Apple iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro Release Date: New Report Reveals Extraordinary Strategy

Updated August 5 with more reports that double down on the release date, and suggest iPhone 16 Pro Max pricing.

Exactly when will Apple unveil the iPhone 16 series, launch pre-orders and put them on sale? You can read my full details of all these steps here, and now an industry heavyweight, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, has set out what they think Apple’s thinking is, and when the phones will be announced. It’s a surprising theory.

No sooner had Gurman intervened but another source suggested the exact same date for the reveal of Tuesday, September 10. As reported by Tom’s Guide, there’s been another report of the announcement from Apple being made on the same day.

ForbesExactly When Apple Will Launch iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 ProBy David Phelan

This is important because the unveil date kickstarts the entire process, guiding us towards the day pre-orders are likely to open—probably Friday, September 13—and from there the onsale date, almost certainly the following Friday, that is, September 20. The new report also says that the next iPhone 16 Pro Max will be sold for the same price as the current iPhone 15 Pro Max, that is, from $1,199.

The new leak, from CNMO News, doesn’t have the reliability of Mark Gurman, so if it pointed to a different date, I’d be skeptical, but the fact that it suggests the same date is encouraging.

Meanwhile, 9to5Mac has its own theories and it has also fastened on the same date. So, the date is starting to look solid, but Mark Gurman has introduced a new idea as to Apple’s strategy.

Apple has made clear that Apple Intelligence will be a big selling point for the next iPhone series. Trouble is, it looks like it won’t be ready for Apple’s preferred September release date. So, what is Apple going to do? Push back the release so the marquee feature will launch with the iPhone 16 series? Not according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter.

Instead, Gurman says, Apple has taken a radically different approach this time around, compared to 2011, when it was about to launch the iPhone 4s. “The rationale: iCloud and Siri—a pair of new online services—wouldn’t be ready until the fall. Other than those enhancements, the iPhone 4S wouldn’t have a lot of fresh features. So rather than launch the iPhone 4S in June and give people Siri and iCloud via software upgrades a few months later, it decided to hold off and launch everything together at the end of the year,” Gurman says.

Since then, September has been Apple’s favorite for iPhone launches. But this year, it has a similar problem as Apple Intelligence “won’t be ready until October.” But, it’s not going to delay the release of the phones. “Apple is taking a different tack and won’t hold back the new hardware until the services are ready,” says Gurman.

So, when does that leave the release? My guess was that the announcement would take place on Tuesday, September 10, with onsale date of Friday, September 20.

Gurman says, “I’m told that the iPhone launch will occur around the same time as last year — a quick look at the calendar makes Sept. 10 a probable date — and users will need to upgrade their new hardware to iOS 18.1 in October to get rolling with Apple Intelligence.”

Gurman is slightly cautious in his prediction: I’ll go further, I’m sure that Tuesday, September 10 is the day of the reveal. Things could still change, but I’d take a bet on this.

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