iOS 14 release date: New iPhone software will arrive in September as usual, despite iPhone 12 delay, report claims

Release schedule has been delayed by coronavirus outbreak and lockdowns

Apple's Stacey Lysik speaks during Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California on June 3, 2019 (BRITTANY HOSEA-SMALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Apple's iOS 14 will still arrive this month despite a delay in the release of its new iPhones, according to a report.

The company has already said that the iPhone 12 would miss the usual early September release date, and would be pushed back by a few weeks.

But the new iPhone software update – which usually arrives alongside the new phones – will still keep the same schedule, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

iOS 14 includes a host of new features, as well as a redesign of the way the phones' home screen works. It was first unveiled at its WWDC event in June – which took place online for the first-ever time, as a result of coronavirus lockdowns.

Those lockdowns have also caused considerable problems with the manufacture of the new iPhones, which in turn led Apple to delay the release of those phones.

Apple confirmed in an earnings call at the end of July that the new phones would not arrive on the usual schedule. "Last year we started selling new iPhones in late September, this year we expect supply to be available a few weeks later,” Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, told investors.

Since then it has not been clear how that delay would affect the rest of Apple's release schedule, including the launch of the new phones and the software update that usually arrives alongside them.

Bloomberg confirmed that they would arrive in September as usual, though did not make any more specific reference to timings. The company usually releases the new software the public a couple of days before the hardware, in mid-September.

Users can already get access to an early version of iOS 14, through Apple's public beta programme.