Apple’s is regularly working with suppliers on successive iPhone fashions concurrently, which is why we regularly get rumored options to this point forward of launch. The iPhone 18 collection is not any completely different, and we have already got an image forming of what to anticipate from Apple’s 2026 smartphone lineup.
If you happen to’re skipping this 12 months’s upcoming iPhone 17 collection, or simply plain interested in Apple’s plans additional out, listed below are the rumored options that we predict to see within the iPhone 18 lineup subsequent 12 months.
Variable Aperture
Apple’s iPhone 18 Professional fashions might characteristic a essential digital camera with a variable aperture, in response to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. This may be a primary for the iPhone lineup and will give customers extra management over how their images look. Present iPhones – together with the iPhone 14 Professional, 15 Professional, and iPhone 16 Professional – use a set aperture of ƒ/1.78 for the 48-megapixel essential digital camera, which means the lens opening does not change and is at all times totally open when capturing images.
A variable aperture would enable customers to manually regulate how a lot gentle enters the lens, just like how conventional cameras work. This might assist in brilliant lighting situations, cut back overexposure, and provide extra flexibility with depth of discipline – permitting backgrounds to look kind of blurred relying on the aperture setting.
That stated, iPhones use comparatively small picture sensors, so the sensible influence on depth of discipline could also be restricted in comparison with larger-sensor cameras. Nonetheless, the characteristic may give superior customers extra inventive management, particularly in difficult lighting environments.
C2 Modem
Apple plans to incorporate its next-generation C2 modem within the iPhone 18 Professional fashions, in response to provide chain analyst Jeff Pu. The chip will succeed the C1 modem, which debuted within the lower-cost iPhone 16e as Apple’s first in-house mobile modem. The C2 is anticipated to deliver quicker speeds, improved energy effectivity, and assist for mmWave 5G in the USA – a characteristic lacking from the C1.
Apple’s modem roadmap is a part of a long-term technique to scale back reliance on Qualcomm, which presently provides 5G modems for the remainder of the iPhone lineup. The corporate has been engaged on growing its personal mobile chips for years, aiming for deeper integration and larger management over energy administration and efficiency.
A20 Chip
Apple’s upcoming A20 Professional chip, set to energy the iPhone 18 Professional fashions, will reportedly be constructed utilizing TSMC’s third-generation 3nm course of – the identical node anticipated for the A19 Professional chip on this 12 months’s iPhone 17 Professional, in response to analyst Jeff Pu. This means that year-over-year efficiency positive aspects between the A19 Professional and A20 Professional could also be modest, no less than by way of uncooked CPU and GPU enhancements.
Nonetheless, Pu notes that the A20 Professional will characteristic a extra superior packaging technique often called CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate). This expertise permits tighter integration between the processor, unified reminiscence, and the Neural Engine, which may probably improve efficiency in AI-related duties. The shift might be a part of Apple’s broader push to assist on-device Apple Intelligence options in future iPhones, as the corporate ramps up its machine studying capabilities.
New Digicam Picture Sensor
Samsung is engaged on a brand new three-layer stacked picture sensor, reportedly meant for the iPhone 18. The sensor, known as PD-TR-Logic, integrates three layers of circuitry, which might enhance digital camera responsiveness, cut back noise, and improve dynamic vary. The leak comes from a supply often called “Jukanlosreve,” who claims the sensor is being developed particularly for Apple’s 2026 iPhone lineup.
Sony has lengthy been Apple’s sole picture sensor provider, so Samsung’s entry could be an enormous shift within the iPhone’s digital camera provide chain. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in 2024 stated he anticipated Samsung to start delivery 48-megapixel Extremely Vast digital camera sensors to Apple for iPhones as early as 2026, which is when the iPhone 18 Professional fashions are anticipated to be launched.
Below-Display screen Face ID
Apple might lastly introduce under-display Face ID with the iPhone 18 Professional and iPhone 18 Professional Max in 2026, in response to up to date data from show analyst Ross Younger. Younger initially stated in April 2023 that the characteristic would arrive with the iPhone 17 Professional lineup, however revised that timeline in Could 2024, pushing the anticipated debut again by a 12 months.
Even with Face ID sensors hidden beneath the show, the Dynamic Island remains to be anticipated to stay – although it may shrink in measurement. One other risk is that Apple will transfer to a single punch-hole cutout for the front-facing digital camera, just like designs seen on Android flagships just like the Pixel 9 or Galaxy S25. The precise implementation stays unclear, and plans may shift once more as improvement continues.
