When will the iPhone 11 launch? Release date, features – and why this year’s phone launch could be different

All three will arrive at one go

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on September 12, 2018 in Cupertino, California (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The new iPhone is about to arrive.

Heralding new camera technology and updated colours, the set of three phones are rumoured to be keeping the same design on the outside but include a whole range of improvements on the inside, and mark one of the highlights of the tech calendar.

But where exactly do they fall on that calendar? It is, at this point, possible to have a fairly good guess about when the new phones will arrive.

The iPhone 11 is rumoured to actually be three phones: the plain iPhone 11, which will replace the iPhone XR; the iPhone 11 Pro, which will sit in the place of the iPhone XS; and the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which will take the place of the XS Max.

They're rumoured to be the same size and design of the current phones. But they're expected to bring a range of updates, chiefly the addition of another camera lens to improve photographs.

When will the launch event happen?

Almost certainly on 10 September.

It's possible it might change, of course. There's no way to know for sure that's the date that Apple is thinking of, and even if it were, there's the chance it might alter the date.

But that's the most likely of all the dates.

Apple in recent years has released its iPhones in the second week of September, on a Tuesday or Wednesday. That, for one, would put it on the 10th, since it would opt to avoid September 11th, which falls on Wednesday.

That was all but confirmed by an image that was found in the beta version of the upcoming iPhone update, which indicates that the file shouldn't be seen before it is released to the public, and includes the date Tuesday the 10th.

When will the release date be?

The release of the phones has stuck to a fairly consistent schedule, too. The phones have tended to come out at the end of the following week.

This year, that would mean the new phones will come out on 20 September.

What will be different this year?

Apple has got into something of a common pattern in recent years: three phones, all launched on the same day, at a variety of different price points. As we've established, even the dates that those things happen have become a little familiar.

But there is rumoured to be a difference this year. All of the phones are going to arrive at the same time.

In the last two years, since Apple started unveiling two different types of phones in three different sizes, the company has staggered the release. The first time around the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus came out as normal, followed by the iPhone X; last year, the XS and XS Max came first and were followed by the XR.

This year, Apple is expected to release all of those phones at the same time. That plan will presumably be helped out by the fact that it will be the first year Apple isn't offering a new size.