Apple Rumored to Launch iPhone 18e with Downgraded Components

April 22, 2026 | 04:28 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Reports of iPhone 18e launch resurfaced after Apple was reportedly impacted by the global rise in chip prices. The CUpertino-based tech giant, is suspected to make the iPhone 18e part of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max product line to cover the high production costs.

A report from GSM Arena, which received information from a tipster in China, claims that the iPhone 18e is designed to maintain an affordable selling price for consumers. As a result, there will be a significant downgrade in technology and core components in the device.

As known, Apple still uses AI chip components from Samsung. Reports from South Korea reveal that Samsung has raised the price of LPDDR DRAM chips by 80 percent from the previous agreement.

"The iPhone 18 will apparently have a downgraded manufacturing process for its chipset, downgraded chip specifications, and downgraded memory," the report quoted on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. "Thus, the 'vanilla' model will be closer to the 'e' affordable iPhone in specs than ever before."

In the mobile phone ecosystem, downgrading specifications due to production cost pressure is common. The aim is to provide consumers with an alternative to obtaining an affordable iPhone 18. However, the issue arises if the specification downgrade places the iPhone 18 below its predecessor, the iPhone 17.

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