Aug. 13 update. This post, first published on Aug. 11, was updated with more details to the upcoming Apple event and revised pre-orders date.
The Apple iPhone 18 Pro will be announced on Wednesday, Sept. 9, according to a new report. Regular readers will know I’ve been saying that for weeks, and even researched every single iPhone keynote date to back up my claims, but there’s now confirmation from an industry heavyweight that this is the plan. Oh, and you can read about when the keynote will be announced here.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote about it in his latest Power On newsletter on Sunday, Aug. 9. “Apple gears up for its annual September event — and it’s a big one,” he began. He talked about how Apple’s preparations are now in full swing (well, I would hope so), and then moved on to the date of the keynote.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Keynote Date
This is the big date in the calendar and sets the schedule for everything that follows.
“Historically, Apple has held its new iPhone launch on either the second Tuesday or Wednesday of September. That has been the case every year since 2012 (except for 2020, when Apple introduced its new phones in October due to the Covid-related production delays),” he said.
But the key update, a change from what Gurman has been saying until very recently, came next.
“But there’s a twist this year: Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 7. Apple doesn’t typically hold events directly after a weekend because it wants to give attendees a travel day. That makes Wednesday, Sept. 9, the most likely event date this year,” he added.
I think this is spot-on. It’s not just the attendees who don’t want to travel on a public holiday. Apple is reluctant to have its staff work on the holiday as well (although, again, I’m sure they will be taking part in plenty of meetings and other preparations on Tuesday, Sept. 8).
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Pre-Orders: A New Date For The Diary
While Apple is sometimes predictable, that doesn’t mean that every item on the agenda will fall into the same schedule as last year.
He also added an extra detail that was news to me. I’d been predicting that pre-orders would open on the Friday after the keynote — that’s what almost always happens. But this year, that would be Sept. 11, a date that Apple has always avoided for keynotes.
This year, as it’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11, pre-orders might start later.
“Another wrinkle this time is the preorder start date. More times than not, Apple opens up iPhone preorders on the Friday following its event. Given that that Friday falls on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, I find it unlikely that Apple would pick that date. The last time such a Friday fell on Sept. 11, Apple moved preorders to the next day, Saturday, Sept. 12. I have to assume they’ll take a similar approach this year,” Gurman said.
This makes sense to me. I believe the timing will be the same, that is, pre-orders will open at 5 a.m. Pacific, 8 a.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. U.K. time.
Note that sometimes pre-order dates vary according to product. For instance, it’s possible the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 could see pre-orders open on the same day as the iPhone or earlier, for instance the same day as the keynote or Thursday, Sept. 10.
I bow to Gurman’s wisdom, however, in saying that the Apple Watches won’t see pre-orders open on Friday, Sept. 11.
Some years, Apple allows customers to put their chosen items in online shopping bags the night before pre-orders open, so they’re ready to purchase on the B of the bang when they do open the next day. Such a move allows people to pick the model, color and storage capacity in the hope of getting their first choice.
It doesn’t happen every year and it’s possible the Sept. 11 issue may mean it won’t this time around.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro: iOS 27 General Release
Even if pre-orders are bumped by a day, that won’t affect when the next cycle of iPhone software is made available to users on general release.
After pre-orders, the next date on the calendar is when the software which will be pre-installed on the new iPhones is made available to everyone.
The exact date varies but it usually falls on the Monday before the new iPhones’ onsale date. This year, that would mean Monday, Sept. 14. Timing also varies: where most iOS updates land at or around 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. U.K., the first release of the new cycle is often earlier.
Look out for it from 8 a.m. Pacific, 11 a.m. Eastern and 4 p.m. U.K., and please practice patience — a lot of people will be wanting to download it immediately.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro On-Sale Date Prediction
Whatever the exact date of the keynote, the last part of the schedule — when the phones hit stores — is near-certain to be on the same day of the week, Friday.
In any event, the new phones will go on sale on the following Friday, Sept. 18, I believe.