Apple Allegedly Plans iPhone Keynote for Mid-September

Apple is “tentatively” planning the iPhone keynote for mid-September, according to people “briefed on the plans” speaking with 9to5Mac. These sources claim the second and third weeks of September are the most likely times for the event, although the date could be affected by the manufacturing schedule.

In an interesting turn of events, the larger, “phablet” iPhone may not make it to keynote, as the final decision has not yet been made, the sources say. What appears to be more likely is that the 4.7-inch version will appear, as it is at a more advanced stage of manufacturing and internal testing.

By the way, this echoes earlier rumours claiming the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 will enter mass production in August.

On the software side, the same sources say the fifth beta of iOS 8 will be released on Monday, August 4, and the GM version will be ready sometime in late August or early September.

Just yesterday BusinessInsider’s Dave Smith posted his own prediction about the iPhone keynote, putting the event in early September. After analyzing Apple’s iOS release pattern for the past two years, Dave noticed that iOS 6 and iOS 7 were introduced exactly 100 days after the unveiling of the next-generation iOS on WWDC.

Now, if Apple maintains the same 100-day release pattern, Apple will release iOS 8 on September 10, followed by the iPhone 6 on September 12. Extending the theory, this also implies that Apple will perhaps hold the iPhone keynote on September 2?