iPhone 18 not good enough for 2026, leaker shares reason for staggered launch

While Apple has not shared any information on the iPhone 18 series, numerous reports have pointed to a staggered launch. The base iPhone 18 is said to arrive next year, whereas the Pro and Pro Max models will launch this September. While the reason for this launch strategy was mostly unknown, a leaker has claimed the iPhone 18 is too much of a downgrade to launch just a year later.

It could be a clever tactic on Apple’s part, as suggested by leaker Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo. The company reportedly aims to consolidate market share with the base iPhone 17 for about 18 months before releasing a new model. Furthermore, Apple is said to be preparing for China’s Double 11 (Singles’ Day - November 11) shopping event, where it expects to get significant sales. This will allow the Cupertino giant to gather as much global market share in the mainstream segment as possible.

Another reason, and the more important one, for the staggered launch is that the iPhone 18 is expected to be a relative downgrade, as claimed by the same leaker in previous posts. Last month, Fixed Focus Digital mentioned that the iPhone 18 will receive downgrades related to the chip and memory, bringing it more in line with the iPhone 18e. This is a cost-cutting move on Apple’s part, given the higher component prices this year vs a year or two ago. So, a larger gap between the two base iPhones would make the iPhone 18's downgrade a softer blow.

Moreover, the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e are said to go through engineering validation in June, which adds fuel to the speculation of them being on a similar level. On the other hand, there are contradictory reports as well claiming the iPhone 18 will get a RAM upgrade instead, moving from 8 GB to 12 GB. Whether it will be faster memory or not remains to be seen.

The crux of the information is that the base iPhone 18 is not going to be an upgrade over the iPhone 17, at least not worthy of a yearly cycle.