Freshly leaked details from iOS 11 Golden Master (GM) build has eventually confirmed the names of 2017 Apple iPhone lineup, wherein the OLED iPhone is touted as the 'iPhone X' while the other two variants carry the moniker 'iPhone 8' and 'iPhone 8 Plus'.
For the first time in iPhone history, Apple is moving away from the conventional naming scheme and adopting a new nomenclature to represent a major iPhone upgrade.
It is evident that prospective iPhone buyers have become wary of another 's' model being added to the ageing iPhone lineup as it has become too repetitive and unattractive, especially as it sounds like an incremental update.
Consequently, the iPhone maker is dumping the 'S' tag from its naming scheme and bringing in the next numerical upgrade to its naming strategy. In other words, Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models as the rightful successors to current-gen iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Given the power-packed features of the next-gen iPhone models, this jump in the naming scheme makes absolute sense. Furthermore, the iOS 11 GM leak confirms that the top-end model of the next-gen flagship lineup will be called 'iPhone X' in celebration of Apple's tenth anniversary of iPhone launch event on September 12.
With due credit to developer Steve Troughton-Smith, we now have clear references to potential official names for the upcoming 2017 Apple iPhone lineup.
"Maybe the DeviceTree is lying about the marketing name, maybe not. But right now, D22 thinks it is iPhone X, so that's good enough for me," he tweeted.
These new findings seem to be in line with earlier leaks from Dutch site iCulture, which pointed out that the flagship OLED iPhone would indeed be called as the iPhone X. Furthermore, the iterative updates to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were rumored to receive the moniker 'iPhone 8' and 'iPhone 8 Plus'.
Although an earlier 9To5Mac report suggested the 'iPhone Edition' moniker for the next-gen flagship iPhone, Apple is unlikely to incorporate this name as the leaked iOS 11 firmware has no reference to that marketing name.
Nevertheless, if there is any truth to the latest leak then we are likely to see the S-branding being removed permanently from the iPhone nomenclature. Probably, we could see the next year's iPhones being named as 'iPhone 9', 'iPhone 9 Plus' and 'iPhone XI'.
