Apple will likely unveil the iPhone 18 Pro on Wednesday, Sept. 9, with pre-orders pushed to Saturday to avoid the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Key Points:
- Apple's fall keynote is expected on Wednesday, Sept. 9, because Labor Day falls on Sept. 7 and the company avoids the day after the holiday.
- Pre-orders would shift to Saturday, Sept. 12, with retail availability likely on Friday, Sept. 18.
- The event marks the first major launch under John Ternus, who becomes chief executive on Sept. 1.
Gurman Pins Apple Keynote To Sept. 9
Mark Gurman wrote in Bloomberg's Power On newsletter that Apple retail employees have already been told to prepare for an event in the second week of September. He expects the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the company's first foldable handset to share the same stage that morning, in what would be Apple's busiest keynote in years.
Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 7 this year, and the holiday reshapes everything that follows it. Apple has never held a fall keynote the day after the holiday, and that record points analysts and suppliers toward Wednesday, Sept. 9. Pre-orders would normally open on the Friday that follows, which lands on Sept. 11.
That date marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, and Apple has stepped around the anniversary before. Gurman expects the company to begin taking orders a day later, on Saturday, Sept. 12, which would put the phones in stores the following Friday, Sept. 18.
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Ternus Faces First iPhone Launch
The keynote doubles as a debut for John Ternus, the hardware chief who succeeds Tim Cook as chief executive on Sept. 1. Cook moves to executive chairman after 15 years running the company, a handover the board approved in April. That leaves Ternus to front the year's largest product launch and to defend its pricing, at a moment when investors are still pressing Apple on artificial intelligence.
Little about the timing is sentimental. Apple books wafer capacity with suppliers such as TSMC quarters in advance, a fixed autumn slot lets the chipmaker plan long production runs, and September shipping beats the holiday freight crush.
Two questions still hang over the schedule. Coverage of the foldable, widely described as the iPhone Ultra, splits between a full September release and a delay into October, while Gurman has warned that prices across the lineup may climb. The launch will also be the first test of Apple Upgrade, a leasing plan that replaced the iPhone Upgrade Program in late July.
Apple September Timing Precedent
Apple has anchored its iPhone reveals to early September for more than a decade, and the keynote has never once landed on the day after Labor Day.
The last calendar that matched this one arrived in 2015, when the company showed the iPhone 6s on Wednesday, Sept. 9, opened orders on Saturday, Sept. 12, and reached buyers on Sept. 25.
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