If the rumors are true, Apple's next iPhone will be called 'XS' - and people are already making fun of the name, calling it 'extra small' and 'iPhone Excess'

Hollis Johnson

• The next-generation iPhone may be called "iPhone XS," according to a report from 9to5Mac.
• People are already making fun of the name, calling it "iPhone Extra Small" and "iPhone Excess."
• Apple still has time to change the name, lest we all suffer people telling the same jokes for the next year.

Apple blog 9to5Mac published a report last week that claimed, among other things, that the new iPhone set to be unveiled at Apple's September 12 event will be called "iPhone XS."

The name iPhone XS would make sense, given Apple's convention for naming past phones: Every other year, the iPhone gets an "S" model where it looks the same as its predecessor, but features lots of internal improvements and refinements. The iPhone 4S followed the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5S followed the iPhone 5, and so on.

But still, despite Apple's marketing and insistence on calling last year's iPhone X "the iPhone 10" -  "X" is the Roman numeral for "10," and it was the 10th anniversary iPhone - lots of people still called it "the iPhone Ex."

Should this confusion carry over - and it will - there will be even more questions about how to pronounce this year's phone, if it is indeed called the "iPhone XS."

It's already happening on Twitter. Plenty of people are joking the "XS" will mean "extra small":

Others are reading the name as "iPhone Excess."

And then there's this guy, who realizes Apple is doomed no matter how people pronounce iPhone XS, as the name "Ten-S" also sounds similar to "Tennis."

The two main takeaways here:

1. People on Twitter tend to repeat the same jokes. 
2. The name iPhone XS would be ridiculed by everyone, everywhere.

Assuming 9to5Mac's report was accurate, here's hoping Apple comes up with a quick name change before next week's event, lest we suffer people on social media and elsewhere making the same jokes about the iPhone's name for the next year and beyond. There's still time to make this phone the "iPhone 11" - or, at least, not the XS.