Right now is the worst time to buy a new iPhone — here’s why

When someone asks me when it's the right time to buy an iPhone, I usually tell them "Whenever you need to get a new phone."

And I truly believe that — you can drive yourself batty holding out for the latest and greatest hardware, since the nature of technology is that there's always something promising to be more impressive right down the road.

But note the "usually" in my "buy a phone when you need a phone" advice. There's one time a year when I think it's a bad idea to spend money on a new iPhone. And folks, we're in that period right now.

If you find yourself in the market for one of the best iPhones, better check the calendar first. That's because if you're within a few weeks of an Apple event, it's best to hold off, if possible, just to see what Apple might have in store for its latest devices. And the closer you get to that Apple event, the better idea it is to hold off on a purchase.

We don't know exactly when Apple's going to hold its fall launch event, but given Apple's history, it's not to hard to guess an iPhone 17 release date. And we are close enough to that window to where my usual logic about upgrading when you need to no longer applies.

What we know about Apple's iPhone launch history

Even a casual glance at the last few iPhone releases reveals a pretty universal fact — Apple likes releasing iPhones in the first two weeks of September. That gives the company enough time to get the new devices into stores before the end of the month, so that it has a full quarter worth of sales to show Wall Street for the three months culminating in holiday shopping — the most important time of year in Apple's fiscal calendar.

Only once in recent memory has Apple gone through a September without releasing an iPhone. That would be in 2020 — the year the Covid-19 pandemic delayed production on the iPhone 12 and pushed the release later into the fall. No one wants a repeat of that, certainly not Apple.

But don't take my word for it. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a pretty good source of Apple-related info, has forecast an iPhone event for the second week of September. And if you want to get even more specific, a German site is listing a September 9 event date, with the new iPhone 17 models going on sale September 19. Again, that 10-day window between the announcement and the actual launch is pretty consistent with Apple's recent history.

What we know about the iPhone 17

So we have a pretty good idea about when the iPhone 17 models are arriving. And thanks to all the rumors out there about Apple's latest phones, we have a pretty good idea of what new features are on the way, too.

At this stage in the evolution of smartphones, we're at a point where we don't see dramatic changes every year. That said, rumors point to some pretty significant improvements coming to the existing iPhone models — and there could be an entirely new device from Apple this fall.

The iPhone 17 could be getting one of the more significant changes in the form of an LTPO display. If you're not up to date on the merits of low-temperature polycrystalline oxide panels, don't fret — all you need to know is that it's the technology that enables the adaptive refresh rate on Apple's ProMotion displays. In other words, the entry-level iPhone will finally be able to support a fast refresh rate, allowing for smoother scrolling and more immersive graphics.

That alone could make the iPhone 17 worth the price of admission, and that's before you get to more traditional year-over-year improvements to the chipset powering the phone to the battery size.

The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max could be in line for a marquee edition of their own, as rumors tip those phones to adopt a 48MP telephoto lens. There's some dispute over what kind of optical zoom the upgraded camera would support — some say 3.5x, others are arguing 8x — but there's no doubt that the high-resolution sensor would mean more detailed close-ups from this year's Pro models.

Other Pro-specific features like a vapor cooling chamber to help boost performance could also be in the works for the iPhone 17 Pro.

Then there's the fourth phone reportedly coming this fall, the iPhone 17 Air. This is supposed to be Apple's attempt at an ultra-thin phone in the vein of the Galaxy S25 Edge, only Apple's version might be even thinner if measurements of an alleged dummy unit prove to be accurate. It's unclear what else the iPhone 17 Air will bring to the table, but if you're in the market for an entirely new design, this phone could be of interest to you.

To put it another way, these shouldn't just be run-of-the-mill upgrades from Apple in the fall. And even if you ultimately decide that there's not enough there to justify an upgrade, you're at least putting yourself in a position to make that call should you hold off on a purchase for another few weeks.

What about iPhone 17 prices?

There is a wrinkle to this year's buy-or-wait decision, and it comes down to iPhone 17 prices. Specifically, there's a concern that ongoing economic turbulence and in flux tariff policies might have an impact on what you pay for Apple's new phones.

Earlier this year, a Wall Street Journal report said Apple was considering an increase to the cost of its iPhones, while a more recent analyst forecast had prices going up by $50 from the equivalent iPhone 16 models. That would mean a starting price of $849 for the iPhone 17, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max costing as much as $1,249.

While it may be tempting to buy an iPhone 16 now and avoid any iPhone 17 price hikes, I think the window to do that closed during the summer. We're close enough to the rumored iPhone launch to see what features the new devices bring to the table. And if they're not impressive enough or fail to justify any price increase Apple imposes, you can always fall back to the iPhone 16, which should be available at a lower rate in a post-iPhone 17 world. Apple usually keeps a handful of older models around at reduced prices following one of its product launches.

So the combination of an Apple event that will be here before you know it and rumored improvements that sound worth examining should put any planned iPhone purchase on hold at this point, no matter what kind of prices we ultimately see.

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