iPhone 5 pre-orders planned for September 12, second release wave for first week of October
A couple of weeks ago iMore reported that Apple would be holding their iPhone 5 event on September 12, 2012. We've since learned that iPhone 5 pre-orders are currently planned to begin that same day …
Context & Ripple Effects
iMore had already put the iPhone 5 event at September 12; the new detail is that pre-orders would open that same day, with a second release wave targeted for the first week of October. The claim is unconfirmed, but it landed widely — BGR, The Verge, Pocketnow and five other outlets picked it up within a day — and BGR's separate report that AT&T is clearing staff schedules from late September through October fits the same launch window.
The timing matters against two things happening right now: Apple is mid-way through presenting its case in the Samsung trial, where its own survey testimony showed 48 percent of would-be iPhone buyers defected to Android to stay with their carrier — making a fast, broad multi-carrier rollout strategically loaded — and there are unconfirmed employee reports of Apple cutting recently hired retail staff even as stores brace for a fall rush.
First-order effects
- Carriers like AT&T, already clearing schedules through October per BGR's reporting, now have a concrete planning anchor — September 12 pre-orders, first-week-of-October second wave — for staffing and inventory commitments.
- Apple retail faces a squeeze: rumored cuts to newly hired store staff land just weeks before what would be its highest-volume sales days of the year.
Second-order effects
- If the 48-percent carrier-loyalty leakage from Apple's own trial survey holds, the pressure is on Apple and its carrier partners to widen day-one availability across networks — every carrier excluded from the launch wave is a channel feeding Android.
- A same-day announce-and-pre-order cadence compresses the news cycle, forcing rival handset makers launching this fall to either move up their reveals or surrender September headlines.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple's fall launch hardens into a fixed annual rhythm — event, same-day pre-orders, staggered international waves — that suppliers, carriers, and accessory makers plan their own quarters around.
- Pre-order volume becomes the de facto public scoreboard for smartphone demand, shifting competitive signaling from spec announcements to first-day order counts.
The trend: Apple is converging its iPhone launches on a tight annual playbook — single fall event, same-day pre-orders, staged release waves — turning the launch calendar itself into a competitive weapon.