Here’s What the Apple Rumor Mill Says to Expect on September 9

Apple has officially set its fall keynote for September 9 at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, and the speculation machine is already running at full tilt. As ever, the event invite itself says nothing, but the Apple gossip sites are pretty much in alignment about what’s coming. 

Here’s a rundown of the most credible chatter—and the wilder claims that may or may not pan out.

The Star of the Show: iPhone 17 (and a super-slim “Air” model)

The safest bet, according to tech industry sites (and Reuters), is the launch of the iPhone 17 lineup. But the “big news,” if the leaks are right, is a brand-new model: the iPhone 17 Air, said to replace the Plus and weigh in at just 5.5 mm thin—the slimmest iPhone ever.

MacRumors offers up the Air’s reported specs: a titanium-aluminum build, a 6.6-inch ProMotion OLED display, a single 48MP rear camera, USB-C, eSIM-only design, Wi-Fi 7, and the new A19 chip paired with 12 GB RAM. In other words, thin doesn’t necessarily mean underpowered.

Reverse wireless charging

If you spring for the higher-end models, then you might get to use your iPhone as a charging pad with a feature called “reverse wireless charging” or power sharing, says Apple Insider.

Should the rumors prove true, you’ll be able to flip your phone over, place another device (like Apple Watch or AirPods, or even another phone) on the back, and your phone’s battery will trickle power into it using the same Qi wireless standard. It’s handy for topping up accessories on the go, though it’s slower and less efficient than wired charging.

As Android fans will no doubt boast, Samsung and Google have offered this kind of feature for years. 

AI creeps into Siri

No surprise here: Apple is desperate to prove that “Apple Intelligence” isn’t an oxymoron, and it can do generative AI without compromising privacy. Investor’s Business Daily notes that Apple may lean on Google’s Gemini AI to boost Siri, its weakest link compared to Alexa or Google Assistant. The scope of the AI integration is unclear, but Reuters says to expect Siri to be front and center.

Other hardware: Watches, AirPods, Vision Pro

Apple never wastes a September stage on just phones. 9to5Mac points to new Apple Watch models—a Series 11 and an Ultra 3—as well as a third-gen AirPods Pro model. A Vision Pro update could also get stage time, though many sites warn that anyone awaiting AirPods Max 2 will be disappointed.

Looking beyond September

Several rumor sites are also sketching out Apple’s three-year iPhone roadmap. Tom’s Guide reports that 2026 could see the long-rumored foldable iPhone, with 2027 marking a radical “Liquid Glass” redesign for the iPhone’s 20th anniversary. And The Verge has echoed the idea of the iPhone Air as the start of a bigger design cycle.

The bottom line

For investors, the biggest news will likely be whether Apple is able to get back into the AI race. For consumers, since the death of Apple’s charismatic co-founder, Apple product rollouts have been at best predictable and at worst disappointing.

That we can even do a story like this, with so much coverage “predicting” what Apple will do—and most of it ends up being right, historically—is itself something that never would have happened when Steve Jobs was alive. Well, almost never.