Fixed Focus Digital, a Weibo Based leaker, reports that trial production for the iPhone 18 is starting post-Chinese New Year. Small-scale manufacturing is set to begin once facilities return to normal operating schedules after the shutdown for the Lunar New Year.
The company will be moving to a split release cycle for the iPhone, where the iPhone 18 Pro is anticipated to be revealed in September of next year with the foldable iPhone, while the base iPhone 18 will launch with the iPhone 18e in the Spring of 2027.
The iPhone 18 Pro models are anticipated to be powered by the A20 Pro chip and possibly come with a Face ID under-screen, an image sensor with three layers stacked that’s manufactured by Samsung, and a variable aperture lens. A C2 custom-made modem is also anticipated to be used for the new devices. The standard model may be equipped with an upgraded 12GB RAM and adopt the 2nm architecture of TSMC.
