Apple may be changing the way it names its iPhones, and the iPhone X is the one to blame for it.
The launch of the iPhone X brought about a lot of changes in the smartphone industry, such as the adoption of the controversial notch on screens to increase the real estate of displays. However, even Apple itself is not immune to the changes caused by the iPhone X.
Apple May Change How iPhones Are Named
Last year, Apple skipped the iPhone 7s name and went straight to the iPhone 8 after the iPhone 7, alongside the decision to name its premium smartphone the iPhone X, pronounced as the "iPhone Ten." In the past, it was easy to keep track of the latest iPhone model, but with the iPhone X in the mix, continuing with numbered names may become confusing to some customers.
Guggenheim analyst Robert Cihra is apparently thinking the same thing. He wrote in an investor note that Apple may take the opportunity to switch to "simpler branding" for the next iPhone models.
The prevailing rumor is that Apple will launch three iPhone X successors this year. The three models will be a cheaper iPhone X with an LCD screen instead of an OLED screen, an upgraded version of the current iPhone X with the same 5.8-inch OLED screen, and an iPhone X with a larger 6.5-inch OLED screen.
It is easy to see where the confusion may arise. Will Apple name the iPhone X successor the iPhone X-2? Will the 6.5-inch iPhone X be called just the iPhone X-2 Plus, when there was no iPhone X Plus? Meanwhile, will the cheaper iPhone X be called the iPhone 9? If so, what happens a year after, when the iPhone 10 is the same as the iPhone X?
According to Cihra, the possible solution would be to call the cheaper version simply the iPhone, while the OLED versions will retain the names of the iPhone X and be named the iPhone X Plus.
By doing away with the numbers, it becomes much harder to identify the models of the iPhones. However, going with this kind of branding will make things a lot simpler for Apple. It remains to be seen if Apple is on the same wavelength as Cihra, though.
Will The iPhone X Be Killed Off?
While Cihra may be focused on how Apple will name iPhone X successors, another analyst thinks that the smartphone will soon be killed off.
Mirabaud Securities analyst Neil Campling believes that Apple will discontinue iPhone X production this year, based on the oversupply of chips at Apple supplier TSMC. The prediction, understandably, was met with much criticism, especially after the fact that the iPhone X made more money than all other Android smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2017.
