2018 iPhone X Plus: Everything you need to know about Apple’s next phablet

Following on from 2017’s iPhone X, Apple is thought to be preparing to launch a trio of new phones in 2018, including a pair of models that are believed to be called the iPhone 9 and the iPhone X Plus, as well as a direct successor to the iPhone X. 

Here’s everything we think we know about the iPhone X Plus based on leaks and reports, including the rumoured release date, price and specs.

IPHONE X PLUS RELEASE DATE AND PRICE

Apple, like many of its rivals, is a creature of habit where phone launches are concerned, and we’re expecting it to take the wraps off the iPhone X Plus at an event in September, either on Tuesday, September 11 or Wednesday, September 12.

The firm also tends to release its new iPhones on a Friday slightly later on in the month. This time out, we’re expecting the iPhone X to hit the shelves on Friday, September 21.

Here’s a reminder of when previous iPhone models were launched and then released:

• iPhone 5 – Launch: Wednesday, September 12 | Release: Friday, September 21
• iPhone 5S – Launch: Tuesday, September 10 | Release: Friday, September 20
• iPhone 6 – Launch: Tuesday, September 9 | Release: Friday, September 19
• iPhone 6S – Launch: Wednesday, September 9 | Release: Friday, September 25
• iPhone 7 – Launch: Wednesday, September 7 | Release: Friday, September 16
• iPhone 8 – Launch: Tuesday, September 12 | Release: Friday, September 22

But what about pricing? One thing’s for certain: the iPhone X Plus won’t be cheap.

The iPhone X starts at £999/$1279, so you can expect its plus-sized successor to go for north of that – we think a starting price of £1150/$1472 is within the realms of possibility.

IPHONE X PLUS FEATURES AND SPECS

One of the first teasers we had came to us via an investor note from Rosenblatt analyst Jun Zhang (H/T AppleInsider), which suggests that three iPhones are indeed incoming in 2018 under the codenames ‘Jaguar’, ‘Porsche’ and ‘Rolls-Royce’. It’s Rolls-Royce we’re really interested in here – and not because we’ve got a big night out in Miami planned.

Rolls-Royce − aka the iPhone X Plus − is rumoured to be either a 6.4-inch or 6.5-inch OLED iPhone that will feature a notch and edge-to-edge screen, just like the iPhone X. It’s also expected to sport a stainless steel frame and glass back.

And sure enough, a set of leaked schematics surfaced in June, appearing to confirm that Apple has managed to cram that 6.5-inch screen into a frame that’s smaller than that of the 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus.

The iPhone X Plus, which Apple is also referring to as the ‘iPhone 11,2’, made an appearance on benchmark tool Geekbench’s online database in July, with an all-new D321AP CPU and 4GB of RAM in tow – 1GB more than the iPhone X. It will most likely also feature an A12 processor that will reportedly be up to 20% faster and 40% more efficient than the A11 Bionic CPU bundled on the iPhone X.

In the test itself, the ‘iPhone 11,2’ posted a higher score than Apple’s current flagship, raking in 4673 points in the single-core and 10,912 in the multi-core test. The iPhone X, for comparison, recorded 4206 and 10,123, respectively.

9to5Mac’s Guilherme Rambo recently spotted an icon in Apple’s own software that appears to show off a super-size version of the iPhone X. Rambo found something similar a year ago, only that time it showed off the iPhone X.

It has also emerged that the iPhone X Plus will act a little more like the iPad in the sense that most of the stock applications – Calendar, Messages and Stocks, to name but a few – can be used in landscape mode – a feature that’s currently restricted to the iPad line, and the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8 Plus.

It’s been claimed that the handset will be offered alongside an all-new ‘iPen’ too, which could be a reference to the rumoured Apple Pencil 2 we’re expecting to see showcased at some point later this year.

Apple has long been linked with bringing stylus support to its iPhone range, so this all sounds reasonable to our eye. And if it does indeed reveal its biggest handset to date in the iPhone X Plus, it’s the obvious place for the new accessory to land.