Since the first iPhone was introduced to the world in 2007, Apple has grown into one of the biggest mobile phone vendors on the planet.
Considered by the tech world as a revolutionary product, the iPhone brought so many new features to the table including a virtual keyboard and touchscreen interface that was never seen by the tech world before.
Apple never looked back since then, growing their sales from 1.4 million iPhones in 2007 to more than 216 million units in 2017. With so many Apple products released in the market, it’s hard not to miss Apple deals.
Last year, Apple’s iPhone sales generated more than $61 billion in revenues, thanks to the release of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max. But it wasn’t long until die-hard Apple fans started asking: where is the iPhone 9?
The truth as we know it
The case of the iPhone 8’s real identity
Last year was another huge launch for Apple with its strong lineup of iPhones. The first two phones on the roster was the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus that introduced new features like wireless charging but were not far from the iPhone 7.
If you follow Apple’s products closely, especially its mobile phones, you’ll know that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus would have been better off with the names 8S and 8S Plus since they’re basically a refresh rather than a completely new design.
The skipping of the iPhone 9
Apple has been known to celebrate milestones through their products, which is why it was fitting for the company to release two new phones alongside the iPhone 8 honoring the 10th anniversary of the iPhone first unveiling by Steve Jobs in January 2007, thus the iPhone X or iPhone 10. But this new model was also symbolic for Apple as it was a fresh start, design-wise.
The iPhone X features Face ID, for instance, which shows that this is the way Apple wants to more forward with its future phones.
The iPhone XR may be your iPhone 9
Apple unveiled the iPhone X as the “future of iPhone,” which means that all the future devices from the company will be named similarly from the X series.
This only means that there will be no iPhone 9 released this year or the coming years.
But if you’re curious of what the iPhone 9 might have looked like if it was released, you can look into the iPhone 8’s closest successor, the iPhone XR, Apple’s most affordable phone for 2018.
Previous iPhone Release Dates
| iPhone 7 | September 2016 |
| iPhone 8 | September 2017 |
The bottomline
As iPhone fans wait for another unveiling come September 2019, rumors are starting to circulate about the newest iPhones to hit the market this year.
It will surely be a continuation of the iPhone XS and XR devices, but we are possibly seeing a 5.7 and 6.5-inch OLED screens and maybe a 6.1-inch LCD iPhone with it.
And when it comes to the names? Apple will probably name these XS successors XI following their new Roman numeral models.
As with the fate of the iPhone 9, experts and tech geeks are saying we may not be seeing one at all.
This isn’t a new case, however, because Microsoft did the same thing when it launched Windows 10 after Windows 8 skipping Windows 9.
Whether 9 is an unlucky number for these companies or not, only they know.
