iPhone 12: ‘Apple event’ hashtag sparks excitement about possible imminent announcement

(AFP via Getty Images)

A hashtag for an “Apple event” has led to a flurry of excitement that the company is about to conduct an event.

The company is set to reveal the iPhone 12 as well as a host of other products soon, but the details of that launch event remain unclear given the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdowns that followed.

Apple has already said that the new phones will arrive a “few weeks later” than normal, but it is not clear whether that will delay the launch event or just the actual release of the hardware.

It is also unclear how Apple will hold the event. The usual on-stage announcement will be all but impossible, and Apple held its first major online event in June, with WWDC, and it is likely to do the same this time around.

The sponsored hashtag on Twitter – known as a “hashflag” – means that the Apple logo will appear on any post that includes the phrase #AppleEvent.

It appears to have begun on 8 September, and will run all the way until 28 September.

Apple’s use of Twitter has always been somewhat unusual among technology companies. The official account has never posted a public tweet – but has published a host of ads, which appear as posts within individual feeds but not on its profile.

The discovery of the hashflag meant that the phrase #AppleEvent was already trending on Twitter, with some new 31,000 posts including the phrase at the time of publication.

That was despite any indication of what the event might actually be. While rumours have suggested that Apple is preparing a whole set of products – not only the iPhone 12 but also updated iPads and Apple Watches, and new AirPods that work as headphones rather than earphones – none of them have been confirmed and Apple does not comment on unreleased products.

In recent years, Apple has unveiled its new iPhones in the second week of September, meaning that an event would ordinarily be expected this week. The hardware itself is usually made available around a week and a half later.