Apple is reportedly pushing iPhone 18 preorders to Saturday, September 12, to avoid launching on the 25th anniversary of September 11.
To make things trickier, the preorders might kick off at midnight Pacific, meaning most of the country will have to set middle-of-the-night alarms to secure one.
The Saturday shift is driven by the calendar. Apple holds its annual iPhone event in the second week of September, with preorders typically starting two days later, on Friday.
This year’s event is set for Wednesday, September 9, which would put the standard preorder date on September 11.
Apple avoided that date once before: when the iPhone 6s was announced on September 9, 2015, preorders opened on Saturday, September 12. The same logic appears to apply in 2026.
According to Macworld, citing its German sister publication Macwelt, preorders will open on Saturday rather than Friday.
What’s less settled is the time. Apple has historically launched preorders at 5:00 a.m. Pacific, or 8:00 a.m. Eastern — inconvenient but manageable for most people.
If the reported 12:01 a.m. Pacific start is accurate, buyers on the East Coast would need to be up at 3:01 a.m., and those in Chicago at 2:01 a.m.
That timing would matter more this cycle than most. Apple is expected to announce not only the iPhone 18 Pro but also its first foldable device, the iPhone Ultra.
Foldables from other manufacturers have routinely launched with limited inventory, and early preorders are often the difference between receiving a phone at launch and waiting weeks.
Apple has not publicly confirmed preorder dates or times. Those details are expected to be announced during the September 9 event.
