Updated August 10 with new information about Foxconn and production of this year’s iPhones.
The new iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will almost certainly be unveiled in a month’s time. But when, exactly? You can read my detailed predictions of when the iPhone will go on sale, when the keynote revealing it will happen and even when the keynote will be announced here. But a new production line report has emerged which can give greater clarity of what’s happening whenand another report adds more credence to it.
The iPhone 15 is about to be replaced. Here’s when the iPhone 16 will be announced.
The latest indication comes from a claim that Foxconn, crucial to manufacture of the iPhone in China, has recruited extra staff. And quite a lot of them: 50,000 new works have been hired according to Business Korea, as spotted by MacRumors. Extra staff is another very clear indication of production ramping up as the release approaches. And the timing is a good fit for the release date of Friday, September 20—more on the dates below.
Here’s how MacRumors describes the influx of extra staff: “The company has intensified production efforts with its primary manufacturing partner, Foxconn, in Zhengzhou, China. The factory, known as the world’s largest iPhone production base, is now operating at full capacity, having brought in 50,000 additional workers within the last two weeks.”
Meanwhile, mass production of the OLED displays which will adorn the iPhone 16 series phones has been ramped up, according to ET News, with Samsung on track to produce 80 million while LG makes 43 million, it’s claimed.
So, why does this matter? Because it suggests that production of the iPhone is on schedule, that is, no delays are anticipated at this stage. If that’s correct, that means the likelihood of the iPhone 16 series being on sale in September is very strong.
More specifically, it leaves the possible date for the keynote that unveils the hardware—alongside the Apple Watch Series 10 and perhaps new AirPods—seems to be holding steady at Tuesday, September 10.
As ever, Apple likes to be unpredictable, so don’t be surprised if it moves a day earlier or a couple of days later instead. For sure, there’s one day it won’t be: September 11 falls on a Wednesday but that’s the day Apple has avoided since it’s the anniversary of the 2001 attacks.
With all on schedule, it seems, that means the pre-orders for the phones will begin on Friday, September 13 and the iPhone 16 will be on sale on September 20, that is, the following Friday.
Those final dates, for pre-orders and onsale seem to be very likely indeed: even if the keynote moves by a day or two, pre-orders and onsale are almost certainly set in stone.
Apple knows what’s happening, but until it actually announces the keynote, it can change anything it needs to up until the very last minute.
Look out for the keynote to be announced in the first week of September, almost certainly just when the big electronics trade show is getting going. I’ll be going into full details the second it’s announced, almost certainly on Tuesday, September 3 or Wednesday, September 4. Check back here then, please.