iPhone 9 pops up on Verizon’s site as release date nears
Apple is having an awfully hard time keeping the iPhone 9 — or iPhone SE 2, or whatever the company ultimately decides to call it — a secret. The upcoming cheap iPhone, which is expected to start at just $399, has just received a mention on Verizon’s website in some fine print about device trade-ins.
The text was uncovered by FrontPageTech’s Jon Prosser, and mentions the “iPhone 9” alongside other Apple handsets and Samsung’s Galaxy devices. The use of the iPhone 9 moniker is a little strange, given that last week’s rumors tended to tilt in favor of the device ultimately being named the iPhone SE — though this could also be a simple case of placeholder text syndrome.
Verizon slipped and mentioned the new “iPhone 9” on their trade-in page. ? pic.twitter.com/N1qkuFHN3iApril 5, 2020
Simultaneously, a listing for the iPhone 9 has also appeared on Chinese retailer JD.com and was reported by GSMArena. It doesn’t reveal much in the way of notable details on the handset — and, of course, it’s all in Mandarin — though it’s yet another indication that the new entry-level iPhone isn’t just happening, but happening soon.
When the iPhone 9 is formally launched, though, there’s a good chance it will do so quietly. That’s according to a report from MarketWatch today (April 6) which quotes Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives as saying that “Apple is viewing this as a low-volume, low-touch release with little fanfare as the phones are already ready to ship.”
Ives says all signs point to a mid-April release for the iPhone 9, which is of course only a week away. That timeframe also aligns with another rumor from last week — again tipped by Prosser — that Apple intends to reveal the iPhone 9 on April 15.
It’s not terribly hard to imagine Apple playing down the iPhone 9’s unveiling. There’s a precedent for this in Cupertino, as last year the company made a series of product announcements over the course of a week that amounted to little more than press releases. One of those was the Apple AirPods 2019, which turned out to be more of an iterative patch on the original model. Similarly, the iPhone 9 appears to bear a strong resemblance to the 4.7-inch iPhone 8 — only with Apple’s latest-generation A13 Bionic processor and few, if any, other changes.
All the while, cases have started to pop up on retail sites across the web — another sign that the iPhone 9’s debut is imminent. Keep a close eye on our always-updated iPhone 9 rumor hub over the coming days for the latest news between now and launch day.
