Leaks and past announcements have all pointed to September 14 as being the most likely date for the iPhone 13 announcement, and now UK carrier Sky Mobile has virtually confirmed that date.
The network lets you register your interest for an “upcoming big announcement” before September 14, and while neither Apple nor the iPhone 13 range are specifically mentioned, those phones are by far the biggest on the horizon, and the cut-off matches when we’re expecting to see them.
Not only that, but Nils Ahrensmeier on Twitter spotted that one of the images used is called "Apple_Launch_Pre_Reg." So if there was any doubt that Sky Mobile is talking about the iPhone 13 range, that should clear things up.
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So this basically confirms that the iPhone 13 range will be announced on September 14. There’s an outside chance that Sky Mobile is simply guessing that will be the date, but at this point it probably knows.
Phone Arena additionally notes that the network’s current promotions are set to expire on September 16, which is one day before the likely pre-order date for the iPhone 13 on Friday, September 17, as Apple almost always opens pre-orders for its phones on the Friday of the announcement week.
The ending of those promotions is probably therefore no coincidence, as the network will likely look to refresh them to include iPhone 13 offers.
Analysis: September 24 is probably when the iPhone 13 will ship
While none of this tells us when you’ll actually be able to get an iPhone 13 in your hands, we’d think September 24 is very likely to be the date for that.
Apple typically ships the phones a week after pre-orders open, so with that probably happening on September 17, that takes us to September 24. However, we can’t be totally certain of any of this yet, and it’s possible that some models in the iPhone 13 range will ship later than others.
For example, the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max were shipped later than the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. But that was down to Covid-related disruptions, which don’t so far seem to have had as much impact this year, so there’s a good chance they’ll all arrive on doorsteps on September 24.
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