement of its increased US manufacturing spend made a big, but very non-specific, claim. Apple said that it was working with Samsung on an “innovative new technology which has never been used before anywhere in the world.”

Although the company was being mysterious, we likely know what that means – and it’s great news not just for the iPhone 18, but also for future iPhones beyond it …

Corroborating The Information reporting from over the weekend, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has laid out his predictions for the next few years of iPhone launches in a post on Craft today. Most notably, Apple will move away from releasing all of its flagship phones at the same time in the fall, a rigid calendar that has been in place since the iPhone 4s in 2011.

Going forward, Apple is moving to launching its cheaper budget iPhones in the first half of the year, and Pro models in the fall. This means you will see versions of the iPhone 18 and iPhone 19 arrive in the first and latter half of the same year, across 2027, respectively.

Apple has long pursued the goal of eliminating bezels and notches to create a truly uninterrupted iPhone display—without compromising features like Face ID or the front-facing camera. That journey has brought major design changes over the years, and the next steps may introduce some unusual choices as Apple iterates toward its all-display vision.

According to a new report from Wayne Ma from The Information, Apple may be looking to shake up its release strategy with the iPhone 18 lineup, with some models launching in the fall as they would normally, and others moving to a new spring release window.

A leaker with a decent track record says that Apple will be switching to a much better type of integrated memory for the iPhone 18 line-up, offering three benefits over the current RAM spec.

It’s also looking increasingly likely that all iPhone 17 models will get 12GB of integrated memory to boost AI performance …

According to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s A20 chip should adopt TSMC’s 2nm process for the very first time. This means that next year’s iPhone 18 models should all take the leap to a next-generation chip architecture. Previously, it was unclear whether or not all iPhone 18 models would adopt 2nm tech.

Apple this year introduced C1, its first in-house 5G modem, with the iPhone 16e. However, the company isn’t expected to bring its own modem to more expensive iPhones until at least next year. Analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities has now corroborated this rumor by saying that Apple is working on a new version of its modem for the iPhone 18 Pro models.

Apple famously likes to take its time with most forms of new tech, preferring to be best rather than first, and that’s been true of a folding iPhone.

The company reportedly hasn’t been impressed with the quality of Android models to date, with one issue in particular most bothering the iPhone maker …

The iPhone 16e just launched, but Apple has four more iPhone models launching this fall—including the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air. But per Mark Gurman, 2026 may be even bigger for the iPhone thanks to two brand new designs in the works: a foldable and another mysterious new design.

Apple achieved a major milestone yesterday, when it launched an iPhone with its own in-house modem instead of a Qualcomm one: the C1 chip.

This has been a key goal for the company for a great many years for two reasons, so finally ticking the box is a pretty big moment …