Apple could be making a more affordable iPhone X for 2018

The iPhone X is only a few weeks old but already the rumor mill is starting up about next year's iPhones. 

Noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of the KGI Securities firm is back with a new round of predictions about the next iPhone, just a week after he predicted that we'll see two new iPhones with OLED displays in 2018. Think of these as the iPhone X 2, at least for now.

That much hasn't changed, but as MacRumors relates, Kuo's research into the Apple supply line has now led him to predict that we'll also see a third 6.1-inch phone with a TFT-LCD display next year. 

Importantly, though, this won't really be a "backwards-looking" phone like this year's iPhone 8 and 8 Plus; instead, the LCD phone will adopt the iPhone X's basic form factor, sensor "notch" and all. It will display images at around 320 or 330 pixels per inch.

As Kuo sees it, this device will cater to the "low-end" and "midrange" markets (and yet, Apple being Apple, he predicts that they will still cost somewhere between $649 / about £495 / about AU$851 and $749 / about £571 / about AU$982). Kuo doesn't make any predictions about the prices for the two OLED phones, but considering that the iPhone X sells for $999 / £999 / AU$1,579, there's little doubt that the bigger of the two will certainly be much more expensive.

Three's a crowd

In fact, Kuo also provided a few more details about the two OLED phones. The smaller 5.8-inch model, he says, will display images at 458 pixels per inch with a resolution of 1,125 x 2,436. The larger 6.5-inch version, though, will display images at around 480 to 500 pixels per inch.

If you're new to the party, Ming-Chi Kuo has made a name for himself for having an astonishingly accurate track record for these kinds of predictions, thanks to his network of sources embedded along Apple's supply line. 

He's not always right, but Kuo so often hits the mark that it's tempting to believe that the few times he's been wrong were the result of changes of plans on Apple's part rather than false information.

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