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Leaker: Apple Downgrading iPhone 18 to Cut Costs

sw1tcher said:
Cut costs... so the iPhone 18 will have a single camera lens like the iPhone 18e and iPhone Air.

Give all non-Pro iPhones single lenses?

Or iPhone 18e and iPhone 18 get single lens, while iPhone Air gets 2 lenses and iPhone Pro's get 3?
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Even better. Leave the two camera holes, but use a single camera for everything, and put a fancy camera lens with nothing behind on the other one.

That way customers can keep showing off their iPhone 18 and Apple saves costs.

Honestly at this pace, the iPhone 18e looks better and better…
 
ASentientBot said:
between the spring release rumor and this one, it really feels like 18 and 18e may be merging into one product..
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So, 1.5 cameras on the back?

Don't see how it's merging when there's obvious differences between the two. Apple will clearly gatekeep display size and tech to the base model.
 
Homme said:
Rumors did suggest normal 18 will get 12GB of RAM but seeing this thread I wonder due to the RAM Crisis the leaker knows normal 18 will probably get 8GB of RAM instead

9to5mac.com

Apple's base model iPhone 18 might offer 12GB of memory, just like iPhone 17 Pro - 9to5Mac

With the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro lineup, Apple shipped a major upgrade alongside the A19 Pro chip –...
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
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can remember seeing this 12GB rumour on this site and thinking complete BS tbh , only way base is getting 12GB is is pro & pro max are also getting ram boost, which i just dont see happening, took them year to go from 8GB to 12GB , this site looses all credibility with these leaked insider rumours, next years pro & pro max would need to go to 16GB , i know fold is likely 16GB , i’ll believe it when i see it officially confirmed by apple
 
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surferfb said:
My thought process has been for a while.

iPhone Air -> gets extra speaker, camera lens, becomes "standard" iPhone (but keeps "iPhone Air" name).
Standard iPhone -> Becomes the "e" model (but keeps "iPhone xx" name)

This rumor tracks with that.
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Hmm, this would certainly make the puzzle pieces fit.
 
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I'm not sure it really matters what the specs are, tbh. People who want iPhones but not the highest end model probably just care that it is a new iPhone that will be supported by Apple for years.
 
JPack said:
Air 2 will also be fighting against iPhone XX or whatever Apple decides to call their 20th anniversary phone. It will only get 6 months in the spotlight.

Whoever pushed Air 2 to launch in spring 2027 had to know it was going to fail.
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Completely agree with you. If the Air 2 does not release in September but 6months later, it went from having some chance of success to none at all.

Me being an example. Very interested in a Air 2 if add another camera, and maybe speaker, but if its coming 6month after the Pro Lineup, no chance of me waiting for it.
 
Interesting - if true I wonder what they would cut? I kind of already expected the iPhone 18 to basically be an iPhone 17 with an A20 chip, (possibly) a C2 modem and some new colors. Maybe downgrading the camera control button since most people use it for little more than to launch the camera app and take a photo anyway so the pressure sensitive button is wasted on most people (including me).
 
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realmccoy69 said:
can remember seeing this 12GB rumour on this site and thinking complete BS tbh , only way base is getting 12GB is is pro & pro max are also getting ram boost, which i just dont see happening, took them year to go from 8GB to 12GB , this site looses all credibility with these leaked insider rumours, next years pro & pro max would need to go to 16GB , i know fold is likely 16GB , i’ll believe it when i see it officially confirmed by apple
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Not really, the base and Pro models have had the same amount of RAM plenty of times, including the 11, 14 and 16 series so they could pretty easily all have 12 GB for all of the 18 series.
 
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HouseLannister said:
Don't think any cost cutting would be even evident to all but the most speed-and-feeds obsessed newshounds. Even the tech specs page on the iPhone 17 doesn't mention how much RAM it has, what kind of RAM it is, how many mAh the battery has, what speed the storage is, etc. They could stick DDR4 in there and 99.9+% of customers wouldn't know.
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Exactly, there's tons of action being taken in manufacturing we have no clue about.

I do miss the iPhone Camera Roll lottery of yore.
 
bodonnell202 said:
Not really, the base and Pro models have had the same amount of RAM plenty of times, including the 11, 14 and 16 series so they could pretty easily all have 12 GB for all of the 18 series.
Click to expand...

With the current environment, Apple would have to pay $40 or $50 more to go from 8GB to 12GB RAM. The Koreans already confirmed the folding iPhone will have 12GB, so it seems extremely unlikely iPhone 18 will get 12GB. It's just not needed.
 
ASentientBot said:
between the spring release rumor and this one, it really feels like 18 and 18e may be merging into one product..
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That’s true I mean why not just cancel the e or merge it? I guess only thing is price. For people who like yearly upgrades the Pro looks the only option now sadly
 
bodonnell202 said:
Interesting - if true I wonder what they would cut? I kind of already expected the iPhone 18 to basically be an iPhone 17 with an A20 chip, (possibly) a C2 modem and some new colors. Maybe downgrading the camera control button since most people use it for little more than to launch the camera app and take a photo anyway so the pressure sensitive button is wasted on most people (including me).
Click to expand...
Yep remove camera control maybe remove a camera drop back to 128gb storage but tell us there’s a new chip to upgrade and maybe a new camera feature.
 
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So a new CEO that explains the expensive 2 grand pro and flip phone and a worse iPhone 18. I fear iPhone sales will go flat
 
LincolnBio said:
"Certain manufacturing downgrades" seems to suggest the differences will not involve any key features, but will involve the way the phone is constructed or the materials used.

I can't imagine that the 18 will be released with a nerfed camera or lower RAM.
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No 12GB anytime soon.
 
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