At the first-ever launch event at its Steve Jobs Theater , Apple announced the release of its much-anticipated new iPhone line: the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. With excitement abounding after Apple's reveal of its new smartphone products, many people are wondering when exactly the iPhone 8 will come out — and how soon they will be able to have one in their hands.
Fortunately for those who are eagerly awaiting the phone, its release date is quite soon — it's available for pre-order Sept. 15, and in stores from Sept. 22. This release date falls in line with tradition, as Apple typically waits about 10-15 days between revealing its new products and then releasing them to the public for sale.
Indeed, for its most recent previous model, the iPhone 7, Apple officially announced the new phone on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, and then released the phone the following week, on Friday, Sept. 16. The company also began pre-orders for the product on September 9.
While Apple did not reveal first weekend sales for the iPhone 7 last year, there were reports of frustrations with regards to shipping times. As CNN reported in September 2016, even during the pre-order process, demand for the phones was already causing delays. Users who ordered phones, especially popular black models, ahead of the official release date of Sept. 16 were told that they could face shipping delays of up to four to six weeks. Those who ordered less popular colors were quoted quicker ship dates.
For the iPhone 6s, the model that preceded the iPhone 7, the company also followed a similar reveal-release plan. The iPhone 6s was revealed on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015, and released on Sept. 25. The phone was also made available for pre-order on Sept. 11, giving consumers a longer pre-order period before the actual release date.
Apple did report early sales numbers for the iPhone 6s model, which were quite impressive. The company noted that, three days after the official launch date of Sept. 25, Apple had sold 13 million new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models. This figure included pre-orders as well as in-store sales.
Thus, past experience points to the fact that iPhones are exceedingly popular — and that their popularity does not seem to be going away. Indeed, a survey conduced by Strategy Analytics this year showed that Apple’s iPhone 7 was the top-selling smartphone during the first quarter of 2017. While Apple doesn’t release iPhone sales by model, the organization's research showed that Apple sold 21.5 million iPhone 7 models during the first quarter of 2017 and 17.4 million iPhone 7 Plus models.
Indeed, in the past iPhone release dates have been so popular that people have stood in line outside of Apple stores for hours on end. Moreover, some people have even hired professional line standers to secure them a phone on release day if they did not have time to stand in line. Or, those interested in purchasing and quickly re-selling the new iPhone model have hired others to stand in line in order to thwart store quantity limit rules.
Thus, if history is any indication, people can expect a lot of new interest in the new iPhone line after today's reveal. Indeed, many on Twitter have expressed how they cannot wait to get their hands on the new model. While Apple will likely not release its early sales figures of the model, as the company has been reluctant to do so in recent years, it will nonetheless be very interesting to watch how interest evolves in this model — and to wait and see if long lines emerge at Apple stores around the country as the release date nears.
