Apple may rebrand the iPhone Air 2 as the iPhone 18, claims wild new rumour

We’re hours away from the launch of the new iPhone 18 Pro models, and word on the street has it that the most popular standard iPhone 18 may not launch at all this Fall. Instead, Apple may be considering a major change to the standard iPhone 18 before it arrives next spring. A new leak claims (via) the company is exploring the idea of dropping the separate base iPhone 18 design and instead using the iPhone Air 2 as the hardware blueprint for the iPhone 18.

That would effectively make the slim Air design the new standard iPhone, rather than keeping it as a separate model. The idea is still very much a rumour and should be taken with not a grain but a huge bag of salt, as it comes from Early Apple, a relatively new leaker with no established track record. More established reports have continued to point towards separate iPhone 18, iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 models.

iPhone Air could become the iPhone 18

According to the leak, Apple is “exploring the idea” of making the phone previously expected to launch as the iPhone Air 2 the next base iPhone. The name could therefore remain iPhone 18, but the hardware and design would reportedly be based on the slim Air. It would not be the first time Apple has used a more expensive design as a preview of where its mainstream iPhones could go. The iPhone X introduced the company’s newer design language at a USD 999 (around Rs 95,000) starting price before Apple moved away from the older iPhone 8 design and introduced the iPhone XR alongside the iPhone XS.

There are obvious compromises with the current Air concept, however. The iPhone Air has a single rear camera, a smaller battery and a mono speaker, making it a very different proposition from Apple’s conventional base iPhone. Turning those trade-offs into the default design could prove controversial, especially if the starting price also moves up.

The same rumour claims the redesigned iPhone 18 could start at USD 999, roughly USD 200 above the current positioning of Apple’s standard iPhone. That would make the decision harder for buyers who currently choose the base model precisely because it offers much of the iPhone experience without Pro-level pricing.

The timing also makes the claim harder to swallow. Apple is dealing with higher memory costs and broader supply-chain pressure, which could make reusing an existing design and manufacturing setup more attractive than introducing another expensive change. For now, buyers should not treat this as a reason to change their plans. Early Apple’s limited track record makes the claim weaker than reports from established leakers, while other leaks continue to suggest the iPhone 18 and Air 2 will remain separate.