The new 2017 series of Apple‘s iPhones are barely a month old and already we are looking at the 2018 models. These models seem to have been aimed at the Chinese audience. For, if the latest reports are correct, the new devices are codenamed “Lisbon” and “Hangzhou.” These names were first leaked by an Apple insider and appeared on Macotakara and the devices may be cheaper than the iPhone X, which is yet to arrive globally.
The blog post of Macotakara can be viewed here. This is a bit surprising given that the previous Apple iPhones have often been branded numerically; the model numbers of the Apple iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus were D20 and D22.
Given that many of the previous Apple devices have often burnt a hole in the pockets of the customers, these new devices will hopefully be cheaper in comparison.
As of now, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and the Xiaomi company have dominated the smartphone market in China. The Cupertino-based giant Apple comes a distant fifth. This, therefore, is one area where a lot of improvements can clearly be made. To this extent, we can say that many of the companies in China often produce many cheap and locally made devices which are normally much cheaper. This makes the companies able to give out their products for a fraction of the price which Apple charges.
It is currently not known why Apple has deviated from an alphanumeric nomenclature system to the naming system.
These lower-end iPhones will be coming next year and may cost somewhere around $90 (or approximately Rs. 5,850) lower than the new iPhone X. Essentially, this means that the Lisbon and the Hangzhou iPhone series will be sold starting at as low a price as $909 (which is approximately Rs. 59,100) in China. We have reported about the screen sizes of the next generation Apple iPhone, which may be the iPhone 9. Expect OLED displays, a TrueDepth Camera system and better cameras than the existing iPhones. Also, expect Face ID technology.