Prepare for a extremely busy month of smartphones

We’re not even half a day into September, and two new smartphones have already launched: the Poco F9 Pro and F9 Ultra. We’re anticipating extra this week, because the IFA commerce present kicks off in Berlin, earlier than we get new iPhones every week after that. And that’s solely the start of what guarantees to be an exceptionally busy month for smartphone launches.

For the last decade I’ve labored within the business, tech journalists have all the time spoken in hushed tones in regards to the dreaded “Techtember,” when nearly each tech firm on the planet appears to be in unstated settlement that it’s time to launch new merchandise in time for the vacation shopping for season. (It’s adopted, in significantly packed years, by Techtober too). In the previous few years, the strain has lessened slightly, the discharge calendar stretching out into neighboring months. But in 2026, Techtember is again with a vengeance, particularly in relation to telephones.

It all the time begins with IFA. Europe’s greatest tech commerce present attracts over 200,000 guests and international producers from throughout tech. IFA doesn’t have as many cellphone launches because it did a decade in the past, when the likes of Sony, Samsung, and LG would normally launch flagships on the present, however there’s nonetheless lots on the best way this week.

Tecno has teased a bezelless idea cellphone, which it says it’ll be bringing to the present. TCL normally brings an array of E Ink-esque Nxtpaper telephones to indicate, so I’d hope to see some at its press convention. There’s even an outdoor likelihood of a complete new foldable: Xiaomi is attending IFA for the primary time ever, only a week after it teased the upcoming Xiaomi 18 Fold and promised the phone a launch in early September. Its September third press convention will surely make sense for that.

Then there’s Apple. The firm received’t be at IFA, nevertheless it has already introduced a September ninth occasion, the place we anticipate it to launch new iPhones. Rumor has it that it’s splitting its launch up in an act of solidarity with overworked cellphone reviewers (I want), delaying the common iPhone 18 to subsequent spring and sticking to the Pros this month. Still, the long-awaited arrival of the primary foldable iPhone must be sufficient to maintain us busy.

But that’s removed from all that’s coming. Android Headlines reckons at the least 20 telephones will launch this month, and that could be a conservative estimate.

Huawei will launch its latest trifold, the Mate XT 2, in China on September seventh, and maybe the Mate 90 lineup too. Xiaomi will comply with up the 18 Fold with the 18 Pro lineup later within the month. Vivo has confirmed its flagship X500 sequence may also arrive in September, and Honor has done the same for its Magic 9 flagships. Oppo’s Find X10 line has been closely tipped to reach in September too, although fortunately some suggest it’d slip to the next month. Even OnePlus is predicted to get in on the motion: its OnePlus 16 rumored to launch in September too — although not within the US or Europe.

Why the sudden glut? I blame Qualcomm. It used to launch its flagship Snapdragon chips in December, however that launch date has steadily moved ahead, partly to provide producers time to ship new merchandise forward of profitable vacation gross sales seasons, each in China and overseas. So this yr it’s holding its annual Snapdragon Summit from September twenty second to twenty fourth, when it’s prone to reveal the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. Promptly after that, we will anticipate a rush of Android producers asserting telephones powered by the brand new silicon.

With RAMageddon in full swing, the jury’s nonetheless out on how interesting these launches can be. Outside of Samsung’s enjoyable Galaxy Z Fold 8, numerous this yr’s greatest telephones have been rehashes of 2025 fashions with a worth hike and a chipset bump — and infrequently not even that. At least we’ll have extra foldables to be enthusiastic about, and hopefully a few producers have one other shock or two in retailer.

A month chock-full of telephones, that I can do. But if we’re about to get a Techtember filled with iterative updates that value extra, with out delivering something particular? Wake me up when it’s Techtober.