Apple is planning an iPhone XR successor, report claims

There will be a new iPhone with an LCD screen this year. 

This is according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, which claims the company is planning to launch a new version of the “struggling” iPhone XR, the LCD-equipped, lower-cost iPhone Apple had launch alongside the high-end iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. 

The report does not say anything else about the upcoming LCD-based iPhone XR, except that 2019 might be its last year, as Apple is considering dropping it in 2020. 

Despite media reports, Apple would likely disagree that the iPhone XR was a flop. In a recent interview, the company CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone XR has been “the most popular iPhone every day” since it began shipping. And even if the iPhone XR is as good as Apple would like it to be, the company still isn’t likely to drop it after just one year, given all the money it likely spent on development and marketing.

The report also claims Apple will launch two OLED-based iPhone models alongside the iPhone XR this year, just like it did in 2018. According to WSJ’s sources, the company will increase the number of rear cameras to three on the biggest model, while the successors to iPhone XR and the iPhone XS will have dual rear cameras. 

The ever-increasing number of cameras is a clear trend in smartphones. Samsung’s biggest Galaxy S10 is rumored to have a total of six (four on the rear and two on the front), and several manufacturers launched phones with three rear cameras this year, and Apple is likely to follow suit.

Finally, the WSJ says Apple is considering removing some features from its 2019 iPhones in order to reduce costs. One feature that might get cut is 3D Touch (which is already absent from the iPhone XR, and I doubt too many users noticed).