Famed tech informant Evan Blass, known as @evleaks on Twitter, claims Apple is gearing up to release its iPhone 7 model to retail on the week of September 12, and most likely on that Friday, September 16. And to be clear, he's referring to when you can actually go out and purchase an iPhone 7 model, not the launch event, which will take place sometime beforehand. There's no reason not to believe Blass on this one. Even ignoring his more than favorable history with leaking inside information that later turns out to be accurate, including Apple leaks, the time frame generally fits with Apple's past launches. A September 16 release is slightly earlier than the September 25 retail launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, but not by much. And because it's on a Friday, Apple will be kicking things off with a full weekend of sales.

True story: the Twitter app has a special notification only triggered by one of these: pic.twitter.com/Lu1MN9L3AX

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) July 25, 2016