Naming The New iPhone, X, And Plus

Today a series of leaks tipped off possible new naming conventions for the iPhone and iPhone X from Apple. In the past it seemed like Apple wouldn't be able to break away from the numbering construct they'd made for the iPhone. Each new iPhone had a higher number behind it, and everyone understood the line in which they were released. Now with the advent of the new form for the iPhone in the iPhone X, there's an opportunity for Apple to change.

With the few facade of the iPhone X, Apple's opportunity is to tell the world that they've got to upgrade. Wouldn't want to be caught out in the cold with one of those old sorts of devices, now would you? With the release of the iPhone X collection for 2018, the names iPhone, iPhone X, and iPhone X Plus are perfect.

Apple's previously worked with naming structures like this – and they still do today. Look at the MacBook, the iMac, the Mac Pro, and the iPad. They're differentiated by year, not by number. Now that Apple's gotten to a point where the smartphone market – and their own share in said market – is leveling out, it makes sense to switch to a more utilitarian branding for the iPhone in general.

NOTE: The image above comes from Venya Geskin on Twitter. He apparently had access to the display cover glass panels at some point, and plopped some display colors in there for fun!

I imagine Apple's goal is as follows: Each time you, the end user, needs a new iPhone, you upgrade. You don't care what the name of the smartphone is anymore. You care what it looks like, and you care what it's able to do, but the iPhone isn't something you're going to decide on VS another phone, the iPhone is simply What You Get.

I think it's time Apple took out the numbering system and stuck with three sizes for the iPhone, upgrading each year as a matter of course. That's what they're already doing, it'd just be a simpler process this way.

Though, if they did this, they'd need to have a hype process that matched the grandiose nature of The Keynote. Maybe a series of Snapchats? I don't know – what do the kids look at these days? Could they just share the new phones on musical.ly or something?

At least until they make way for the iPhone Pro. Cross your fingers that'll be released with a USB-C port, at least.