The iPhone 9's launch date could be set for April 14 just to compete with the OnePlus 8

iPhone 8 (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

We've been told Apple might announce iPhone 9 on April 14.
A shipping date of April 24 is been suggested.
OnePlus is set to announce the OnePlus 8 & OnePlus 8 Pro on April 14.

We've been hearing all kinds of things about Apple's upcoming iPhone 9 of late and that hasn't been helped with the arrival of a case designed for the thing, either. The latest comes via Jon Prosser – a man who has been at the center of all things Apple and iPhone 9 in recent days. According to him, Apple intends to launch the new phone between April 13 and April 19.

That puts the unveiling squarely in the same timeframe as another big phone announcement coming out of OnePlus. We know that the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will be announced on April 14, so is it possible Apple will drop iPhone 9 on the same day just to steal some thunder?

Maybe, and maybe not. Prosser told us that there are a couple of potential timeframes in play.

Dates on the table are:Announce - Wed, April 15 Ship - Wed, April 22Or(To take attention from OnePlus)Announce - Tues, April 14 Ship - Fri, April 24

Frankly, any of those seem possible at this point. We expected an iPhone 9 announcement last month, so what difference do a few days here or there make? None, none at all.

One thing we're pretty sure about is what iPhone 9 will look like. A replacement for iPhone 8, this thing is expected to look almost identical with the same Touch ID Home button and 4.7-inch LCD screen. Underneath that screen is where things will get interesting, though. If the rumors are accurate this "budget" iPhone will ship with Apple's A13 chip – the same one that powers iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.

If iPhone 9 hits a claimed $399 price point, that's a lot of silicon for not a lot of money.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.