iPhone 8 release date: Apple leaks all but confirm next announcement of new handsets

The announcement might be in the brand new Steve Jobs theatre at Apple's spaceship campus

The iPhone 5S with fingerprint technology is shown at its product announcement at the Apple campus (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The announcement of Apple's next iPhone has all but been confirmed.

The company will launch the phone on September 12, with the actual release date probably coming about a week and a half later. And it might even do it in a brand new place – the Steve Jobs theatre that it is building on its new, spaceship campus in California.

That's according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited anonymous sources "familiar with the matter". That all but confirms the launch, and is in line with previous rumours as well as Apple's now dependable schedule for iPhone launches.

If the company sticks to that schedule, then pre-orders for the new phone will probably open the following Friday. The phone will then actually go on sale a week later.

Apple is expected to launch three new phones at the event: the upgraded version of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which will likely take the name 7s, and a far more advanced model called the iPhone 8. That's expected to integrate a range of features including a screen that wraps all the way over the front of the phone and special cameras that can recognise the face of the handset's owner.

Many of the details of that phone – including what it looks like – were accidentally leaked by Apple when it uploaded some software to the internet, apparently by mistake. But a number of questions are still unanswered ahead of the event, including the name and how much exactly the expensive phone is likely to cost, both of which could still be changed all the way up to the event.

If it sticks to its usual schedule, Apple will probably send out information about the launch event and how to watch it a few days before it begins. Last year, it sent out invites on 29 August, but also held the event a week earlier.

The same event is also likely to feature the launch of a new Apple Watch and an upgraded version of the Apple TV.