iPhone 12 release date: Apple rumours get louder as likely announcement of new phone arrives

Company rumoured to be releasing four phones, in three different sizes

(Getty Images)

Rumours about the upcoming iPhone release date have continued to increase as the likely announcement nears.

Numerous reports have suggested that Apple is planning to reveal the phone on 13 October, with the devices actually arriving roughly a week and a half later, on October 23.

That would mean the iPhone 12 would arrive almost exactly a month later than usual, with the phones generally announced and released in September.

Numerous Apple rumour sites including MacRumors have reported that date. While it is far from confirmed – and even if it were could be subject to change between now and the eventual date – it is almost certain that the new iPhone will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

The delay is related at least partly to the global pandemic, which led to problems travelling to China to begin production as well as shipping delays that led the release of the iPhone to be pushed back.

The company is actually rumoured to be planning four new phones: a smaller and larger version of both its iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, with the four handsets coming in four different sizes and having a variety of features distributed across the range.

The company may choose to release those phones at different times, and not all of them may arrive in October. It did the same with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, with the cheaper and less innovative model coming out on the usual schedule, a few weeks before the iPhone X arrived with the public.

The rumoured release schedule is roughly in line with Apple's warning that the phone would be "a few weeks" later than its usual mid-September announcement. While the company is notoriously secretive about its product plans, it made that announcement to investors, meaning that it is both likely to be accurate and would be followed by further announcements if an even longer delay was expected.

Apple has not mentioned any further delay. It did not make any reference to the iPhone at all during its "Time Flies" event, which came at the usual time the new phone would be released, but instead focused on the Apple Watch and iPad.