The standard iPhone 18 will reportedly get a bigger battery and a faster chip than the iPhone 17, but cost a little more. The claim was posted on Weibo by a Chinese tipster with a following, so treat it as a leak until Apple says anything.
Apple split its launch this year and showed only the iPhone 18 Pro models, with the regular iPhone 18 expected in the first half of 2027. The tipster says that phone will use a toned-down version of the A20 chip built on TSMC’s 2nm process, which should help battery life alongside the larger cell. No capacity was given.
The smaller Dynamic Island on the Pro phones will reportedly stay exclusive to them, so the base model keeps the current cutout. The price is said to rise slightly over the iPhone 17, though no figure was mentioned.
GSMArena picked up the post and links the original on Weibo. Some of this fits earlier talk: the iPhone 18e was also tipped to use an A20 chip, which suggests Apple is spreading the same silicon across the cheaper phones.
In other words, the post describes the cheaper iPhone 18 as following the performance and battery direction of the current Pro line, while keeping the Pro-only design touches away from it. No part of this has been shown in a listing, certification or Apple document, so each detail rests on one tipster’s word. The same applies to the price: a rise of any size is a claim, not a figure.
Apple has not confirmed any specification, price or release date for the standard iPhone 18.
