iPhone 11: Apple event invite could offer major hint about new handset

It looks like we are in for something very colourful

The app’s Ts and Cs indicate that users sacrifice their rights to any images they upload (Getty )

Apple has invited the world to the launch of the new iPhone – and might have given them a big clue about what they're about to see.

The company has announced that the phone will be revealed on 10 September, at a launch event at its headquarters in California.

It did so using an invitation sent to some members of the press, which unveiled the date and asked them to come along.

The wording of the message was relatively simple. It included the words "by innovation only" and included all of the details about the event.

But it was the image lurking behind the text that might offer the real clue about what's to come.

The image is notably colourful: far more brightly coloured than Apple's usual invitation. It suggests, at the very least, that something particularly vibrant is on its way.

But it might be a reference to something more specific. Apple had already been rumoured to be potentially including a colourful Apple logo on the back of the phone, in an apparent reference to its old rainbow logo.

The colours also have an aquatic tinge, redolent of the colourful plastic of the original iMac. That could further suggest that Apple is aiming for a nostalgic look in the new devices.

The different hues might also be a reference to the colours of the phones themselves. With the iPhone XR last year, Apple launched the new devices in a variety of different colours – and many of those colours are present in the image.

There is, at the moment, no green iPhone. But, by coincidence, that colour has also been rumoured as the new one in Apple's upcoming line-up.

Apple's event invitations are always picked through for clues about what is to come. Usually, they don't offer anything concrete – but can give an important indication of the kind of theme that Apple is aiming for in the new products or the event more generally.