Worthwhile upgrade on iPhone 18
This improvement allows the device to be compatible with all new features in the Apple Intelligence toolkit and Siri AI virtual assistant on iOS 27 operating system. Notably, the report says Apple will maintain the starting price of 799 USD for iPhone 18.
DRAM and NAND prices have increased sharply in recent months. The shortage of memory components forced most phone manufacturers to increase device prices or cut specifications.
However, Apple can still optimize the supply chain to not increase iPhone prices. If the above information is accurate, the company can take advantage to gain a larger market share compared to Android competitors.
In addition to increasing RAM capacity, Apple may downgrade some of the device's components to meet the goal of not increasing product prices. Accordingly, the iPhone 18 will have some hardware components cut, making the product have many similarities with the low-cost iPhone 18e version.
The first cut lies in display quality. Last year, the iPhone 17 had a 6.3-inch screen with ProMotion technology and maximum outdoor brightness of up to 3,000 nits. ProMotion is one of the new upgrades integrated into the standard iPhone line. Therefore, it is likely that the screen brightness parameter may be reduced.
Besides, reducing the number of processing cores inside the chip is also a solution to help the company reduce product costs. Previously, iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e both used the A19 chip. However, the version on the iPhone 17 has 5 GPU cores, instead of the 4-core version of the iPhone 17e.
According to MacRumors, Apple is planning to expand the use of 5G modems designed by the company for the entire iPhone 18 product line. This means that the company will no longer use Qualcomm modems.
This transition is expected to bring improvements in speed, energy efficiency, and some privacy benefits.
It is expected that the iPhone 18 product line will be equipped with C2 modem, providing similar performance to the latest modems from Qualcomm. This modem will support mmWave 5G and a feature that the C1 and C1X do not have.