One of this year’s hottest upcoming phone series is set to debut shortly. Yes, it’s time for the iPhone 18 series, but as you’ll hear, the standard iPhone 18 may debut at a different time than the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. And there’s also the foldable iPhone Fold set to appear as well.
What’s the difference this year?
Multiple reports suggest that Apple will break its regular yearly cycle of iPhone launches as it juggles with multiple different models of iPhone and smartphone development slows down year-to-year.
It seems we will get a premium-only lineup this year, with the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in September alongside a foldable iPhone called the iPhone Fold or iPhone Ultra. The foldable model now seems nailed on.
Strong rumors suggest that the standard iPhone 18 will launch in Spring 2027 instead, probably alongside an iPhone 18e.
So when exactly should the iPhone 18 series phones appear?
I believe the iPhone 18 launch event will take place on Tuesday, 8 September. That means pre-orders would most likely start on Friday 11 September with the general iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Fold release date on Friday 19 September.
As for the iPhone 18 and potential iPhone 18e, I believe these devices will debut in early March which is a quite-usual date for Apple device launches. Apple debuted the iPhone 17e on 2 March this year and so it stands to reason that a Tuesday – 2 or 9 March would meet expectation.
What isn’t known is when – or if – an iPhone Air 2 would appear, and while reviews weren’t great and sales apparently poor, there’s little doubt that the iPhone Air shows us what a future iPhone would probably look like.
How much will the iPhone 18 series cost?
This is the big question this time around. While the iPhone 17 started at $799/£799 for 256GB of storage, we know we are going to get price hikes this year. To remain competitive I would think this will mean $100/£100 hikes all round, but it is possible it could be even higher – some analysts have even suggested $300 hikes, though I think this very unlikely.
It may be that price rises aren’t the same across the board – the iPhone 17 Pro currently starts at $1099/£1099, with 256GB of storage as standard with the Pro Max starting at $1199/£1199 for 256GB.
Apple traditionally tries to avoid year-on-year price increases for its phone range, instead waiting several generations before demanding a little extra cash. But because of the other rises Apple has applied to products due to memory rises, it seems ‘inevitable’ that the iPhone will follow suit.
What happened on previous iPhone release dates?
The iPhone 17 series was introduced to the world on September 9 2024, exactly a year after the iPhone 16 lineup. You could pre-order the iPhone 17 on Friday September 12 and they were then fully available on Friday September 19.
Even though the 2024 launch was held on a Monday instead of Apple’s preferred Tuesday, the firm stuck to its usual pattern of a pre-order on the next Friday and availability the following Friday.
While 2024’s Monday reveal was out of the ordinary, it wasn’t the first Apple event that broke with tradition. 2022’s iPhone 14 launch took place on a Wednesday and was a week earlier than usual. In 2020 the global situation meant later availability for some handsets. And going back to 2017, the fresh-start iPhone X didn’t make it out the gate until November 2017.
When has the iPhone launch event taken place in the past?
The original iPhone came out in January 2007 (though the UK launch was towards the end of that year) with some launches taking place in June and even October after that. But since the iPhone 5, things have settled in the September slot.
The exception to this was in 2020, when the delay to the iPhone 12 lineup was caused by the global slowdown in production due to the pandemic. The iPhone 13 series returned to normal and the iPhone 14 launch was earlier than the launch 12 months before it.
- iPhone 5 – 12 September 2012
- iPhone 5S / 5C – 10 September 2013
- iPhone 6 / 6 Plus – 9 September 2014
- iPhone 6S / 6S Plus – 9 September 2015
- iPhone 7 / 7 Plus – 7 September 2016
- iPhone 8 / 8 Plus / X – 12 September 2017
- iPhone XS / XS Max / XR – 12 September 2018
- iPhone 11 – 10 September 10 2019
- iPhone 12 – 13 October 13 2020 (later due to manufacturing delays with the pandemic)
- iPhone 13 – 14 September 2021
- iPhone 14 – 7 September 2022
- iPhone 15 – 12 September 2023
- iPhone 16 – 9 September 2024
- iPhone 17 – 9 September 2025
- iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and Fold – probably 8 September 2026
- iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e – probably March 2027
