“Where’s the iPhone 12?” That’s what everyone is asking us on Tuesday, September 8th when new iPads and the Apple Watch 6 arrive out of a new iPhone.
That is at least our analysis of the collective reaction of the world as sometimes-oriented Apple leaker, Jon Prosser, has nailed the timeline. Hy tweeted a list of weeks is expected that Apple will announce and release new hardware.
It is not good news if you would like to get your hands on the rumored iPhone 12 Pro 5G. That version will come last in the schedule of things.
If true, the Apple Watch 6 and new iPads will arrive first – the week of September 7 – and come with significantly less than normal fanfare due to Covid-19, potentially as stealthy revelations via press release, as we saw with the iPhone SE 2020 in March .
Now, assuming Prosser’s window is accurate, we fully expect the date to be Tuesday, September 8, since September 7 is a Monday and holiday in the US (Labor Day). It is also the time frame that Apple normally has with a large launch event. But no new iPhone is mentioned for this first release date.
Note: we do not expect the ‘new iPads’ to include high-end Pro models. We got an iPad Pro 2020 in March, setting the stage for an iPad Pro 2021 with 5G. Instead, it is the mid-range iPads – the iPad Air 4 and iPad mini 6 – that are suspected to be launching next.
Usher in the iPhone 12 delay
The launch date of the iPhone 12 is said to be five weeks later, the week of October 12 (it could be Tuesday, October 13). This is no big surprise, as Apple, in its call for earnings last month, made the rare move of announcing the iPhone 12.
The iPhone 12 reveal is said to be coming to an ‘event’. Whether that’s a personal launch event or another ‘Apple live stream’ video as we saw with WWDC 2020 remains to be seen. We expect four versions of the new iPhone to appear.
Some pre-orders launch the same week – we predict Friday, October 16th. Apple has a history of placing pre-orders Friday following a launch event. And the iPhone 12 is said to go on sale next week – so Friday, September 23rd.
But, according to Prosser, the high-end iPhone 12 Pro will not be available at all in October. Instead, this version will get a pre-order and release date of November, with the leaker saying “no exact date” yet is “in the system.”
November is very late for a new iPhone, especially the versions (we expect two large ones) that early adopters want. The Pro is rumored to have the fastest 5G speeds, the largest screens and the best cameras.
But this is not the first time in recent history that Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone has slipped in November. The iPhone X launched on Friday, November 3, 2017.
Prosser nailed the iPhone SE 2020 release date and had the iMac 27-inch (2020) announcement beforehand, but he got a lot of Apple WWDC leaks, noting that the dates could always change at Apple’s end.
