Forget the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, rumors about next year's iPhones are already starting to emerge (AAPL)

iphone x iphone 8 plus

The iPhone 8 and iPhone X are all good and great, but should you wait until next year's iPhone to upgrade?

To put it bluntly, if you need a new phone because it's become too slow for your day-to-day use, it's time to upgrade. Just get any iPhone that's right for you — iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, iPhone 8 or iPhone X. Don't worry about next year's iPhones.

If you can wait, though, a few rumors have already popped up if you're curious about what Apple has in store for 2018.

The rumors so far circle mostly around the next-generation iPhone displays, which could tell us that a design overhaul is imminent, at least for the successors to the now "mid-range" iPhone 8.

So far, however, there's no indication as to the 2018 iPhones' nomenclature. It's still wildly unclear whether they'll be called iPhone 8s or iPhone 9. We'll just call them the "2018 iPhones" for now.

It's important to note that these rumors are very early, and there's plenty of time for Apple to make changes over the next year until it announces its new iPhones in September 2018. And that's considering if these rumors are even true in the first place. Take everything here with a grain of salt.

Check out what the 2018 iPhone rumor mill has in store so far:

The successors to the iPhone 8 will have near bezel-less front panels.

Apple's next "mid-range" iPhones could have a similar bezel-less front as the iPhone X in 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Specifically, Apple is supposedly looking into an advanced type of LCD display called "Full Active LCD," made by Japan Display. You can actually get an idea of what Full Active LCDs look like by checking out the Essential Phone (below) and the Xiaomi Mix 2. One thing to note about phones that use Full Active LCDs is that, unlike phones with OLED displays like the iPhone X, they all have at least one larger bezel, usually on the bottom.

essential phone

This type of LCD display would be less expensive and would most likely run into fewer supply issues than the OLED display used in the iPhone X, two factors that surely contribute to the iPhone X's higher cost. The iPhone 8 starts at $699, the iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799, and the iPhone X starts at $999.

One of the 2018 iPhones will have a large screen measuring over 6 inches.

Apple has made orders for an LCD display panel that's over six inches large, according to The Korea Herald. The order was made to Japan Display, which is the same company that's supposedly providing the aforementioned Full Active LCDs for Apple's iPhone 8 successors.

Since the display order is apparently for LCD panels, it doesn't seem likely that the order is designed for a successor to Apple's new iPhone X, which has an OLED panel. Instead, it seems more likely that the large LCD panels will be destined for the successor to the iPhone 8 Plus.

If the 2018 iPhones do have near bezel-less displays, that could mean the end of the iPhone 6-era hardware designs.

This is purely our own speculation based on the rumor that Apple will use Full Active LCD displays, one of which is reported to be larger than the current 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus display.

The 2018 iPhone will likely look different, if not totally redesigned, if Apple uses Full Active LCDs for the iPhones, and use near bezel-less front panels. For one, the 2018 iPhones wouldn't have bezels as large as they are on the iPhone 8, and the iPhone 8's design is essentially the same as the 2014 iPhone 6, with similar bezels around the display.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider