If one follows the link given in the forbes article to the Apple insider page, it sounds much less dramatic. It talks about the iPhone X not having a direct suc

If one follows the link given in the forbes article to the Apple insider page, it sounds much less dramatic. It talks about the iPhone X not having a direct successor in the next iPhone cycle. As the next generation iPhones are supposed to have the "borderless" screen and the face ID as now introduced with the iPhone X, it is not too surprising. Apple couldn't do the OLED screen and face ID for their mass market phones this year. So instead of just offering the iPhone 8, they choose to offer the iPhone X as the luxury version. If they can manufacture both features in the necessary numbers and at the target prices, the need for the iPhone X just goes away.