Surprisingly, it’s not the iPhone Xs and the eventual Xs Plus (or whatever Apple names the X successors) that are the most heavily rumored, but rather a lowly iPhone 9 that will apparently be responsible for 50% of Apple’s 2018 crop shipments, so we preview all the specs, price and design differences to expect… Surprisingly, it’s not the iPhone Xs and the eventual Xs Plus (or whatever
It will reportedly take the place of the iPhone 8 in the roster, at least regarding Apple’s lowest 2018 price tier, so let’s list the expected differences with the higher-end iPhone Xs that will allow it to both fit a TrueDepth camera in its notch, and still go for $700-$800, according to analysts and „supply chain sources“ that have chimed in on the matter.
This one required a ton od deductive reasoning, but the three new handsets Apple will announce on September 12 will go by different names than the company’s conventional titling scheme.
A leaked slide from China Mobile depicts an iPhone Xc (from color), Xs and Xs Plus are about to be unveiled, going for a 6.1″, 5.8″ and 6.5″ displays, respectively. Don’t let the exorbitant $860, $1079, and $1225 price equivalents fool you, though – in China, the iPhones cost about 20% more in USD than in America. Also, the alleged dual-SIM version of the Xc may be China-exclusive only.
The smallest iPhone in the crop will be the X’s 5.8″ successor, at about 5.65 x 2.79 x 0.30 inches (143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm) dimensions, followed by the 6.1″ LCD model at 5.94 x 3.01 x 0.33 inches (150.9 x 76.5 x 8.3 mm), and the largest 6.46-incher will likely be roughly the size of the 8 Plus now.
There could still be the eventual sensor and/or optics upgrades, if Apple manages to pull these off by the time the phones are released, though it’s hard to imagine how you can beat a camera that does 4K HDR recording at 60fps. With a new A12 chipset, though, everything is possible.
Not only has JDI developed an LCD screen that offers most of the advantages of flexible OLEDs (save for the deep blacks, of course), but it actually excels in a few parameters besides cost. JDI called its darling a Full Active display, as it managed to shrink the frame to just 0.5mm on all sides, paving the way for all sorts of „bezel-less“ designs, as current LCDs or OLEDs typically have frames that are twice thicker, or even more at the bottom, where the display circuitry resides.
Apple usually works with suppliers to tailor the size, resolution, and color fidelity to its own desired specifications. There are tips that Apple will employ the Full Active’s 18:9 ratio directly, but we kind of doubt that, as this will make developers have to write for three different app scalings. Thus, the only characteristics of the already-announced 6″ 1080×2160 panel left over by the time JDI starts shipping for Apple may be the Full Active ones – flexibility, durability, almost no bezels, and what it calls PixelEyes, encompassing technologies like in-cell touch and deeper black levels than what conventional LCDs are capable of.
What this means is that the iPhone Xc may sport a pretty cool display still, albeit not of the OLED variety, allowing Apple to keep its price lower by skimping on non-essential features. Thus, the iPhone Xc may not sport 3D Touch, but it would still offer access to the Face ID and Animoji staples, bringing them down to millions of people who will now have the opportunity to access all the TrueDepth camera goodies at a much lower starting price.
A common 7nm A12 made by TSMC, but 3GB or 4GB RAM
While the iPhone Xc, Xs and Xs Plus may be powered by one and the same chipset, the amount of RAM and storage will likely differ – 3GB RAM for the iPhone Xc against 4GB for its OLED brethren. There is also а rumor making the rounds that Apple may go wild with a 512 GB version of the iPhone Xs Plus.
Samsung has already announced such a flash memory chip for mobiles, and has it in the Note 9, so it’s certainly doable, but we cringe at the thought of those models‘ pricing. The iPhone Xc and Xs, on the other hand, with their alleged $700-$900 price range, will more likely keep with the current 64GB/256GB storage scheme, as you can see from some leaked box labels below.
Needless to say, we expect a 7nm Apple A12 chipset in all 2018 iPhones, as there are indications that this production process will become available in the second half of next year. There’s been a move to a lower node with each subsequent A chip recently, and if anyone can pull off the 100+ million unit orders for high-end silicon to make the 7nm process viable for the TSMC foundry, it’s Apple, so we keep our hopes high that we will see a 7nm Apple A12 making the next iPhones tick.
The L-shaped batteries of the Xs and Xs Plus will likely still be 2-cell, with a separator The rumored L-shaped battery for the iPhone X really materialized, albeit consisting of two different pieces. The tricky design extends to the right, fitting extra capacity in a space vacated by using chip-stacking and other miniaturization technologies. In the case of the iPhone X, this has allowed it to gain a 30% higher capacity compared to the rectangular shape, to the tune of 2716 mAh.
Apple obviously plans to take things a bit further – as per everyone’s favorite iPhone analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone X sequel could be equipped with an L-shaped battery, but it may not be of the single-cell variety, as previously rumored, so it is likely to keep the current capacity. The 6.5-inch model will eventually be powered by a 3300-3400 mAh battery, tips the analytical guru in a note to clients.
The LCD model with a 6.1″ panel would use a more orthodox rectangular battery rated at 2850-2950 mAh, as it won’t sport a stacked motherboard like the Xs or Xs Plus. That will allow Apple to keep down costs on this particular model, and at the same time promises quite an extra chunk of battery life added to the 2018 iPhones, especially since the A12 will land as a 7nm chipset indeed.
ominous sign for that to happen. In addition, the LCD model is likely to launch at the end of October or beginnign of November, rather than September 21 like its more expensive OLED siblings.
