Apple has locked in 9 September for its next iPhone launch, and for once the headline for Malaysian buyers is not what is arriving. It is what is not. The most affordable new iPhone, the one most people here actually buy, will not be on that stage.
Apple confirmed the event on 26 August under the tagline "Surprise and shine", to be held at its Apple Park campus and streamed online, as reported by 9to5Mac and MacRumors. It starts at 10am Pacific time, which is 1am on Wednesday 10 September in Malaysia. Expected on stage: the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple's first foldable iPhone, all rumoured to run a new A20 Pro chip built on a 2nm process.
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What Apple is launching, and the iPhone 18 that is missing
For the first time in years, there is no standard iPhone in the autumn lineup. Reporting collated by Gadget Hacks says the regular iPhone 18 and the cheaper iPhone 18e have been pushed to spring 2027, with rising memory costs and a change in release strategy given as the reasons. For a Malaysian shopper, that delay matters more than the new foldable does.
What you need to know:
- Apple's event is on 9 September (1am, 10 September Malaysian time).
- Only the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and a foldable iPhone are expected this autumn.
- The standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e are reported to slip to spring 2027.
- That leaves a Pro model as the cheapest brand-new iPhone on sale in 2026.
In Malaysia, the iPhone that sells in volume is the entry model, not the Pro. Last September the iPhone 17 range started at RM3,999, according to SoyaCincau, with the iPhone 17 Pro from RM5,499 and the Pro Max from RM5,999. If Apple keeps its 2026 pricing anywhere near that, the cheapest new iPhone a Malaysian can buy this year will be a Pro at somewhere north of RM5,000, because the roughly RM4,000 tier will not exist until 2027.
Why the cheap iPhone is late
The memory-cost reason is not a throwaway line. We have written about how the same AI-driven squeeze on memory chips is pushing phone prices up across the board, and why 16GB of RAM now costs about RM800 here. Apple holding back its cheaper phones to protect its margins is that same pressure, showing up in the shape of the lineup itself.
What Malaysian buyers can do about it
There are three sensible moves for anyone here who was planning an upgrade this year. Stretch to a Pro, where the cameras are the real reason to pay more and where Apple keeps pushing toward proper mobile video. Buy a current iPhone 17, which becomes the value pick the moment the new models land and older stock is discounted. Or look sideways: Google's Pixel 11 is already on sale in Malaysia and leans hard on its camera at a lower entry price.
Apple's September show will still be worth staying up for. Just go in knowing that the phone most Malaysians would actually have bought is the one Apple is asking them to wait until 2027 to get.
Images courtesy of Amanz and Raymond Yeung on Unsplash.
