Apple to go with 'iPhone 13' branding after all

Following the iPhone 11 in 2019 and the iPhone 12 last year, it doesn't take a genius to predict the branding of the new handsets for 2021. Yet many pundits have predicted that Apple will steer clear of the logical iPhone 13 name, since 13 is considered unlucky in large parts of the world.

According to a new report from the Economic Daily News, however, Apple has chosen to ignore the superstition, and the site predicts that we will see four models of iPhone 13 this autumn.

"The supply chain has reported that this year's new phone will be named iPhone 13," the site says. "Apple will launch four new models, namely the 6.7in iPhone 13 Pro Max, 6.1in iPhone 13 Pro, and 5.4in and 6.1in models, also named iPhone 13."

The survival of the 5.4in handset comes despite terminally low sales of the iPhone 12 mini and our suggestion that Apple shouldn't make an iPhone 13 mini. However, it seems that Apple is going to launch an iPhone 13 mini, read Why Apple will make an iPhone 13 mini.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that EDN declines to mention the "mini" branding by name and appears to imply that the smallest model will be grouped under the "iPhone 13" branding with its 6.1in sibling. Note that the 12 mini is currently grouped under the iPhone 12 branding on Apple's online store, however, and EDN may simply be predicting that this arrangement will continue.

Before you get too excited about these predictions, we should point out that EDN does not have a flawless track record. Pundit monitoring site AppleTrack, indeed, gives the site an accuracy rating of just 38.6%.

In June, the trade-in site SellCell released the results of a survey in which 74% of respondents thought Apple should choose a name other than "iPhone 13", and 18.3% said they would straight-up refuse to buy a phone with that name because of its association with bad luck.

(Men, interestingly, seem to be more than twice as superstitious as women: 24.9% of men said they would refuse to buy an iPhone 13, while only 11.7% of women said the same.)

There had previously been rumours that this year's models would be called iPhone 12s instead of iPhone 13, something that would suggest to potential customers, and may reflect the reality, that this year's launch is a relatively minor upgrade. An alternative solution would be to call the new handset the "iPhone (2021)", but that could lead to lower sales after the turn of the year.