It looks like Apple’s iPhone 18 really will skip the fall launch this year

According to an Economic Daily News report spotted by MacRumors, executives for Apple supplier Pegatron confirmed during an earnings call that the iPhone 18 Pro series phones will launch this fall, but the base iPhone 18 won’t arrive until the first quarter of next year. The more affordable iPhone 18e and a new iPhone Air are also rumored to launch around the same time, in line with rumors that have been circulating for more than a year.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and The Information both reported last year that Apple was planning to only launch its premium iPhones in fall 2026, and earlier this year another Apple supplier said one of its customers was postponing a phone launch to early 2027.

Along with the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple’s rumored “Ultra” foldable is reportedly launching this fall. The EDN report cites Pegatron execs saying that memory and chip shortages are causing the peak shipping seasons to shift, as its customers like Apple figure out how to spread out the parts they have and increasingly prioritize higher-priced models that have larger margins.