Apple announced three iPhones in September 2017 in the form of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus followed the traditional iPhone design, while the iPhone X shook things up a little.
What does that mean for next year's iPhones though? Will we see an iPhone 9 and 9 Plus, as well as a successor to the iPhone X? Or will the standard iPhone die and the iPhone X design take over for all 2018 models?
The rumour mill for next year's iPhones has already started spinning and will continue to until the new devices launch. Some of the speculation thrown out will be utter garbage, while some will no doubt be on the money. Here we are rounding all the rumours of the next iphone 5s disassembly but remember nothing is confirmed.
Apple iPhone 2018: Release date
We might see a successor to the iPhone SE, the smaller iPhone, in March 2018, but we won't see the iPhone 9 or a successor to the iPhone X until September 2018.
Traditionally, Apple has held its September events within the first couple of weeks of the month and usually on a Tuesday, with pre-orders for the devices they announce starting on the Friday of the same week. The iPhone X was an exception to that pattern, with pre-orders not starting for six weeks after.
It will be a good few months before any event rumours appear though, with nothing likely to surface until August 2018 at the earliest. If we had to place our bets now, we'd guess around 11 September 2018, give or take a week, would be a good time to pencil in the diary if you want to watch Tim Cook and his buddies on stage.
Apple iPhone 2018: Name
What will Apple call its iPhone 2018 models? Well, isn't that the million dollar question? The answer to which only a very select few in the Cupertino company probably know.
We might see an iPhone 9 and iPhone 9 Plus, or we might see Apple skip "9" altogether. There has been a prediction that we will see a larger iPhone X appear with a 6.5-inch OLED display, alongside another 5.8-inch OLED model and a separate 6.1-inch device with an LCD display.
Perhaps this will mean that the new iPhones will predominantly continue with the "X" name, resulting in the iPhone XI or iPhone X2 and iPhone X Plus for the OLED models, with the standard iPhone 9 naming reserved for the LCD model. As we said though, it's anyone's guess at the moment.
Apple iPhone 2018: Design
Apple made some big design changes to the iPhone with the iPhone X. It moved away from what has defined the iPhone for the last decade by removing the TouchID home button on the front and replacing it with a notch at the top of the display, housing a new technology called FaceID.
The iPhone X isn't to everyone's taste though, and many don't like change, which is probably one of the reasons why the company chose to release the more traditional iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models alongside it. Don't count on the same strategy for next year though.
By September 2018, those who weren't initially sold on the iPhone X's design will have had 12 months to get used to it and given Tim Cook said the iPhone X lays the foundations for the next 10 years of the iPhone, we wouldn't be surprised to see all the 2018 models feature the new design.
Ming Chi-Kuo, the KGI Securities analyst who loves to share his Apple predictions, believes there will be two OLED iPhone models next year, both of which will retain the stainless steel frame but offer improvements for cellular and Wi-Fi transmissions. He also claims there will be a third model that will have an LCD display, as we mentioned briefly above, suggesting this will be a cheaper option.
Kuo does predict all three models will lose TouchID in favour of FaceID however, which makes sense. We aren't convinced about Apple retaining stainless steel though. In fact, while ditching the old design entirely is a perfectly plausible move, the £1000 starting price of the iPhone X is steep and a switch to aluminium would presumably help reduce this so for now, we're placing our bets on at least one aluminium frame, if not all.
Apple iPhone 2018: Display
Apple made a move to OLED with the iPhone X so it comes as no surprise that the company is predicted to continue to offer OLED options in 2018. As we mentioned above, it has been predicted that Apple will deliver two OLED iPhones next year, as well as one LCD iPhone.
According to Ming Chi-Kuo, there will be a 6.5-inch OLED model, a 5.8-inch OLED model and a 6.1-inch LCD model. The analyst shared an infographic that suggests the 6.1-inch LCD model will offer a footprint between the current iPhone 8 and ipad mini 2 screen replacement despite the larger screen, which would be possible should it adopt the 18:9 aspect ratio the iPhone X offers.
Kuo also predicted the 6.5-inch model would offer a pixel density of between 480 and 500ppi, the 5.8-inch will offer 458ppi, which is the same as the current iPhone X, and the 6.1-inch model would have between 320 and 330 pixels per inch. If this is the case, none of the 2018 models will offer a Quad HD resolution like the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S8 or LG's V30.
It's all predictions and guesswork for now though so if you're all about the pixels, don't be too disheartened just yet. Aside from pixels and size, we'd expect to see a continuation of 3D Touch on all models, the P3 wide colour gamut and Apple's True Tone technology on some, if not all 2018 models.