Exactly When Apple Will Launch iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air And iPhone 17 Pro
Updated June 17 with more details of the release date, what's coming and why this might be the last year to fit this schedule.
Apple will launch the iPhone 17 series later in 2025, doubtless in the fall, as that's when the company has said the next generation of software, iOS 26, will go on general release — it's just had a surprise update to the developer beta cycle. Exactly when the phones will launch hasn't been announced, but it's possible to nail down the date with some accuracy. And it's worth noting that rumors are already rife about how things will change in 2026. More on that below. Here's all you need to know.
To be clear, when I say iPhone 17 throughout this piece, I'm also referring to the rest of the iPhone 17 series. In other words, the regular iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, the larger iPhone 17 Pro Max and the all-new super-slim iPhone which is predicted to be on the horizon. It may be called the iPhone 17 Air or it may have some other name which Apple feels conveys the svelte, stylish nature of this phone.
So far, there have been no rumors of delays for any of the four, so I think all will be announced at the same keynote — though it's still possible that one or more could see a delay to its release date, as happened in the past for the iPhone X and iPhone XR in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Apple's biggest keynote of the year always features the iPhone, and usually the Apple Watch plus, sometimes, another product like AirPods. It always falls in roughly the first half of September, mostly on a Tuesday or Wednesday. And never on Sept. 11.
This gives us three possible pairs of dates: Tuesday, Sept. 2 or Wednesday, Sept. 3, Tuesday, Sept. 9 or Wednesday, Sept. 10, or Tuesday, Sept. 16 or Wednesday, Sept. 17.
We can rule out the first pair as that completely clashes with the big consumer electronics show in Berlin, IFA, which runs Sept. 5-9, with press days just before that. U.S. and international press will be tied up in Germany that week. Also, Labor Day is Monday, Sept. 1, and Apple doesn't choose the week Labor Day falls in.
The final pair of dates seems too late for me, though they're not impossible — if Apple hits a snag in production, it can move the launch to that week. Most likely are Tuesday, Sept. 9 or Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Last year, Apple chose Monday, Sept. 9 for the keynote, so the Monday in that week, Sept. 8, is also possible.
My gut says it will be on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific in Apple's Cupertino HQ.
The pre-order date can shift a little, but it's usually on the Friday of the week of the keynote. So, providing September 9 is the day the keynote happens, as I believe it will be, then pre-orders will open on Friday, September 12. As for the time, this usually begins at local times, often at 1 p.m. wherever you are. This means it's first in places like Australia, later in the U.S. because of the time zones.
Previously, Apple has let people get ahead of the queue the night before pre-orders open — Thursday, Sept. 11 in this scenario — so they can choose the color, storage level and model of iPhone then and complete the purchase when pre-orders open the following day.
Assuming the keynote is on Sept. 10, or one day that week, the release date, as sure as eggs is eggs, will be the Friday of the following week: Friday, Sept. 19. If for some reason the keynote moves to the week beginning Sept. 17, then Friday, Sept. 26 will be the onsale date for the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max (if those are the names selected for the phones expected).
But my money's on Friday, Sept. 19.
Alex Lee at The Independent has just released his own prediction of the release date and I'm happy to say it coincides with mine.
'Apple almost always announces its new line of smartphones on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in the second week of September. To give you an idea, the iPhone 16 was announced on Monday 9 September 2024, the iPhone 15 on Tuesday 5 September 2023, the iPhone 14 on Wednesday 7 September 2022, and the iPhone 13 on Tuesday 14 September 2021. The newest iPhone is always then available to pre-order on the Friday of that same week, before releasing on general sale a week later.
"To break it down easy, I'm expecting Apple to unveil the iPhone 17 in the second week of September, probably sometime between 8 and 10 September, with pre-orders going live on Friday 12 September. The iPhone 17 lineup could then be released on Friday 19 September,' he says.
In commenting on the release date for the iPhone 17, Cnet has said that the iPhone 17 series will likely be announced in the first half of September. But it also comments on how this might not be the way things are after this year.
'The iPhone 17 lineup may be the last to follow this fall-release model. Starting with the iPhone 18, Apple will reportedly split its phone releases so that lower-cost iPhones launch in the first half of the year and the higher-end Pro models become available later in the year. But that isn't expected to happen until 2026 so you can likely still expect the iPhone 17 Pro to become available this fall.,' it says.
In which case, check back for a different release date story this time next year.
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