When is the iPhone 17 release? Here's our best guess

We’re already in August, so it won’t be long before Apple holds its annual fall iPhone event to introduce its new devices. While all the iPhone 17 rumors seemingly point at a September reveal, there are a lot of people wondering about the iPhone 17 release date, since that’s when they’ll be able to get Apple's new phone in their hands.

Apple, of course, hasn’t come out to confirm any of this yet, but unless there’s a major shakeup, we only need to look at the company’s past iPhone releases to infer when we could pinpoint the iPhone 17 release date. What’s interesting this time around is that Apple could be introducing a brand new model into the fold — the rumored iPhone 17 Air — which could potentially cause a slight change in its release cycle.

Although it’s possible for Apple to formally introduce its iPhone 17 lineup together, their release schedules could follow a staggered approach. Here’s what we know about the iPhone 17 release date.

iPhone 17 release date rumors: Past iPhone releases

The chart below of Apple’s past release schedule for its iPhones gives us our first big clue when we could expect the iPhone 17 to be announced — and then subsequently released. For the last several generations of iPhones, Apple announced them during the first or second week in September.

This year’s iPhone 17 reveal could fall around the same time frame, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman hints at a date between September 8 and 12 for the most likely launch date for the iPhone 17. He’s had a good track record with his predictions, so we’re confident about this timeframe.

In addition to the iPhone 17, we’re also expecting Apple to unveil the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone 17 Air (formerly tipped as the iPhone 17 Slim). The latter is expected to replace the Plus model in Apple’s lineup, offering a thinner and lighter design than previous iPhones.

iPhone 17 release date all the rumors

Pinpointing an exact date for the iPhone 17 release could be as simple as looking at the company’s history. Apple hasn’t deviated from its Friday release schedule, evident in the chart above. In fact, all iPhones announced during its fall event were all released on a Friday — usually more than a week later than when they’re first announced.

Based on Gurman’s report that Apple will hold its next fall iPhone event sometime between September 8 and September 12, we could see a general release as early as September 19. That could be extended to September 26, but that first date looks promising at this point.

However, there’s an offset chance that Apple could delay the release date for one of its iPhone 17 models — namely the iPhone 17 Air, since it would be a new addition for this year. If you look back at Apple’s past release dates, you’ll see how the iPhone 14 Plus was released much later on than the rest of the models in 2022.

That could end up happening for the iPhone 17 Air, given the substantial difference it would have over the rest of the lineup.

iPhone 17 release date: Outlook

We’ll have to wait until the end of August to get a better idea for when Apple plans to release the iPhone 17 lineup. Last year Apple sent out invites to its ‘Glowtime’ event on August 26, so we suspect the same time frame.

There’s clearly a lot at stake here because Apple will have a lot of competition by the time it releases the iPhone 17. Samsung’s two foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 have already garnered a lot of acclaim and even set preorder records for the company. In about a couple of weeks, the next Made by Google event will be held on August 20 — presumably to intro its new Pixel 10 lineup.

Alongside its potential iPhone 17 reveal, we’re eager to see what new Apple Intelligence features we could also possibly know more about, given how it took a back seat during the iOS 26 announcement at WWDC 2025.

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