With apologies to Samsung and its Galaxy S flagships or Google and its Pixels, the iPhone 16 release date may be the most anticipated day of the year when it comes to smartphones. And we now have a very good idea of when that event is taking place.
Apple has a product event scheduled for Monday, September 9. And while invitations for the event don't explicitly mention the iPhone or even show a silhouette of the product, it's a pretty safe bet that the iPhone 16 will show up at Apple's product launch.
Why? Not only are there enough rumors to suggest a phone launch is imminent, there's the fact that Apple always trys to roll out its new devices in September — the earlier the better it it means getting phones on the shelf for the holiday shopping season. In fact, you'll find the new iPhones heading the list of September 9 event predictions detailing what Apple could announce.
But even if we have that September 9 date for the iPhone 16 launch, it's still not clear when the phones themselves will hit retail shelves. Again, we can use Apple's past release dates to see if there's a pattern as to how soon we can expect new phones after the September 9 unveiling.
There's certainly more interest than usual in this year's iPhones. First, there's the fact AI is taking a more prominent role in driving some of the iPhone's major features. That will be a big part of the iOS 18 software, which is now out as a public beta that you can download. (Apple Intelligence is part of a separate beta, with a final version coming out after the iPhone 18 release.).
Beyond the software, there could be some significant changes to the iPhone 16 lineup. We're anticipating new screen sizes and camera improvements for the iPhone 16 Pro models, while every iPhone should feature Apple's latest A18 system-on-chip, as the phone maker has faced stepped-up competition from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 silicon powering the best Android phones this year.
Here's what we know about Apple's official product event date and what that means for the company's plans to roll out its new handsets based on what I've observed from covering every iPhone launch since the first one back in 2007.
iPhone 16 release date: Cheat sheet
- Apple has set its fall product event for September 9.
- In the past, products announced at Apple's events arrive in stores roughly 10 days later.
- We're expecting four iPhone 16 models, which should all go on sale at the same time.
iPhone 16 release date: When is Apple holding its event?
Apple has set a date for this year's product launch, with an event taking place at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters on Monday, September 9. Tom's Guide will be attending to cover the event live, and you can also live stream the action on Apple's YouTube channel as well as its website.
The Apple event gets underway at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET/6 p.m. BST on September 9.
It's unusual for Apple to schedule a Monday product event. Typically, Apple events take place on Tuesday (or Wednesday if there's a Monday holiday like Labor Day in the U.S.) Our guess is that Apple is holding this year's event on Monday in order to avoid sharing the news cycle with the U.S. presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump on Tuesday, September 10.
iPhone 16 release date: When will iPhones go on sale
After Apple wraps up its iPhone launch event, there are two dates to keep in mind — when iPhone preorders begin and when the phones themselves actually go on sale.
Usually, Apple starts taking pre-orders on the Friday immediately after ifs launch event. If it sticks to that pattern this year, iPhone 16 pre-orders would start Friday, September 13.
As for the actual release date, a look at past iPhone releases going back for a decade reveals a noticeable pattern to when new phones go on sale.
| Phone | Announce date | Release date |
| iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max | September 9,. 2024 | TBA |
| iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max | September 12, 2023 | September 22, 2023 |
| iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max | September 7, 2022 | September 16, 2022 |
| iPhone 14 Plus | September 7, 2022 | October 7, 2022 |
| iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max | September 14, 2021 | September 24, 2021 |
| iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro | October 13, 2020 | October 23, 2020 |
| iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro Max | October 13, 2020 | November 13, 2020 |
| iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max | September 10. 2019 | September 20, 2019 |
| iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max | September 12, 2018 | September 21, 2018 |
| iPhone XR | September 12, 2018 | October 26, 2018 |
| iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus | September 12, 2017 | September 22, 2017 |
| iPhone X | September 12, 2017 | November 3, 2017 |
| iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus | September 7, 2016 | September 16, 2016 |
| iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus | September 9, 2015 | September 25, 2015 |
With few exceptions, once Apple announces a phone, it's generally on sale within about 10 days, with Apple once again favoring Friday release dates. If we assume Apple doesn't deviate from that pattern with the iPhone 16, you'd expect a September 20 release date for the phones. Indeed, MacRumors is reporting a September 20 release date for the iPhone 16 following Apple's September 9 announcement. That date also appears in a Bloomberg report.
For a dissenting voice, a German blog claims that everything's moving back a day because Apple's September 9 event is on a Monday and not a Tuesday. That would mean pre-orders going live on September 12 and the phones hitting stores on September 19. We don't put too much stock into this claim, given Apple's preference for Friday releases.
There's one exception to Apple's usual release pattern that we should make note of — sometimes Apple staggers its phone releases, putting out different models on different days. Usually, this happens when supplies are limited for its new phones. Since 2015, there have been four times where Apple has had to stagger the releases of some phones.
With the iPhone 16 Pro display expected to grow to 6.3 inches while the iPhone 16 Pro Max screen increases to 6.9 inches, that could be relevant for this year's release, though we haven't heard anything about supply chain issues possibly staggering the release of the four phones in the iPhone 16 lineup. For now, we're going to assume the September 20 time frame remains in play for all four new models.
iPhone 16 release date: Outlook
Back when we started speculating about iPhone 16 launch dates, we guessed that Apple would settle on a September 10 date for its event. It turns out we were wrong by a day. Things could certainly change with the iPhone 16 release date, but we're fairly confident that the September 20 date will remain in place.
You can gear up for Apple's event by brushing up on all the iPhone 16 rumors, including rumors specifically about the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. We also look at what might happen to iPhone 15 prices once the new phones arrive.
More from Tom's Guide
- iPhone 16 — 7 biggest rumored upgrades
- iPhone SE 4 — all the rumors and what we want to see
- iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max — 7 biggest rumors you need to know
