Technology insider Evan Blass (@evleaks) claims the new iPhone will debut Friday, Sept. 16, amid reports the latest Apple smartphone won’t actually be called the iPhone 7, but the iPhone 6SE.
Over the weekend, Blass tweeted the latest iPhone would release during the second week of September. He later tweeted a more specific date: Friday the 16th.
The 16th falls a little early relative to Apple’s iPhone release dates in recent years. The iPhone 6s landed in stores Sept. 25 of 2015 while the iPhone 6 debuted on Sept. 19, 2014. According to 9to5Mac, Apple typically makes an official announcement two weeks before a new product hits the market. It predicts Apple will announce the latest iPhone Sept. 5 or 6 and open pre-orders on Sept. 9, with the phone in the hands of consumers just a week later.
A separate report from the German blog apfelpage says Chinese supply chain sources have seen packaging to indicate the new iPhone will be called iPhone 6 SE, as opposed to the assumed moniker of iPhone 7. The report is corroborated by a Tweet from Blass from late June, where he claims it’s “highly unlikely” the 2016 model would be called the iPhone 7.
The 6SE name seems to support ongoing rumors the latest iPhone won’t see enough changes over previous models to warrant a new number.
What do you think of the latest iPhone news? Are you looking to upgrade your 6 or 6s model come September, or holding out a year for a more dramatic change? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
