Only a Week After the iPhone 17e was Released, the iPhone 18e Leak Has Appeared Again

JAKARTA - Less than a week since the launch of the iPhone 17e, rumors about the next generation have begun to circulate in the technology world. The latest leak says the iPhone 18e is already in the early development stage and its production is claimed to be on schedule.

The information comes from a technology leaker account on the Weibo platform named Fixed Focus Digital. In his post, he stated that the iPhone 18e project has been "finalized", although he did not provide any details regarding the device's specifications, launch schedule, or new features to be brought.

So far, the only information mentioned is just the model name.

The track record of Fixed Focus Digital is mixed. He was right in some previous leaks, such as the name of the iPhone 16e and the prediction that the iPhone 17 will use a 120Hz screen. However, on many other occasions, his predictions have also been wrong.

Industry observers also caution that many technology leakers from Weibo have reputations that are not always accurate. Some of them often repeat rumors that have been circulating, making predictions that sound sensational, or just guessing based on product launch patterns.

In the case of the iPhone 18e, the rumor is considered quite "thin". There are no technical specifications, no design details, not even a hint of when the device will be launched.

But logically speaking, the claim that Apple is thinking about the next model is not a surprise. Apple is known to have a long product development cycle, often starting years before the device is actually mass-produced.

If you look at the previous pattern, the development of the next generation of iPhones is usually far ahead of the current model being launched on the market. With a very large global supply chain, the company almost certainly already has an initial plan for the successor to the iPhone 17e.

Interestingly, this rumor pattern has also happened before. In February 2025, just a few days after Apple introduced the iPhone 16e, Fixed Focus Digital immediately claimed a new project code for the iPhone 17e.

Two months later he said the device was almost entering the trial production stage, before finally claiming at the end of the year that the device had entered mass production.

The problem is, most of these claims come without clear specification details and often just follow the pattern of the iPhone production schedule that is already public.

In the tech industry, rumors like this are often considered a classic category: something that is likely to be true, but also very easy to guess. If Apple releases the iPhone 16e and then the iPhone 17e, guessing that there will be an iPhone 18e is not actually a futuristic prediction - it's more like saying that after Monday usually comes Tuesday.