If Apple follows its habitual form of releasing an iPhone in September, then we haven't got long to wait for the next models, perhaps called iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. But if you want to set your calendar to find out exactly when everything will be revealed, you need the date of the announcement, right? Here's my take on when it will be, along with discussion of a new leak, an image hidden in the iPhone's latest beta software - and a couple of things about that which nobody else has mentioned.
Update: Now discusses the asset found in iOS 13 beta.
There’s already been an accidental mention of when the phone will actually go on sale. As Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly reported last week, Softbank president Ken Miayauchi let slip that the launch date will be September 20. Gordon has also now reported on that asset hidden in the latest iOS 13 beta, which sheds further light on the date of the announcement. I've discussed it below, with those two aspects nobody else has pointed out yet.
Of course, even Miayauchi-san could be wrong, because Apple is known for being incredibly nimble when it comes to last-minute changes. It’s one of the reasons it keeps details like the unveil date to itself until its stone-cold certain everything is going to plan. Which is why that unveil date is so key.
If you’re eager to watch the announcement keynote live, or at least know when to tune in to Forbes for full disclosure of what’s been revealed, what date should you be putting in your diary? Here’s everything we know so far…
There’s plenty coming
It looks like there will be three iPhones, just the same as last year. Actually, it seems that from the front, they’ll look plenty similar to the current versions with the big visual difference apparent only when you flip the phone over. The camera bump will be strikingly different, with dual rear cameras on the phone set to replace the iPhone XR and three cameras on the others. The name of the iPhone isn't definitely set as iPhone 11, of course, but we'll find that out for certain on that day, too.
Oh, and this will be a first: all three iPhones will go on sale on the same day, not staggered as they have been for the last two years.
Where the announcement will be
That’s the easy part of the equation. It’s unthinkable that it will be anywhere other than the Steve Jobs Theater at the company’s Cupertino headquarters. Since the auditorium opened in September 2017, all iPhone announcements have emanated from there.
Holding events there also means nobody outside the company knows the date until Apple announces when it’s taking place (so no checking the availability of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium as happened prior to the theater opening).
What previous years tell us
Since 2012, Apple has announced its latest phones in either the second week of September, apart from the iPhone 7 on September 7, 2016. Factors that decide the date include when Labor Day falls – this year it’s September 2. So, it’s likely that it will be the week after that for the keynote.
Additionally, also since 2012, the keynote has been on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Other important dates fall on Mondays, like the opening keynote at WWDC or some special events like the one that announced Apple Card, Apple TV+ and more earlier this year.
Additionally, the huge electronics show, IFA, is held in Berlin in the last few days of August or the first days of September. This year, it runs from September 6 this year, so it will command much of the news cycle for gadget lovers for a few days that week.
Actually, hold that thought, we’ll come back to IFA in a minute.
Which means?
The keynote will take place on either Tuesday, September 10 or Wednesday, September 11, 2019.
Although there have been as many Wednesday unveils as ones on Tuesday, Apple has never staged an event on September 11, for obvious reasons.
So, that leaves Tuesday, September 10. That’s the date I’d put in your diary for when all will be revealed.
The new asset
This seems to be the clincher. Website iHelp BR has found something special in the seventh version of the iOS 13 beta, as discussed by Forbes' Gordon Kelly.
It's an image of an iPhone home screen (there's also one for the iPad) with "HoldForRelease" attached. There are only two iPhone app icons which are dynamic, that is they change. Those are the calendar and the clock which show, respectively, the current date and the exact time down to the second. Check it out now if you haven't spotted before that the Clock icon even has a rotating second hand.
So the fact that the date on the calendar reads Tuesday 10 seems like a very big clue that the date, since it's the one we're expecting, is indeed right.
Is there significance in the time on the clock app? Not so much, though as an aside, in my experience 9.41AM is about the time the press and guests at Apple keynotes begin a slow but over-excited trudge down the stairs at the Steve Jobs Theater to find their seats. More importantly, it's that 9.41AM is the time Apple regularly displays.
What time?
Also easy. It’ll be 10AM Pacific – Apple always starts its keynotes at 10AM local time, wherever it is. Well, my headline did promise you “exactly”, now didn’t it?
Okay then, what are these two things nobody has mentioned?
There are two more things worth noticing in the screenshots, both of them small but interesting. First, neither has a single word of text below the app icons. This is not how the iPhone home screen looks. It is how Apple gussies up images on, for example, some menu screens but less common on screen-filling images like this. This may not be important or it could indicate that the images are not final.
Second, the notch. it's every bit as big as on the current iPhone models, which could help confirm the widely held belief that the notch is not going to shrink this year.
So, when will they announce the announcement?
I’m not saying Apple likes to spoil somebody else’s party, but it is rigorous about the timing of when it sends out invites to its keynote. The invite distribution is followed in literally minutes by a flood of online stories confirming the unveil date.
I mentioned IFA earlier. Apple habitually sends out those invites on the day before IFA begins, thus drawing attention away from Berlin’s day of press announcements very effectively.
Either way, I’m saying that the invites will be sent out on Thursday, September 5, probably about 9AM Pacific.
If details begin to leak out - and Apple is usually very good at keeping these dates to itself even if somebody makes a public guess - I'll update this post, so do check back.
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