August 11 update below. This post was first published on August 9, 2023.
The next Apple special event is expected to take place in September, and it now looks like the exact date has been set. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman just tweeted that he believes the reveal date will be Tuesday, September 12.
Now, I hate to say I told you, but as regular readers will know, I have repeatedly said that this seemed like a more likely and more logical date than the second one Gurman had suggested, Wednesday, September 13 . He mentioned this in his latest Power On newsletter, in which he claimed that the reveal would be 12 or 13 September. He also said the release date would be “around September 22nd.”
To be clear, I’m still not completely ruling out the week before, with the event being Wednesday September 6th and the release date being September 15th. After all, last year some pundits – including Mark Gurman – were betting on Tuesday, September 13 as the announcement date, but opinions changed around August 20 of last year and the smart money moved to a September 7 announcement, which turned out to be the case.
That move could still happen this year, but my belief is that September 12th is the date for the special event. Apple would certainly like to go earlier if it can, but I’m not hearing anything that suggests that will happen. The earlier date would mean extra iPhone sales in the financial quarter ending September 30. I’m not sure Apple’s guidance for how the next quarter plays out suggested 16 days of iPhone 15 sales, so this could also indicate the week beginning September 11 for the reveal.
It is most likely that Tuesday September 12th, not the day after, will be when we tune into the keynote at the Steve Jobs Theater at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
And while Gurman predicts that the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max will go on sale “around September 22,” I think we can be more specific. Apple always releases its iPhones on a Friday, so it will be exactly Friday, September 22.
These dates also apply to Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra (second generation).
Gurman says that “things could still theoretically change,” and I agree, though it’s unlikely sooner and very unlikely to be later. This does not mean that all iPhones will go on sale on September 22, and some supplies may be limited.
But all indications now are that at least some phones will be available then.
Oh, and here’s the thing, we might be able to get out of this misery of uncertainty very soon: last year, Apple revealed the date of the event on August 24th, so we could know for sure in just a few weeks. . Oh thank you. The excitement is killing me.
Update August 10. More information about Apple’s big event on September 12 has now come from Mark Gurman. In a new one tweetthe Bloomberg journalist said that the event will continue the recent tradition of hybrid events, that is, it will be introduced on stage live by Apple CEO Tim Cook, and then a pre-recorded film will be shown to announce the new products .
There’s no doubt that there are significant benefits to this approach: Apple’s production values are sky-high and lead to beautiful, memorable presentations. The films were first used when Covid restrictions meant an in-person event was impossible, and initially continued for safety reasons, perhaps so that if there was a sudden spike in Covid the recorded version could still be seen. But Apple has embraced the new format, I think, because it likes the splendor of the pre-record and the guarantee that demos can’t go wrong of course.
Personally, I miss the live versions, not least because presenters like Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak are very skilled and can respond brilliantly to the live audience. In Federighi’s case in particular, this meant timing his delivery to the “comic shenanigans,” as he called them, built into his segments. But there will undoubtedly be laughter in the auditorium as usual.
Gurman also predicts a hands-on session afterwards, and while this is highly likely, it’s never guaranteed: there was no general hands-on of Vision Pro in June, only behind-closed-doors previews for individual invitees. While these took place in a beautifully designed purpose-built building across the Apple campus, this will likely be in the Steve Jobs Theater, in a dedicated anteroom set up for the event, which is closed to guests until the keynote ends.
Update August 11. I mean, it’s not enough to speculate when iPhones will go on sale, let alone when the Apple event will take place. By the way, my predictions for them remain the same, which is Friday September 22nd for the on-sale date and Tuesday September 12th for the announcement.
No, the next level of prediction affects exactly when Apple will announce that particular event. Yes, that’s right, the question is when will Apple reveal when the announcement will take place to reveal when the iPhones will go on sale. It all gets very meta.
But 9to5Mac has now begun to set a date for the day Apple sends out invitations to the keynote. If we assume that the date of September 12 is correct (and there are many assumptions here), then Apple will probably confirm this date between seven and 12 days in advance, that is, between Thursday, August 31 and Tuesday, September 5 .
If Apple can bring the event forward to Wednesday, September 6, then everything will move back a week. My personal belief is that while Apple would love to go earlier, September 12th is now set in slowly hardening concrete.
Last year’s keynote was on September 7th, and invites were sent out on August 24th, and that was a full 14 days before, so it’s also possible (sorry to disagree with you, 9to5Mac) that the invites could actually become public known even earlier, already on Tuesday 29 August.
But there is another factor you need to take into account. One of the biggest electronics trade shows in the world, along with CES that takes over Las Vegas every January, is IFA. Held in late summer in Berlin, IFA is a monstrously huge gathering of brands, journalists and the public. Apple often announces its keynote while IFA is taking place.
I’m not saying that Apple takes any kind of pleasure in drawing attention away from the big announcements in the German capital, but it happens so regularly that I can’t completely rule it out either. This year, IFA will take place from Friday 1 September to Tuesday 5 September.
So while August 29th is definitely possible, my guess is that Apple wants to time its announcement-of-announcement to the moment when IFA starts. Apple will never, I mean never, enter the news cycle on a Friday, so the day before, Thursday, August 31, seems the odds-on favorite for this one.
At which point we can all breathe a sigh of relief and start counting down the days until this year’s iPhones are revealed.
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