Apple is rumored to launch three new flagship handsets this year, including the larger variant for the 2017 flagship, the iPhone X Plus. According to the latest reports, the Cupertino-based tech giant will improve some aspects of the current iPhone X, making it more appealing to the public. For one, the 2018 iPhone model is expected to have a cheaper price while still boasting most of the iPhone X's defining characteristics such as the Face ID system.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has additional details in connection to the three iPhone 2018 models that he earlier predicted. As reported by MacRumors, Kuo believes that Apple is going to focus on making its next flagship more accessible to the general public, and that is by bringing down its price. To note, the iPhone X costs more than $1,000, which might be the reason why many Apple fans have yet to make the jump to the latest iPhone update.
The cheaper iPhone 2018 model that Kuo has mentioned is the 6.1-inch iPhone X successor that uses an LCD screen instead of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel. The other variants of the upcoming iPhone iteration are the 5.8-inch iPhone X upgrade and the larger 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus, which are both expected to use OLED screens. Aside from the LCD screen, the lack of 3D Touch feature, smaller battery capacity and less random-access memory (RAM) are the reasons why the 6.1-inch iPhone X successor is likely to have the same price as the iPhone 8, which is priced at $699. The handset's mid-frame will also be made of aluminum instead of stainless steel.
Meanwhile, it was tipped by tech analysts from Barclays investment bank that the 2018 iPhone X successors will boast improvements on the facial recognition technology. Although, the focus of the improvement will be the reduction of the notch area on the top display, which is where the front camera sensors and TrueDepth scanner are located. This will be a much-welcomed change if ever as many users have been complaining about the iPhone X's notch feature because it is affecting the handset's all-screen design.
The 2018 iPhone X successors are expected to launch at Apple's keynote event in September.
