A new report suggests Apple is planning to split its flagship phone launches into two separate events. The iPhone 18 and the rumoured foldable iPhones would come out in the fall of 2026 and then the following spring would see the release of the iPhone 18 and a lower cost iPhone 18e.
The report comes from popular analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says that the next few years of iPhone release will be as follows;
- Fall 2025 – iPhone 17 Pro series, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17
- Spring 2026 – iPhone 17e
- Fall 2026 – Foldable iPhone, iPhone 18 Pro series, iPhone 18 Air
- Spring 2027 – iPhone 18, iPhone 18e
- Fall 2027 – Foldable iPhone 2, iPhone 19 Pro series, iPhone 19 Air
The analyst says that this shift will help Apple address its marketing gap in the front half of each year and will help combat other manufacturers who also release in that time.
There is also speculation that this staggered release will also help Apple’s manufacturing backend work more efficiently as the iPhone lineup continues to grow to add the ‘e’ models, the Air and the foldables.
While I think breaking up the iPhone releases makes sense with the scope of Apple’s product line, I do wonder how the company plans to work this new system around all of its other products as well. That said, the iPhone 16e’s spring release this year could have been a trial run for the company to see how effective splitting its marketing might be.
From a review perspective, I think this makes sense since releasing a bunch of iPhones with very similar prices at the same time is going to be confusing for people. I also think breaking the standard iPhones and the more advanced iPhones into two separate events makes sense, as it will allow the company more flexibility to market them independently of each other.
Source: Ming-Chi Kuo, Macrumors
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