Technology companies usually like to give each other room for their big announcements. Car makers and game developers politely take turns at their big trade shows, while big IT news is staggered across different company reporting dates.
Apple’s 7th inning stretch
However, September 7 will see two pretty big launches on the same day. First up is Apple. The Cupertino company has confirmed iPhone 7 (or possibly just iPhone) will be unveiled on the date, 10 AM in San Francisco. Not that there’s much to expect about the phone, with leaks of the double camera lens and removal of the headphone jack all common knowledge.
Of more interest will be what Apple can offer in the way of smart home and smart consumer technology. It has to keep the momentum going with Apple Pay, Apple HomeKit and other services that can help boost our lives. Fans will no doubt be waiting for that one more thing moment, but they seem to be something from Apple’s previous era. You can watch the event life from their dedicated web page.
Sony to trump Microsoft?
Also being officially launched on that day with be Sony’s new PlayStation 4 Neo console, at one of its semi-regular PlayStation Meeting events. While the hardware is likely locked down, Sony will be looking to one-up or maybe even two-up Microsoft who revealed the specifications of its own Xbox Scorpio console earlier in the summer. A livestream of this event (3PM New York) will be available.
LG wants to play too
Not wanting to have its new crushed on the day, LG will be having its fall news event on 6 September. Billed as “The second story begins” the San Francisco event will unveil the new V20 phone, one of the first devices to be running the new Android Nougat operating system.
As far as must-have tech goes for 2016’s holiday season, the news definitely kicks off next week. While you may be getting a bit jaded about all these cookie cutter press events, designers jabbering on in monastic tones about being 1mm slimmer or having an extra five minutes of battery life, they are worth checking out, just in case someone has a really big reveal on hand.
Photo credit: Ignite
