2018 iPhone Lineup Said to Go on Pre-Orders From September 14; Faster Wireless Charging Rumoured

While the 2018 iPhone lineup is yet to receive a formal confirmation, Apple is now rumoured to start taking pre-orders for the next generation iPhone family on as early as September 14. This suggests that the 2018 iPhone models could debut sometime before September 14. Notably, the latest rumour about the pre-order date suggests that the Cupertino giant is on time by selecting the September 14 schedule. The iPhone X as well as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were launched last year on September 12, while the iPhone 7 models had debuted in 2016 on September 7. In addition to the report claiming the pre-order schedule, a separate report says that one of the 2018 iPhone models will include an upgraded wireless charging coil to offer faster wireless charging at as high as 15W. Some previous reports already suggested that the new models will come with faster wired charging support as well and include an 18W USB-C power adapter.

If we believe the information provided by Germany's Macerkopf, sourced from some German carriers, pre-orders for the 2018 iPhone lineup will begin on September 14. This suggests that Apple could launch the iPhone X successor as well as the iPhone X Plus and the affordable LCD iPhone model sometime in the second week of September - in line with the previous iPhone launches. While the pre-orders will begin on September 14, the company is speculated to start selling the new models on September 21. It is also expected that the public release of iOS 12 will debut on September 18.

Apple may send media invites for the 2018 iPhone launch sometime in late August. This will confirm the launch date and could help us get some official hints about the upcoming handsets. Furthermore, it is expected that the launch event this year will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's new Apple Park campus. This is the same venue where the company led by Tim Cook launched the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 family last year.

In addition to the pre-order information, China Times has reported that Apple is set to deploy an upgraded wireless charging coil in at least one of the 2018 iPhone models that will enable wireless charging at 15W. This is faster than the 7.5W wireless charging support on the iPhone X and iPhone 8 models that was bumped up from the initial 5W offering last year.

Apple is reportedly using a copper wire coil to enable faster 10W or 15W wireless charging on one of the 2018 iPhone models. It is worth mentioning here that the 2017 models had a flexible printed circuit (FPC) instead of the traditional copper wire coil. While FPC does come in a thin design and is light in weight, it doesn't support faster wireless charging. In contrast, the copper wire coil is believed to offer not just greater power capability but also higher efficiency than FCP. Apple might make some compromises with the thickness of the new iPhone to offer faster wireless charging.

Rival Samsung is already offering 15W wireless charging on its flagship smartphones. This does make sense for the Tim Cook team to start exploring new options to offer as great wireless charging experience as available on the Samsung Galaxy S9 or Galaxy Note 9.

If we dig into our archives and look at some of the previous reports, the 2018 iPhone family is also rumoured to come with a faster wired charging experience through the bundled 18W USB-C adapter. The new adapter could have sufficient hardware to charge the iPhone from 0 to 50 percent in about 30 minutes. This sounds similar to the fast charging technologies offered on many Android devices.