Apple Splits Its iPhone 18 Launch Across Two Seasons

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has broken with more than a decade of practice by splitting its annual iPhone launch across two windows, shipping only premium models this autumn.

The September event covered the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the foldable iPhone Duo. The standard iPhone 18, the iPhone Air 2 and the iPhone 18e are expected in spring 2027, according to reporting ahead of the event and confirmed by the composition of the autumn lineup.

The effect is that every iPhone Apple is selling as new this season sits at the premium end of the range. The lowest entry point among the new models is $1,199 for the iPhone 18 Pro, and the highest configuration is the iPhone Duo at $3,199 for 2TB.

The structure complicates the usual read on a launch quarter. Analysts have noted that the deferred models shift a portion of expected unit volume into the March and June quarters, which changes the basis for year over year comparison in the December quarter and makes early lead time data harder to interpret against prior cycles.

JPMorgan has suggested that shorter lead times on the iPhone 18 Pro may partly reflect buyers waiting for the iPhone Duo rather than weakness in overall demand, a dynamic the split calendar makes more likely.

Apple has not commented publicly on the reasoning behind the two stage release.