iPhone 18 could be in line for a Pro-style upgrade to shake things up

When the iPhone 17 base model was launched earlier this year, many praised the brand for finally adding a long-requested, Pro-grade feature to the handsets. ProMotion finally trickled down to that handset, giving the display a 120Hz refresh rate for the first time.

That was something many – myself very much included – had been crying out for. It's a move which has made the device much more competitive against the sea of Android phones out there, which is no bad thing at all.

Now, it seems that the trend of taking Pro-grade features and using them to upgrade a base model is not stopping there. The latest reports from Korean site, The Bell (shared by MacRumours), suggests that the iPhone 18 base model may arrive with more unified memory than the current edition.

Currently, the base model iPhone is limited to just 8GB of unified memory – Apple's equivalent of RAM, for those who are unaware. And while that may have been the standard for a while, it's starting to feel a little lacking for most users.

The reports suggest that it will rise to 12GB, pulling it in line with the Pro models from this generation. That seems much more appropriate in the modern age, and would allow the devices to power through more intensive tasks without struggle.

Still, it may be a little while before those handsets hit the market. A slew of reports have suggested that Apple is set to remove its base model from the annual Autumn launch event it hosts, with that device coming the following Spring alongside the 'e' variant.

Personally, I find that concept totally bizarre. Not only would it make for an iPhone 18 launch with no iPhone 18, it would pit the base model and the 'e' variant head-to-head. Those tend to be pretty similar, which is only going to cause confusion among buyers, which is at least mitigated when they're launched six months apart.