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Plausible
With 2026 just around the proverbial corner, the leaks around the upcoming Apple iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are now entering into an overdrive, resulting in a typical clash of claims and counterclaims.
While earlier tidbits suggested that Apple will implement major changes to the appearance of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max as it prepares for its most radical design overhaul with the iPhone 20 in 2027, a fresh tidbit suggests that the next year's Pro lineup would not differ by much from its iPhone 17 counterparts, at least in appearance.
Fixed Focus Digital: The appearance changes for the Apple iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are not as large as previously believed
Fixed Focus Digital is now out with another insight into Apple's production cadence, suggesting that the next year's Pro lineup will enter trial production after the Chinese New Year in late February 2026.
Do note that Apple is likely to launch the iPhone 18 Pro duo and the iPhone Fold in the fall of 2026, with the base iPhone 18, the iPhone Air 2, and the iPhone 18e expected to launch in the spring of 2027.
Elsewhere, the tipster claims that the changes to the appearance of next year's Pro duo are not as large as previously believed, contradicting earlier reports that suggested that Apple will get rid of the pill-shaped Dynamic Island cutout for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, resorting to a punch hole selfie camera on the top-left corner instead.
Do note that Fixed Focus Digital has a decent, if spotty, track record. After all, the tipster had recently claimed that the iPhone 17 Pro would acquire a 120Hz display sans ProMotion support, a claim that ended up far off the mark.
As per an aggregation of the various tidbits and rumors surrounding the iPhone 18 lineup, we now know the following about Apple's upcoming design and tech choices for the next iPhones:
- The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are likely to feature 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, matching the display sizes found on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
- The iPhone 18 Pro duo might also sport a stainless steel vapor chamber.
- Apple is likely to eliminate the capacitive induction layer within the camera control button of next year's iPhone 18 lineup, retaining only a pressure-sensing layer.
- The duo is also expected to sport a three-layer, stacked image sensor and a variable aperture lens.
- Apple is testing at least one new color option for the iPhone 18 Pro, with either brown, purple, or burgundy likely to end up as a final color option on Apple's next iPhone lineup.
- The iPhone 18 Pro duo is expected to sport the A20 Pro SoC, which will leverage TSMC's 2nm process node and CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate) packaging, facilitating a tighter integration between the processor, unified memory, and the neural engine.
- The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will also use Apple's in-house C2 modem.
- The base iPhone 18 might get bumped to a 12GB RAM.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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