Apple has officially announced the date and time of its big September iPhone event: Wednesday, September 9, at 10 am PT. That’s a day later than its usual fall events because of the Labor Day holiday on Monday.
The event invitations went out with an image of an Apple logo shining brightly like a sun in the sky along with the tagline “Surprise and shine.” The event will be streamed on apple.com, on the Apple TV app, and on the Apple YouTube channel. We will of course have full coverage right here on Macworld including a liveblog.
Apple’s event invitations often contain some clue about what we expect them to announce, but it’s hard to imagine what this one could be referencing from the current rumors and leaks. There’s a bit of a “new day” angle with this being the first Apple Event under incoming CEO John Ternus, but we don’t expect anything related to super-bright displays or anything that would obviously relate to this motif.
The prevailing color is blue, which could be a reference to one of the new iPhone 18 Pro colors, and the overall brightness could reference the new camera system. And we obviously want a surprise, but Apple tries to make every new event full of surprises.
Whatever it means, here’s what we expect Apple to announce:
iPhone 18 Pro / Max: With a similar design to the iPhone 17 Pro/Max, the next iteration of Pro phones will reportedly sport a new Dark Cherry color, a fast new A20 Pro chip, and a new main camera with a variable aperture. Learn more about the iPhone 18 Pro / Max.
iPhone Ultra: The first folding iPhone is expected to be called iPhone Ultra. According to rumors, it will have an unusually wide “passport” size when folded and include the A20 Pro, two cameras (wide and telephoto), and use a new Touch ID button instead of Face ID, but it’s the software features and capabilities that will really make or break the new product, of which we know very little. The price is expected to be high at $2,000 or more. Learn more about what we expect fromt the iPhone Ultra.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: Apple always launches a new Apple Watch together with the new iPhones. This year that should be the Series 12, and potentially the Ultra 4. We don’t expect any big changes to either of these…there will be minor chip improvements for better performance, but the latest rumors say not to expect major design changes or big new features like blood glucose monitoring this year. Learn more about Apple Watch Series 12.
Other surprises could show up
Apple has multiple other products on the way soon that could make an appearance at this event, but aren’t necessarily expected. That includes a new Apple TV 4K and a new HomePod mini (both with chip updates that let them support the new Siri AI), as well as a totally new product: a smart home hub with a squarish 7-inch screen and a new operating system.
Apple just revealed new M6 Mac mini and M5 Mac Studio products that ship later in September. But there are other Macs in the works, including an entry-level M6 MacBook Pro, a touchscreen MacBook Pro with a totally new design, and an M6 iMac with new colors, but we expect those to be bundled at an event later in the fall.
Similarly, Apple is preparing AirPods with cameras. While AirPods are very often announced together with new iPhones, the rumor is that this model isn’t expected to ship until 2027. However, Apple could use this event to announce AirPods 5, according to a rumor this week from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
