We’re just over a month away from the expected announcement and release of the iPhone 11. At an investor event this week, SoftBank President Ken Miyauchi offered a hint at when we might expect the iPhone 11 release.
For background, Japan recently outlined a revised Telecommunications Business Law, which will go into effect on October 1st. The law would require carriers to separate data and device plans, ending the practice of carriers bundling high-end devices like the iPhone with overpriced data plans.
As detailed by Macotakara, Miyauchi was asked about how Softbank plans to account for the September release of the iPhone, with the new law going into effect on October 1st.
This timeline – which Miyauchi acknowledged he probably shouldn’t have shared publicly – would suggest that the iPhone 11 release will be on September 20th. This aligns with precedent set by Apple in previous years.
As we outlined last month, Apple generally holds its iPhone event on the second Tuesday or Wednesday of September. This year, that would mean we’re looking at event on September 10th or September 11th. September 10th is the most likely choice given, as Apple has always avoided holding events on September 11th.
From there, iPhone pre-orders generally start the Friday following the event event. This means we should expect iPhone 11 pre-orders on Friday, September 13th. The first pre-orders would then likely arrive to customers on the following Friday, September 20th.
