Latest leak claims major name change; get ready for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone Edition on 12 September

Seems like there’s something even bigger than the iPhone at the Apple special event scheduled for 12 September this year. Yes, you read that headline correctly, if the leaked information turns out to be genuine, we could be looking at not just a change in the iPhone nomenclature, but a complete twist in Apple’s smartphone strategy altogether. [caption id=“attachment_3918985” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image: Reuters[/caption] According to 9to5Mac’s Seth Weintraub, who happened to have a word with some major case makers, Apple will reportedly name its 2017 smartphone lineup as the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone Edition. As opposed to what we have been referring to them so far, thanks to numerous leaks, the new iPhone’s will not come with the ’s’ tags but with the next number. If Apple does end up announcing its new smartphones as the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and the Edition, we could be looking at a major change in the company’s strategy. What we are trying to indicate here is a change in the product refresh cycle. Apple currently follows the tick tock strategy, meaning that if the last year was the iPhone 6, then the next year would be the iPhone 6s with the following year changing to a new model, with the iPhone 7. A switch from the current tick tock product refresh cycle would indicate that **Apple is worried about slowing iPhone sales** over the years. As opposed to an earlier Nikkei report which indicated a **3-year refresh cycle**, Apple could be looking at a single year, meaning there’s just ’ticks’ going forward and no updated ’tock’ iPhone with ’s’ tags. Apple could be looking to keep consumers interested in every new iPhone release. Currently, most consumers will buy an iPhone 6s and upgrade to an iPhone 8, skipping two generations (iPhone 7, iPhone 7s) before making their next purchase. You could blame Apple’s own buttery smooth iOS updates (Android cannot pull this off), that run smoothly on older models for forcing consumers to wait to generations till the next purchase. With a tick tick strategy, Apple could pump out all-new iPhones every year going forward. This would mean Jony Ive working overtime, to come out with revolutionary new designs that now need to compete with Android smartphone makers. The prime target would be Samsung, that has been following the same strategy over the years, pumping out new (and not updated) models to its Galaxy lineup. Another piece of news to the whole naming mess is comes from the same source, hinting that Apple could also announce a limited run Anniversary Edition iPhone a couple of months later as well. While there are no details as to what this special iPhone would arrive with the Edition branding hints that we could see some gold plated devices just like the 18-karat Gold Apple Watch Edition which was up for sale at $17,000 back in 2015.