I'm not a fan of numbered iPhones. The trope wore out its welcome a long time ago, though Apple (AAPL -1.22%) somehow hasn't realized it yet. The numbers it uses to name models are completely arbitrary at this point. Case in point: The company's just-unveiled iPhone 8 is one of its 11th-generation iPhones. Sure, the iPhone X (pronounced "iPhone 10") leads the 11th-generation lineup, but matters only become less consistent the closer you look. The X in the name simply marks the 10th year after the smartphone's original launch, not the generation.
My views on the subject are shared by someone whose opinion on the matter should carry a lot more weight than mine: Apple's former ad man Ken Segall, a career marketing professional credited with naming the original iMac. Earlier this year, he argued that this year was "The Great iPhone Naming Opportunity of 2017." Celebrating the decade milestone would have been the perfect chance to reset iPhone branding, putting it on a more sustainable path for years to come. Too bad Apple squandered it. The silver lining, though, is that Apple just ruined its iPhone numbering convention.
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the 11th-generation iPhones. Image source: Apple.
There can never be an iPhone 9
For starters, here's a comprehensive history of iPhone names:
|
Year |
Generation |
Name(s) |
|---|---|---|
|
2007 |
1st |
iPhone |
|
2008 |
2nd |
iPhone 3G |
|
2009 |
3rd |
iPhone 3GS |
|
2010 |
4th |
iPhone 4 |
|
2011 |
5th |
iPhone 4s |
|
2012 |
6th |
iPhone 5 |
|
2013 |
7th |
iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c |
|
2014 |
8th |
iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus |
|
2015 |
9th |
iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus |
|
2016 |
10th |
iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE |
|
2017 |
11th |
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X |
Data source: Apple.
By going with 8 and 10 (but stylized with X) this year, Apple has effectively precluded the possibility of ever using "iPhone 9." If we fast-forward to 2018, Apple can't really release an iPhone 9 after releasing the iPhone X in 2017, which could be perceived as regression. If you recall, Microsoft even skipped 9 as well, jumping from Windows 8 to Windows 10 in 2015, but Windows is less of a diversified product family and all of the Windows variants fall under the Windows 10 umbrella.
From a product standpoint, this is the fourth cycle that Apple has now recycled the same overall industrial design that debuted with the iPhone 6 in 2014, albeit this year it has been tweaked with a glass back for wireless charging. If Apple redesigns the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus next year, using "8s" doesn't make sense either, as "s" cycles used to denote incremental updates within the same form factor. Maybe "iPhone Xs" is on the table for the 2018 flagship, but that looks terrible too, and would Apple really go with "iPhone 9" and "iPhone 11" for its 12th-generation smartphones?
Numbered iPhones are now an utter mess from a marketing perspective. Hopefully, 2018 will be when Apple pulls the trigger and kills off the convention and goes with something more sustainable.
