Pre-orders for Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro may not open until Saturday, September 12, a day later than the company’s usual schedule, according to a new report.
Apple is expected to hold its annual iPhone event on Wednesday, September 9, during which the iPhone 18 Pro models, its first-ever foldable iPhone, and the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are all expected to be announced.
Under Apple’s typical launch plan, pre-orders begin the Friday immediately following the event, and devices ship the following Friday. This year it would go up for pre-orders on Friday September 11th, but Macmonde reports that its German sister publication, Macwelthas learned from a reliable source that Apple will instead push back pre-orders to Saturday, September 12.
There is precedent for this since the change would be linked to the date itself. September 11, 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and Apple has already moved pre-orders away from that date. In 2015, when the standard Friday pre-order also landed on September 11, Apple delayed the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus pre-orders to Saturday, September 12.
The time of day is also said to change. Apple’s pre-orders traditionally open at 5 a.m. PT, but the source says this year’s window will begin at midnight PT on Saturday.
The delayed pre-order date is expected to apply to the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple Watch Ultra 4, as well as any other hardware Apple introduced at the event. Apple’s foldable iPhone could follow at a later date, with pre-orders potentially not opening until late September.
Earlier this year, Macwelt reported that Apple would announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, but that announcement didn’t actually happen until March 2. That being said, Saturday, September 12 seems like a solid bet for the iPhone 18 Pro pre-order date, although the announced midnight PT start time is worth taking with a pinch of salt for now. Apple’s iPhone event takes place in just under two weeks, on September 9th.
