Could Apple hold the iPhone 16 event a week earlier?

It’s no secret that Apple usually announces new iPhones in September with a special event at Apple Park. My colleague Chance Miller had already speculated here on 9to5Mac about a possible date for the iPhone 16 event this year. However, what if Apple held this year’s iPhone event a week earlier? Would that be a possibility?

Speculations on Apple’s September event

Apple’s September events are usually held in the second week of the month. Also, the company prefers to broadcast its events on Tuesdays or Wednesdays rather than Mondays (except for the WWDC keynote). But there are a few things that could change this year’s schedule.

The most logical date for the iPhone 16 event would be Tuesday, September 10. After all, Apple never holds events on September 11. But there’s already a U.S. presidential debate set for September 10, and the company might not want to compete for news attention with the debate. For instance, MTV’s VMA was rescheduled from Tuesday to Wednesday because of the debate.

So what are the other possible dates for the event? Well, Apple could hold the iPhone 16 event a week earlier, either on September 3 or 4. September 2 sounds highly unlikely, given that it’s Labor Day in the U.S.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently reported that Apple was ramping up development of iOS 18.0, which would be ready sooner than expected so that engineers can focus on iOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence. In a new post on Tuesday, Gurman suggested that iOS 18.0 development has just been wrapped up with today’s release of beta 7.

Could this be a hint that this year’s event will take place a week earlier than usual? If that’s the case, Apple is likely to invite the press to the iPhone 16 event later this week – as the invites are usually sent to journalists two weeks ahead of the event.

Here’s a look at the dates of past events:

• 2023: Announced on August 29, 2023, for an event on September 12, 2023.
• 2022: Announced on August 24, 2022, for an event on September 7, 2022.
• 2021: Announced on September 7, 2021, for an event on September 14, 2021.
• 2020: Announced on September 8, 2020, for an event on September 15, 2020.

More about iPhone 16 rumors

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are expected to feature the new A18 chip with 8GB RAM for Apple Intelligence support, Action Button, new rear-camera layout with Spatial Video support, and new colors.

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will feature a more powerful A18 Pro chip, larger displays, a Capture Button for the camera, and a 5x zoom lens on the smaller iPhone 16 Pro.

Are you planning to upgrade to the iPhone 16 lineup this year? Let us know down in the comments.