With Apple having released its iPhone X earlier this month after a year of speculation and hype, it's time to get the cycle started all over again with fresh rumours about the company's 2018 phones.

Usual suspect Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at KGI Securities, has kicked things off by positing that three new iPhones will be brought to market next year, including an X successor, a new plus-sized phone and a less-expensive model.

Kuo, who has a reputation for accurate predictions based on his contacts in Apple's manufacturing chain, first suggested last week that 2018 would bring two new iPhones with OLED screens (iPhone 11? iPhone X-2?), one the same size as iPhone X and one with a larger 6.5-inch display and greater resolution.

This would bring Apple's phone displays closer in line with Samsung's flagship devices, with the smaller iPhone the same size as the Galaxy S8 and the larger iPhone going even bigger than the Note8.

Kuo's latest note to clients, as obtained by MacRumours, also predicts a third phone (iPhone 9?) that will sit between the two flagship devices in terms of size, but will be much lower in terms of resolution and computing power.

He believes this phone will use a cheaper TFT-LCD display — like previous iPhones — rather than OLED, and will sell for as little as $US649 ($852). In Australia, the iPhone X currently starts at $1579.

All three phones, Kuo believes, will feature the full-screen look of the iPhone X with the notch cut-out at the top, and will use Face ID for authentication. The primary difference between the two high-end devices will be size, while the LCD model will "differ significantly" in specs.

Separate rumours also say that a refresh of Apple's iPad in 2018 will also feature Face ID, so taken together the predictions would mean none of Apple's handheld devices released next year will feature a Home button.

Of course, at least for the phones, Apple has around 10 months left to consolidate its plans.