If you love mysteries and hate spoilers, you should stop reading this post right now because it will leave you with absolutely no surprises for the rest of the year. Why? Because one of the top leakers in the gadget world just laid out the roadmap of every single major flagship smartphone release for the rest of 2018. From Apple’s new “iPhone X Plus” and 6.1-inch LCD iPhone to Google’s upcoming Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, this roadmap lays out the launch schedule for the next five months. But we’re not just talking about popular smartphones from big-name manufacturers like Apple and Google. You’ll find 20 different flagship handset launches laid out on the roadmap. So, if you’re due for an upgrade but you’ve been waiting to see what the rest of the year holds before you commit, today is your lucky day.
Anonymous smartphone leaker Ice Universe is known for posting accurate early information about unreleased Samsung smartphones and devices from other vendors. He started his leaking career on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, but more recently he divides his time between Weibo and Twitter. The latter is where our focus is today, because that’s where he posted a roadmap of launches for the remainder of the year.
Now, you won’t find exact release dates on this roadmap. But you will find launch timing for nearly two dozen different flagship smartphones that are set to debut over the course of the next five months.
The roadmap begins with new Meizu 16 and Samsung Galaxy Note 9 smartphones, which are set to be unveiled on August 8th and August 9th, respectively. The former isn’t a phone that will be popular in the US, but the Galaxy Note 9 is obviously one of the biggest launches scheduled for the second half of 2018. After that we have three more launches that aren’t US-focused, followed by the unveiling of the LG V40 ThinQ in September.
Here’s where things start to get interesting. The roadmap obviously notes that Apple’s three new 2018 iPhone models will be announced in September, marking the biggest smartphone launch of the year. But Ice Universe also says that Google’s Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL could be unveiled as soon as September, which would be a bit ahead of schedule for Google. The original Pixel phones and last year’s Pixel 2 handsets were unveiled in October.
The next big launch will happen in mid-October, when Huawei takes the wraps off its new Mate 20 Pro. As we saw in a leak earlier this week, the Mate 20 Pro will feature an all-screen design with barely-there bezels above and below the screen. It’s stunning, but sadly it won’t be sold by carriers in the United States due to pressures from the White House to abandon Huawei.
Ice Universe lists six additional launches that will take place after the Mate 20 Pro, but most of them are phones that will not be widely distributed in the US. One will though, and that’s the upcoming OnePlus 6T that the leaker says will launch in mid-November.
These flagship phones will be released in the second half of 2018, most of them from China.
Do you think Samsung does not need to be nervous? I don't think Note9 can make Samsung's state better. There are too many competitors. pic.twitter.com/6W6ccphoIy— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) August 1, 2018
