iPhone 18 rumors suggest a bigger battery, higher price next year

November 3, 2026 · by TPW Pipeline

Leaker Digital Chat Station claims the iPhone 18 won’t be spared from Apple’s RAM price hikes.

by Stevie BonifieldNov 3, 2026, 8:16 PM UTC Stevie Bonifield is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.

After Apple raised iPhone prices earlier this year, a new rumor claims it plans to launch the base iPhone 18 with a higher price, too. A Weibo post from leaker Digital Chat Station, spotted by 9to5Mac, says the base iPhone 18 is getting a couple upgrades with the price hike, including a larger battery and a new 2-nanometer A20 chip. However, it reportedly won’t have the smaller Dynamic Island featured on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

The base iPhone 18 wasn’t included in Apple’s fall iPhone launch event, but Digital Chat Station claims it will arrive early next year, in line with previous reports. It’s rumored to launch alongside a second-gen iPhone Air and the iPhone 18e, which Digital Chat Station also mentions.

The leaker doesn’t specify how much the iPhone 18’s price might increase compared to its predecessor. All of Apple’s old models, including the iPhone 17, got a $100 price hike in September. Google and Samsung have also raised phone prices by the same amount over the past year, driven by shortages of RAM and other components. Earlier this week, Apple reported record-breaking iPhone sales, despite the higher prices.

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Source: www.theverge.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.

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