Early 2027 is going to be an odd time for iPhones, with rumors suggesting Apple will launch the iPhone 18 and the iPhone 18e at the same time. Personally I think that's a pretty odd decision to release the standard iPhone 18 alongside its low-cost counterpart, but I guess everything hinges on how much of a difference there is between the two phones.
The first iPhone 18e specs have just leaked, courtesy of Digital Chat Station on Weibo, and that gives us an idea of what we might expect from the 18e. None of it is surprising, though, and a few specs are still a little disappointing.
According to the leak the iPhone 18e will feature a 6.12-inch OLED display, with a 60Hz refresh rate, alongside the A20 chip, a single 48MP camera and a front camera that may be upgraded to 24MP.
Obviously the 60Hz refresh rate is not something people will be pleased about, especially since the other non-Pro iPhones feature an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate. But considering how long Apple took to upgrade those screens, I'll be surprised if the e-Series doesn't keep the low refresh rate for a few more years. Those cost savings have to come from somewhere, after all.
The other specs are all pretty uneventful, all things considered. The solo camera is a staple of the e-Series, and the last two generations have featured the latest Apple chipset — even if it isn't the Pro variant. However the actual performance power will hinge on how much RAM the phone has.
Some rumors suggest the phone will have 9GB of memory, up from 8GB. That would be an improvement, but it's still below the 12GB of RAM needed to run the latest on-device AI features like Expressive Voices and advanced dictation.
The selfie camera upgrade is potentially interesting, since the iPhone 17 has an 18MP front camera. There have been rumors suggesting the iPhone 18 could get an upgrade, and we don't see the 18e getting a higher resolution front camera before the standard model.
We still don't know when the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e will launch. But considering the iPhone 17e launched in February, it's a good bet that Apple will stick to a similar window for its next wave of slightly cheaper iPhones.