Exactly when will the next iPhones, to replace the iPhone 17 Pro, go on sale?
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Updated, May 5: This article, first published on Sunday, includes further details about the unveiling and launch schedule for the next iPhones.
Apple will doubtless launch its next iPhones in September. And it looks like this fall will see three phones: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the company’s first folding phone, which is increasingly believed to be called iPhone Ultra, but could still be named iPhone Fold. But when will we see these new models, exactly?
Apple is a creature of habit (except for surprise announcements like the recent AirPods Max 2), and September is its month of choice for its biggest event of the year. The keynote is the starting pistol for the schedule that finishes with the new iPhones going on sale, less than two weeks later.
Apple’s biggest keynote of the year always features the iPhone, and usually the Apple Watch plus, sometimes, another product like AirPods. It always falls in roughly the first half of September, mostly on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Very occasionally, it happens on a Monday. And the keynote never falls on Sept. 11.
This year, that means there are two sets of dates in contention: Tuesday, Sept. 8 or Wednesday, Sept. 9 or the following week, Tuesday, Sept. 15 or Wednesday, Sept. 16.
But there’s already one of these dates we can rule out. Apple doesn’t hold the keynote on the day after Labor Day, the first Monday in September. That’s because it needs to fly members of the press and special guests in to Cupertino from around the world.
This year, Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 7, so Tuesday, Sept. 8 is out of the question.
If Apple chooses Wednesday, Sept. 9, it will be the exact same date as in the last two years (though that date fell on a Monday in 2024 and Tuesday in 2025).
Alternatively, the following week could mean switching the keynote to the Monday, as in 2024. That would be Monday, Sept. 14, though the Tuesday and Wednesday are still possibilities.
Apple won’t announce the date for a while yet, and production capabilities may play a part: the predicted folding iPhone Ultra is a new product category and sometimes that can lead to delays.
That said, the iPhone Air was a new endeavor and appeared bang on time.
I’m going to stick my neck out and say the keynote will be on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
iOS 27 General Release Date
The software that will be pre-installed on the new iPhones, and will be available on millions of earlier models, will finally switch from public beta to general release.
That’s usually on or around the Monday following the keynote. If the keynote is Sept. 9, I think the software will land on Monday, Sept. 16 or Tuesday, Sept. 17.
The date of the release will be revealed during the keynote, almost certainly.
If Wednesday, Sept. 9 is right, the pre-orders to buy the new products will open soon after. For iPhones, that would mean Friday, Sept. 11, though it’s possible some other products could go on pre-order a day or so before.
The regular timetable is that the pre-orders will open at 8 a.m. Pacific — though sometimes it’s possible to jump the line by placing items in the shopping bag online the night before, so you’re ready to seal the deal the moment pre-orders go live.
There’s a bit of flexibility here, depending on how many products are revealed at the keynote. The Tuesday and Wednesday before the onsale date is the most popular schedule for Apple, which would mean Tuesday, Sept. 15 or Wednesday, Sept. 16 in this scenario.
Apple is at its most consistent when it comes to onsale dates: for the flagship iPhone it’s always the Friday in the week following the keynote.
That means the release date will be either Friday, Sept. 18 or Friday, Sept. 25. My gut says it will be the first of those two, though don’t be surprised if the iPhone Ultra is announced with the other two iPhones but hits shelves a week or two later to accommodate the complexities of foldable screen production.
If that’s the case, the reviews of the iPhone Ultra will appear later, too. In fact, a desire to separate the folding phone’s review debut from the others, and to dominate the news cycle again, seem to me persuasive reasons why the folding iPhone is likely to land a touch later.
One of the reasons I see the week beginning Monday, Sept. 14 as less likely because it would push the onsale date to Friday, Sept. 25. It’s not impossible, but Apple will want at least the two Pro iPhones to go on sale sooner rather than later.
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