As we highlighted briefly last week, Apple will has plans to discontinue the current iPhone X model once the company introduces its 2018 iPhone lineup later this fall. The news comes courtesy of reputed analyst Ming Chi-Kuo who relays that Apple’s next-gen iPhone lineup will feature two brand new devices with edgeless displays, one being 6.5-inch iPhone with an OLED display and the other a 6.1-inch iPhone with an LCD display. The current 5.8-inch iPhone X, meanwhile, will be discontinued.
Following up on his initial investor note, Kuo released a new report today (via MacRumors) which sheds a bit more light on Apple’s strategy here. As Kuo details, Apple is of the mind that if the current iPhone X is available at a discount, it would eat into sales of Apple’s brand new devices.
Kuo’s note reads in part:
iPhone X would hurt product brand value & lineup of 2H18 new models if it continues to sell at a lower price after 2H18 new models launch: Lowering iPhone X’s price after the 2H18 new models launch would be a negative to product brand value given 3D sensing and OLED display are features of the new high-price model. Additionally, to sell iPhone X at a lower price may have a negative impact on shipments of the new 6.1″ LCD iPhone in 2H18. Thus, we estimate iPhone X will reach end-of-life (EOL) around the middle of 2018.”
At this point, it remains unclear what Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup is going to look like. Presumably, a next-gen version of the current 5.8-inch iPhone X will be released alongside the aforementioned 6.5-inch model, which will likely be positioned as an iPhone X Plus. It also remains unclear what will come of existing iPhone models that still incorporate Touch ID. Given Apple’s penchant for having different iPhone models at a variety of price points, we have to imagine that the iPhone 7 will stick around as an affordable option for users looking to save some cash or who still aren’t ready to embrace Face ID. Incidentally, there are rumblings that Apple in just a few months will release a revamped version of the iPhone SE.
As a final point of interest, if reports about the current iPhone X being end-of-lifed next year pan out, it would mark the first time in iPhone history that a previous year’s model was not made available at a cheaper price point once next-gen models are released.