When is the iPhone 16 coming out? Could Apple's on-sale date be a surprise?

It's tempting, in the world of tech journalism, to say that Apple follows the same formula every year when it comes to its iPhone launch. It has a Special Event event in early September each year, then puts in a pre-order date a few days later, before the phones' go on-sale a week after that. 

However, Apple has already thrown one screwball this year – after months of insiders predicting that its event would happen on 10 September, it's announced that the showcase is instead planned for next Monday, 9 September. 

Now, that might not mean a huge amount of change for the iPhone 16, and those same insiders are sticking to their guns where the phone's actual release is concerned. Most people expect iPhone 16 pre-orders to begin on Friday 13 September, before orders start shipping on Friday 20 September. 

The reality is that we won't know a huge amount more about this until Apple confirms those dates right at the end of its likely two-hour presentation, but the fact that its whole event is a little early means there might be hope of faster movement – even if only by a day. 

At most this might mean that pre-orders open sooner than 13 September – since this is the part that's probably more flexible. We'd be more confident that the actual release date of 20 September is fixed, after years of precedent. Indeed, the last time the Cupertino company revealed on a Monday (i.e. one day earlier), it didn't affect the rollout of pre-order or on-sale date cycles.

No matter what, you'll want to pay attention to Apple's announcement of these timings, though, as the first wave of phones often does see a particularly novel or attractive colour sell out for a few weeks. This is particularly common for the Pro lineup, which tends to have at least a couple of new features to get people excited. This year perhaps that'll be the Desert Titanium finish. 

Quite what we'll get from the iPhone 16 range isn't fully confirmed yet – but do read T3's extensive iPhone 16 news and rumours feature for the latest – with most rumours mentioning a new Capture button on the side of the phone, perfect for those who want a little more control while they're shooting photos or video. 

If you're keen to be in the first wave for those new additions (and doubtless a heaping of other improvements), be sure to tune into Apple's event when it kicks off – you can watch the 9 September event live here – so that we can put all this speculation about dates to bed once and for all.