A firm of analysts are predicting that Apple will skip the iPhone 19 name in favor of jumping directly to the iPhone 20 in 2027.
Omdia believes the company will do this in order to mark the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, but it just reinforces my view that it’s time for Apple to drop the numbers altogether …
ET News reports on the prediction.
It is expected that Apple will name the iPhone released in 2027 as ‘iPhone 20’. At a conference held at El Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 22nd, Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol said, “Apple will launch iPhone 18e and iPhone 20 in the first half of 2027, and iPhone 20 Air, Pro, Pro Max and iPhone Fold 2 will be released in the second half of 2027.”
I suspect this is speculation on Omdia’s part rather than based on any hard information, but if Apple were to consider a change to the numbering system, I think it’s time to move to a simple year-based approach.
The company, of course, already did this with its operating systems, albeit doing the annoying car manufacturer thing of jumping a year ahead. iOS 26, macOS 26, and so on span 2025-2026.
Since doing the same with iPhones would make for increasingly unwieldy numbers, I previously suggested that it would make sense to take the same approach as it does for Macs and iPads, and simply use the name on its own with the year in brackets.
iPhone names are just starting to feel increasingly silly as the numbers get bigger. Will we end up with an iPhone 53? An iPhone 104?
A better approach, in my view, is to drop the number altogether, bringing the iPhone in line with other Apple products. Have the current model be just the iPhone (iPhone, iPhone Air, iPhone Pro, iPhone Pro Max) and the previous model be the iPhone (year).
When you go to an Apple Store or the website to buy a MacBook Air, you don’t buy the MacBook Air 13 (meaning the 13th model, not the 13-inch size), you just buy a 13- or 15-inch MacBook Air. If Apple needs to distinguish the specific model, then it used to do that with the year in brackets, and now does it by the chip. Of the two, I actually think the year makes more sense for the average consumer.
The current iPhone lineup would thus be:
- iPhone (2025)
- iPhone Air (2025)
- iPhone Pro (2025)
- iPhone Pro Max (2025)
Alongside the older models still on sale direct from Apple:
- iPhone (2024)
- iPhone e (2024)
Though I wouldn’t see a need to use the years for the current models, so what you’d actually see in-store would be the same as you see for the MacBook Air:
- iPhone
- iPhone Air
- iPhone Pro
- iPhone Pro Max
- iPhone (2024)
- iPhone e (2024)
I’d also suggest Apple drops model numbers for the other products where it currently uses them – the Apple Watch and AirPods. For example, the AirPods Pro 3 would become AirPods Pro (2025).
At a stretch, I would hold my nose and let Apple use the car manufacturing scheme to match the operating system, so the years would be shown as next year.
What are your views? Should Apple drop iPhone numbering and just use the year where necessary? Please take our poll and share your thoughts in the comments.
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