Apple Announces ‘Surprise and Shine’ Event for Sept. 9: Here’s What to Expect
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Apple seems to have fallen in love with the number nine over the past three years. Today the company announced the date of this year’s iPhone 18 Pro launch event — and it’s being held on September 9, 2026.
Dubbed “Surprise and shine” — a name that we can only guess at the meaning of — the event will be held on Wedneday, September 9, 2026, at the usual 10 a.m. PT kickoff time. It’s already posted on Apple’s Events webpage with a button to add it to your calendar. The event placeholder is also up on YouTube.
Apple’s choice of date is particularly interesting, as the last two fall events have also landed on September 9, representing a consistency we’ve never before seen from the company.
In 2024, it took the unprecedented step of scheduling its “Glow Time” iPhone event on a Monday — a date that also happened to mark the 10th anniversary of the announcement of the original Apple Watch. This naturally led to speculation that we’d see an “Apple Watch X” anniversary edition alongside the new iPhone 16 lineup, but all we got was a relatively modest updated in the Apple Watch Series 10.
This date was repeated with last year’s “Awe-Dropping” event, during which Apple unveiled the iPhone 17 lineup and the new iPhone Air, plus three new Apple Watch models.
Still, while a Monday event was definitely odd, the 2025 event was more on-brand for Apple, which almost always holds its September events on Tuesdays, pushing to a Wednesday only when that Tuesday comes after the Labor Day weekend or lands on September 11.
Since Labor Day is on September 7, this year, that makes Wednesday, September 9 the most likely date for Apple to hold an iPhone event anyway. If Apple were to stick with tradition, the only other option would be the following Tuesday, September 15, but Apple has never held an iPhone event that late. The closest it ever came was in 2021, when the iPhone 13 lineup was unveiled on September 14. The only other exception was 2020, when Apple held an Apple Watch event on September 15, but that was also the year everything was delayed due to the COVID pandemic; the iPhone 12 lineup wasn’t unveiled until October.
This meant the smart money was always on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. The jury is still out on when pre-orders for the new devices will open; Apple typically does this the Friday following the event, but that lands on September 11 this year. The last time that happened was in 2015, when Apple unveiled the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which marked the only year that pre-orders opened on a Saturday (Sept 12). With this year marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Apple will likely do something similar.
We’re expecting Apple to unveil quite a few things at the event, from the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Pro to the long-awaited foldable iPhone (the so-called “iPhone Ultra”) and a new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. There’s also a good chance a new HomePod mini, Apple TV 4K, and the much-rumored home hub will make an appearance, plus the possibility of the AirPods 5.
It’s unclear whether all of these products will be available for pre-order right away. The foldable iPhone, in particular, has been plagued by rumors of slow production, and even if Apple puts it on the market alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models, there’s a possibility it may be US-exclusive at launch.
