Apple's cheapest iPhone might get a modest upgrade next year, according to a fresh leak doing the rounds on Weibo.
Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station, who has a reasonably solid track record on Apple hardware, says the iPhone 18e will carry a 2nm A20 chip, replacing the 3nm A19 that powers the current iPhone 17e. The front camera is also tipped to jump from 12MP to 24MP, a sizeable bump for a phone that has always trailed the rest of the lineup on cameras. The rear camera, the leak suggests, stays put at 48MP.
The display gets a small bump too, from 6.1 inches on the 17e to 6.12 inches here, still an LTPS OLED panel. But the refresh rate stays at 60Hz, which has been one of the more consistent complaints about the e-series since the 16e. Apple's pricier iPhones, including the base iPhone 17 and 17 Pro, already run at 120Hz with ProMotion.
There's no mention in Digital Chat Station's post of Center Stage, the auto-framing selfie feature Apple has brought to the iPad and Mac. Given the camera resolution jump, it wouldn't be a stretch for Apple to add it, but that part is pure speculation for now.
RAM is the messier part of this story. An earlier leak had pointed to 9GB on the iPhone 18e, up from 8GB on the 17e. But a separate, more recent rumour suggested Apple had planned to push the entire iPhone 18 lineup, including the e-model, to 12GB, before reportedly scaling that back to 9GB for the cheaper phones. Some Apple Intelligence features reportedly need 12GB of RAM to run, which would mean the 18e could again miss out on parts of Apple's AI feature set if it ships with less.
On price, there's nothing concrete yet. The iPhone 17e currently costs ₹79,900 in India for the base 256GB variant, after a recent price hike. If the 18e does carry a faster chip and better selfie camera, a premium of roughly ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 over that figure wouldn't be surprising, though that's an estimate rather than anything sourced to Apple.
Timing is the other open question. Apple launched the iPhone 16e in February 2025 and the iPhone 17e in March 2026, a pattern that points to the 18e arriving around March 2027, likely alongside the base iPhone 18 and a second-generation iPhone Air. None of that is official, and Apple has said nothing publicly about any of this.
For now, the iPhone 18e remains a Weibo rumour with no Apple confirmation attached. Expect more leaks, likely contradictory ones on RAM and pricing, as the launch window gets closer.
MDFiled by The Mobile Desk
Phones from leak to launch to price cut: what was announced, what it costs where, and when it goes on sale. Indian launches and prices included, not appended.
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