The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple might be about to cheap out on its so-called ‘premium’ iPhone.
Later this year, Job’s Mob is rumoured to tweak its launch playbook with the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the over-hyped iPhone Fold landing together.
Early 2027 could bring a nastier twist, with the base iPhone 18 tipped as the target for cost-cutting as DRAM and SSD prices rise, forcing a rethink.
The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell-on-earth yarn claiming that the base iPhone 18 could end up looking a lot like the lower-cost iPhone 18e, stripping the standard model of any ‘premium’ status through manufacturing trade-offs.
Weibo tipster Fixed-focus digital cameras says Job’s Mob may run the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e down the same production line to keep costs down since both are due in the same window.
That approach is not new, given that the MacBook Neo already uses the same NAND flash storage as an iPhone, but pushing the iPhone 18 towards 18e-like production hints at tighter margins.
The supposed savings could be used to justify fancier specs for the base iPhone 18, such as a five-core GPU rather than a four-core configuration.
Cost trimming could open the door to a vapour chamber for better cooling, with both phones sharing the same chassis and Job’s Mob simply milling a camera cutout for the base model.
