We’re about two months away from Apple’s annual iPhone debut in September. This year, though, will be a bit different. Instead of the entire iPhone lineup debuting at once, only the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and all-new foldable iPhone will launch this September. Here’s why.
Over the years, the annual iPhone lineup has gradually gotten larger. A short while ago, there were only 3 annual debuts: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. In 2020, that grew to 4 annual debuts with the iPhone 12 mini, and in 2022, the iPhone 12 mini was swapped for the iPhone 14 Plus – and that’s now been swapped for iPhone Air.
With the introduction of iPhone 16e, the annual release cycle grew to 5. With the introduction of iPhone Ultra, it’ll now be 6 annual iPhones. That’s a lot of phones – and a very crowded stage if they all debut at once.
So, Apple has decided to move to a split release schedule.
The iPhone 18 lineup will consist of 6 models: iPhone 18, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone 18e, iPhone Air 2, and iPhone Ultra.
There’ll be a theme to this split release schedule: flagships in the fall, and lower end devices in the spring. So, it’ll look like this:
When the iPhone lineup had grown to four devices, the fourth model had never sold well at launch, whether that was iPhone mini or iPhone Plus. So, Apple figured there should be a definitive split – giving a separate spotlight to the additional phones.
There’s a little bit of a twist when it comes to iPhone 18, though. Reportedly, Apple is working towards merging the production techniques of iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, so there may be much less differentiating the two phones.
It’s unclear if this means iPhone 18e will get much better, or iPhone 18 will get worse – but the two phones might only split hairs when it comes to display panels and cameras.
All in all, assuming the iPhone Air doesn’t end up getting canned (which I certainly hope it doesn’t) – this’ll be the new iPhone lineup going forward. Three in the fall, and three more in the Spring. In the end, this’ll hopefully allow Apple to better segment its launches to get to the right audience.
This’ll also likely end up increasing the average selling price of the iPhone, as people who want to buy into the launch hype will have no choice but to buy an iPhone 18 Pro, rather than a cheaper model.
It remains to be seen if splitting the lineup will actually result in everything selling better, but that’s the preliminary theory.
What do you think of Apple divvying up the iPhone releases? Will you be buying this fall, or waiting until the spring? Let us know in the comments.
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Michael is 9to5Mac’s Weekend Editor, keeping up with all of the latest Apple news on Saturday and Sunday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and has published numerous apps over the years.
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