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iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: When Will Apple Event Be Announced?

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It is now late August, meaning that Apple's annual iPhone event is just around the corner. Below, we take a look at when the event might be held this year.

Four-iPhone-18-Pro-Colors-Mock-Feature.jpg

This September, Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and an all-new foldable iPhone that will reportedly be named the iPhone Ultra. The regular iPhone 18, a lower-end iPhone 18e, and the iPhone Air 2 are not expected to be announced until around March 2027, as part of a new launch strategy.

Australian media outlet ChannelNews recently published an "exclusive" report claiming that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra event will take place on Tuesday, September 8. However, this date is questionable, as Apple has never held its iPhone event one day after Labor Day. Historically, there has always been at least a two-day gap between the holiday and the event, so it is more likely to fall on Wednesday, September 9 or later this year.

In his Power On newsletter yesterday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the event will indeed take place "on or around" Wednesday, September 9 this year.

If the event were to fall on Tuesday, September 8 or Wednesday, September 9 this year, pre-orders would ordinarily begin on Friday, September 11. However, that Friday will mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, so Apple may want to avoid starting pre-orders that day out of respect. Perhaps for the same reason, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus pre-orders began on Saturday, September 12 instead of Friday, September 11 in 2015.

It would be a lot smoother for Apple to skip the week of Labor Day and the 9/11 anniversary entirely and hold its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra event the following week instead. This would also allow for an extra week of production for the first-of-its-kind iPhone Ultra. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the event will take place in the first half of September, which would make Tuesday, September 15 the latest possible date.

If the event falls on Monday, September 14 or Tuesday, September 15, then pre-orders would likely begin on Friday, September 18, and the devices would likely launch Friday, September 25. It remains to be seen if the iPhone Ultra is available at the same time as the iPhone 18 Pro models, but it might be limited to the U.S. at first either way.

Since 2020, iPhone event videos have been pre-recorded, but in recent years Apple has invited select reporters to the Steve Jobs Theater to watch the video in person. Afterwards, attendees receive hands-on time with the new devices.

The table below provides an overview of dates for the last six iPhone events, with 2020 being an outlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

iPhone SeriesAnnouncement DateEvent DateDelta (Days)
iPhone 17Tuesday, August 26, 2025Tuesday, September 9, 202514
iPhone 16Monday, August 26, 2024Monday, September 9, 202414
iPhone 15Tuesday, August 29, 2023Tuesday, September 12, 202314
iPhone 14Wednesday, August 24, 2022Wednesday, September 7, 202214
iPhone 13Tuesday, September 7, 2021Tuesday, September 14, 20217
iPhone 12Tuesday, October 6, 2020Tuesday, October 13, 20207


Article Link: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: When Will Apple Event Be Announced?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/24/iphone-18-pro-iphone-ultra-apple-event-when/
Last edited:
I’ll still go with the Pro Max series, but I might wait for the Ultra next year as a second-generation phone since I don’t want to be a beta tester.
 
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usersince86 said:
I've used Apple products (almost exclusively) since 1986, and I'm a huge fan, but it still cracks me up that speculating on the day of a product announcement is worthy of being "news" -- and yet, here I am reading and commenting! 🙂
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haha ... same feeling.
I don't even want any of these devices (iPhone Mini user) and yet here I am too.

Screenshot 2026-08-24 at 08.30.35.png
 
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AT THIS POINT JUST WANT THE INVITES TO GO OUT WITH A DATE AND TIME....im tired of hearing the same damn rumors over and over and over like its something new to report..... Heres how its going to play out....speculation on the date...finally get an invite, then speculation on what they are going to show, then the actual event, then speculation on if they say "Iphone Ultra pre orders start in October". when that will be and when the next event will be...and then speculation on what will be shown at that event and the date of the pre-orders, then it will come out, you will have your selected influncer reviews, then the people who actually paid for the item will review it from a totally out of pocket point of view...etc....

Ive been down this road for 20 years following rumors. Im tired boss.

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Can't wait as my Apple Watch 6's side button kicked the bucket two weeks ago.

Still, my money is on the 15th
 
Yourbigpalal83 said:
AT THIS POINT JUST WANT THE INVITES TO GO OUT WITH A DATE AND TIME....im tired of hearing the same damn rumors over and over and over like its something new to report..... Heres how its going to play out....speculation on the date...finally get an invite, then speculation on what they are going to show, then the actual event, then speculation on if they say "Iphone Ultra pre orders start in October". when that will be and when the next event will be...and then speculation on what will be shown at that event and the date of the pre-orders, then it will come out, you will have your selected influncer reviews, then the people who actually paid for the item will review it from a totally out of pocket point of view...etc....

Ive been down this road for 20 years following rumors. Im tired boss.

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Agreed. It's not as if the date makes any difference. It's just entertainment until objective reviews start filtering down, before then it's just reading off the hymnsheet, and every YouTube channel repeating the same details from the same event.

There biggest issue with so many influencers, channels and sites focusing on a single company's output is that it's just not enough of a content source to keep the influencers, channels and sites fed, without consistently rechurning the same facts and talking points.
 
My money is on a 9/15 keynote, pre-orders open 9/18 and first deliveries start landing 8/25.
I see no reason to force things a week earlier, given the US. holiday and 9/11. Getting their billions one week later will not adversely affect any reporting.
 
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