This time, next year's iPhone really is the one to wait for

The iPhone rumors game can often have something of a bait-and-switch character. From afar, product releases are heralded as groundbreaking and radical (the iPhone 13 will be portless! The iPhone 15 will fold! The iPhone 16 Pro will have Face ID under the screen!), but when launch time approaches they are found instead to be iterative and disappointing… while the next model is promptly talked up as everything its predecessor failed to be. You can repeat this pattern pretty much ad infinitum.

For this reason, I will understand, even applaud, the instinct among regular readers to treat the headline of this article with the skepticism I’ve recommended in the past. We’ve all been burned before, and will probably be burned again. Every summer, we are told that the iPhone launching in three months will be dull and the one coming in 15 months will be amazing, and it never seems to actually happen. Why would the 2025/2026 cycle be any different?

Well, first of all, it’s not like it never happens. Every now and then, Apple does launch a groundbreaking iPhone, but it just doesn’t happen very often. The iPhone 4 was a big deal. So was the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone X, and the iPhone 12 mini. If someone had access to reliable sources in the supply chain (more of a rarity in those days), then they could have quite legitimately advised people to skip the iPhone 5s and wait a year. The broader mentality is flawed, but it has on occasion produced accurate results.

And right now, it does look increasingly likely that the 17 series will, in retrospect, turn out to be one of those skippable generations.

With three months to go, sources suggest the iPhone 17’s big innovation will be a largely pointless redesign of the rear camera module, some less pointless but hardly essential camera upgrades, a new sky-blue and purple color, and the launch of a super-slim model that will cost a great deal and require unwise compromises. In other words, the changes will be both significant and rational, but unfortunately, the changes that are rational are not significant, while… well, you get the idea.

Compare that to the changes currently anticipated for 2026. Those three phantom upgrades I mentioned in the first paragraph? They’re all in play for the iPhone 18 generation. The iPhone 17 Air is understood to be a trial run for more meaningful changes the following year, including a foldable chassis, zero ports, and front-facing sensors moving under the screen. Sources also predict an enhanced 2nm chip and extra RAM, while the bezel could be on the way out, replaced by a wraparound curved display. We’re talking about major, major change both inside and out–and there’s even talk of Apple changing how it launches phones in a way that makes a lot of sense.

Now, it’s really important to be clear at this point. Those rumors and reports in the paragraph above are just that: rumors and reports. They’re not set in stone, they’re not confirmed, and as we’ve seen time and time again, the reality is rarely as exciting as the rumor. It’s highly unlikely that all of that stuff will come true.

But we’re not talking one or two big changes. We’re talking an unprecedented raft of them—and if even half the reports are accurate, the iPhone 18 series will be the biggest iPhone launch since 2017. Which makes sense, really: after four (soon to be five) conservative generations in a row, and prices likely to rise, Apple is under pressure to deliver something startling. And precisely because of those conservative generations, it has a low bar to clear and plenty of space to innovate.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe all the pundits are wrong, and the iPhone 18 will be a damp squib. But if we fall for the jam-tomorrow trick yet again, at least we’ll be able to say we made them work for it this time. And we’ll be wrong for all the right reasons.

Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.

Trending: Top stories

Attention Safari users: Here are 8 reasons to switch to Chrome.

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Everyone will want to try Apple’s live translation this fall. Here’s where to find it.

Alex Blake reveals 5 popular iPhone and Mac apps in serious danger of being Sherlocked this fall.

Podcast of the week

Now that WWDC25 is behind us, it’s time to look forward to the next major product announcement, the iPhone 17. On episode 939, we go over the latest rumors–there have been plenty of them, so stick around and find out more!

You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.

Reviews corner

The rumor mill

Apple’s 2025 roadmap is reportedly missing a major product badly in need of an update.

Audio clip of the week

iOS 26 contains a hidden (and really nice) ringtone for the iPhone 17. Check it out:

Software updates, bugs, and problems

Shocking security breach of 16 billion logins includes Apple IDs.

Records of 10,000 VirtualMacOSX.com customers, including sensitive data, were exposed in a breach.

iOS 26 will finally stop annoying misdials once and for all.

And iOS 26 will now autofill verification codes from Gmail and WhatsApp.

And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters, including our new email from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous take on the latest news and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, or X for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.