iOS 13 release date: Apple announces when new iPhone software will be available to download – but with one strange problem

Apple has announced the release date for its new operating system – with a strange detail.

iOS 13 will arrive on 19 September, the company said after it revealed a variety of new products including the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, which will be released the following day.

But the full version won't actually come until 30 September, after the new iPhones are released, it said.

The company opted not to announce the release date alongside the unveiling of the new handsets, instead sending details out to press after the launch had finished. In the same release, it also included a note that "some features may not be available in all regions or all languages".

Apple appears to have run into issues with its new software, which means that some of the central features will not be ready in time for the launch of the new devices.

The company first showed it off at its Worldwide Developers Conference event in June, when it revealed a number of features including a dark mode and more. It said then that it would arrive later in the year.

Beta versions of the software arrived soon after but immediately users complained that some features seemed to include considerable bugs, some of which were so major that they stopped the operating system from working properly.

Apple then released an unusual version of that beta software, numbered iOS 13.1 – even before iOS 13 had actually been released. That prompted fears that Apple would not have the software fully ready for the expected release date, which usually comes before the release of the new iPhone.

Some of the features that were pulled from iOS 13 at that point included the ability for people to listen to music from one iPhone through two different sets of AirPods, and for Siri to read your messages. It will presumably be those missing features that will be saved until the release of iOS 13.1.

The release date of the new iPhones functions as a deadline for the newest version of iOS, since it must be ready to ship with the new models. Apple's solution appears to be to make that deadline by stripping out some of the features, and then providing them in a later update when they will presumably received more development.

Apple directed people looking for more information about the update to its special page for iOS 13. While that does include all of the new features coming in the latest software, it does not mention which features will be missing and only references the earlier release date of 19 September.