Apple will reportedly sidestep a September 11 preorder date by moving sales to Saturday, only to burden buyers with a significantly less convenient start time.
Typically Apple holds its yearly iPhone launch on or around the second Tuesday. This hasn't always been the case; out of the last eight iPhone events, we've had five Tuesdays, two Wednesdays, and one Monday.
And, in 2020, that launch was in October, not September. So it's not a hard and fast rule.
This year, we're getting our September Apple Event on Wednesday, September 9. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 18 Pro and its first foldable phone, the iPhone Ultra.
Historically, Apple almost always opens preorders the following Friday. But there is one exception to that rule: when the following Friday falls on September 11.
In 2015, Apple announced the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus on Wednesday, September 9. Preorders subsequently fell on Saturday, September 12.
It looks like Apple is going to repeat that pattern this year. According to Macwelt's sources, Apple plans to follow the this year's iPhone event by opening preorders on Saturday.
There may be one significant change, though. Instead of opening Preorders at 5:00 am PT or 8:00 am ET, the company will allegedly be opening preorders at 12:01 am PT, as it has done for iPhones in the past.
This means that anyone on the east coast will need to preorder at 3:01am ET.
If true, this would be wildly inconvenient to most of the U.S. While one could argue that 5:00 am is not a convenient time to wake up to place a preorder, it's still not unheard of.
Expecting someone in Chicago, for example, to either stay up or set an alarm for 2:00 am seems a bit cruel. Especially considering Apple will be launching the iPhone Ultra, a phone that will most assuredly have very limited supplies to begin with.
AppleInsider has also spoken with sources at a major U.S. carrier who have been told to keep the morning of September 11 open, with time-off requests for that period being denied.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean preorders will begin Friday morning. We were also told that the carrier has been wrong in the past, leaving stores to adjust their plans once Apple announced the concrete date.
We won't know officially until Apple announces preorders at the September Apple Event. You can use our helpful guide for when and where to tune in to see it live.
