Custom WordPress loop, articles not in same order as Array

Question

I'm working on a news website that has a top section with eight featured articles. I use ACF fields for these featured articles and input their ID. This is how the loop looks:

$kiemelt1 = get_field('kiemelt_1', 'option');
$kiemelt2 = get_field('kiemelt_2', 'option');
$kiemelt3 = get_field('kiemelt_3', 'option');
$kiemelt4 = get_field('kiemelt_4', 'option');
$kiemelt5 = get_field('kiemelt_5', 'option');
$kiemelt6 = get_field('kiemelt_6', 'option');
$kiemelt7 = get_field('kiemelt_7', 'option');
$kiemelt8 = get_field('kiemelt_8', 'option');

$kiemeltek = array($kiemelt1, $kiemelt2, $kiemelt3, $kiemelt4, $kiemelt5, $kiemelt6, $kiemelt7, $kiemelt8);

$args = array(
    'posts_per_page' => 8,
    'post__in' => $kiemeltek,
);
$wp_query = new WP_Query( $args );

if (have_posts()) {
    $i = 0;
    while ( have_posts() ) {
        the_post();
        $i++;

   if ($i == 1) { 
       //Standard html for $kiemelt1
   }
   
   if ($i == 2) { 
       //Standard html for $kiemelt2
   }
   
   .... etc.

Now, this populates the section fine, and it works for the most part, but the issue arises when I update the array through the options page.

Example:

I exchange the ID in $kiemelt1 and $kiemelt2. The articles load, but the order is not updated. Why can this be the case?

What I tried:

I tried changing the conditional so that aside from $i being a specific number, I double-check for the ID as well:

if ($i == 1 && get_the_id($kiemelt1) ) { } for example, but this causes the layout to break.

Thanks!

Answer 1

As documented, if you're using post__in to query a specific list of posts and what the results returned int he same order you need to set orderby to post__in:

$args = array(
    'posts_per_page' => 8,
    'post__in'       => $kiemeltek,
    'orderby'        => 'post__in',
);