iPhone 8 release date: New Apple handsets to come out in mid-September, according to report

The phone – or phones – will probably go on sale about a week and a half later

Apple CEO Steve Jobs watches a video of the new iPhone 3G as he delivers the keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Web Developers Conference June 9, 2008 in San Francisco, California (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple's iPhone release date might finally have been revealed.

The launch event will take place on 12 September, according to French website Mac4Ever, which said that it had heard the news from phone networks. That means the phone itself is likely to open for pre-orders the Friday after – the 15th – with a full release a week later.

Mobile phone operators have been told to get ready for those dates so they can be prepared for when the phone goes on sale, the site claimed.

The event might also be the first that Apple holds in the Steve Jobs theatre, the new auditorium that is being built specifically for these kind of events on its spaceship-like campus in California. But recent videos have shown that work is still ongoing and so it still may not be ready in time.

Apple is expected to launch three phones at the upcoming event – the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, which will be internal improvements on the existing phone, and a much major upgrade in the iPhone 8. That premium model will include a range of new features including facial recognition and a brand new design, according to multiple leaks.

Apple usually opens pre-order the Friday after launch and then actually puts the phone on sale a week after that. But it might choose to change that schedule a little this year, given that it is rumoured to be taking longer to create the premium phones, and so might release them a little later.

Some had even suggested that the phones might not arrive until closer to Christmas. But Apple's guidance appeared to suggest that it was confident that it would be able to make enough of them in good time.

Though Mac4Ever has had reasonable success with Apple rumours in the past, the date couldn't be immediately confirmed and it wasn't clear which carriers had told the company. But it's almost certain that the Apple event would have fallen that week or the week before, anyway.

At the iPhone launch event, Apple is also expected to reveal a third version of the Apple Watch that will include a data connection, and an updated version of the Apple TV that will allow people to watch in 4K.