Apple is already planning to release its next round of iPhones in the second half of September, 2024.
At least one UK Apple Store has told its employees that they can't take time off between September 15, 2023 and October 7, 2023, According to a new report. Those dates could well be when Apple intends to release the new iPhone 15 into retail.
Coming not very soon
The report by MacRumors notes that employees at Apple Milton Keynes have been told that the timeframe is a no-go for vacation, with the traditionally busy Christmas period also out of the question — between December 2, 2023 and the start of January 2024, according to that report.
It isn't unusual for Apple to try to ensure that it has a full complement of team members during an iPhone launch and the September timeframe is when the company normally gets new iPhones into the hands of customers around the world. Adding two and two together, it seems likely that's when iPhone 15 is expected to arrive.
It isn't clear whether this policy is being implemented across the UK retail estate, however. Milton Keynes store is the only store mentioned in the report, although it does go on to say that the instruction comes from "above the store," suggesting this is something that is being passed down from management higher up the Apple Retail food chain. If so, we can likely expect other Apple Stores to follow suit.
This is of course all almost a year away and Apple's actual release date for what will be its best iPhone ever — for a year, at least — is unlikely to be set in stone just yet. However, if past releases are any indication a mid to late-September release seems a good bet at this point. Apple released this year's iPhone 14 on September 16, for example.
