Apple is expected to open iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders at midnight Pacific time on Saturday, Sept. 12, a day later than its customary Friday slot.
Key Points:
- Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro are said to begin at midnight Pacific on Saturday, Sept. 12, instead of the usual 5 a.m. Friday.
- The move sidesteps Friday, Sept. 11, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States.
- Apple has confirmed nothing about ordering or shipping and is expected to settle the schedule at its Sept. 9 keynote.
iPhone 18 Pro Pre-Order Date
The change surfaced in reporting that a German-language Apple publication ran last week, citing a source it described as reliable, and that larger technology sites quickly carried. Under the company's standard playbook, orders open on the Friday immediately after the keynote and the phones ship a week later. That pattern would have placed the ordering window on Sept. 11, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States.
The reported start time also departs from precedent, shifting the opening from 5 a.m. Pacific to the stroke of midnight on the West Coast. That puts the opening at 3 a.m. on the East Coast and 8 a.m. in the United Kingdom.
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Apple Keynote And John Ternus
Apple confirmed the keynote itself for Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 10 a.m. Pacific, and gave the presentation the tagline "Surprise and shine." The presentation runs from the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. It will be the first major hardware launch led by John Ternus, who replaced Tim Cook as chief executive on Sept. 1.
The Saturday window is expected to cover the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Anything else introduced on stage falls under the same schedule.
Foldable iPhone And Date Doubts
Apple's first foldable iPhone looks like the exception, with pre-orders for that model possibly slipping to late September. Reports have tied that slower timeline to production limits rather than marketing strategy, with memory supply cited as one constraint.
Retail availability for the two Pro handsets, meanwhile, is still expected on Friday, Sept. 18.
Coverage has been careful to separate the date from the reported hour, since the Saturday move rests on precedent while the midnight start traces to a single unnamed source. Reporters flagged that the same outlet misfired earlier this year, predicting a Feb. 19 debut for the iPhone 17e that did not arrive until Mar. 2.
Apple has steered around this particular date before, and the earlier example tracks the current report almost exactly. In 2015, when the pre-order Friday also fell on Sept. 11, the company pushed iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus orders back to Saturday, Sept. 12. The company has generally kept major commercial announcements off the anniversary, a habit that predates this year's report and gives the Saturday claim its firmest footing.
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