Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes the confirmed launch dates for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, details on pre-ordering and retail dates on the new smartphones, the new camera technology in the iPhone 6S, the risky move to include Force Touch, the cancellation of the iPhone 5C, a customized gold iPhone 6S, Tim Cook’s response about Apple and the Chinese stock market, thoughts on your personal data privacy, and Microsoft’s inclusion in Apple’s live stream on September 9th.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days.

Apple Confirms September Launch Date 

Apple has requested the presence of the media at an event on September 9th. It will be held in the 7000 capacity Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and it is expected that Tim Cook and his team will reveal Apple’s new technology to the world, including the updates to the iPhone range.

Strictly speaking there’s no mention of the iPhone 6S, the 6S Plus, Apple TV, updates to the Mac range, or even new iPads in the invite, but everything points to the iPhone6S and 6S Plus. With Siri’s voice interface heavily trailed, there’s also a feeling that this time it really will be the time of Apple TV. Gordon Kelly picks up on the clues:

This is perhaps best exemplified by the tagline on the invite itself: “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” which only fuels rumours that a much upgraded Apple TV with Siri-powered voice control will be the real highlight of the show.

With the mysterious Apple iTelevision now more likely to be myth than reality, it will be fascinating to see how the company’s vision for our living rooms has evolved. Especially in conjunction with its Internet of Things platform HomeKit.

There is also every chance Apple will offer updates to its MacBook ranges to incorporate Force Touch, the big feature virtually guaranteed to come to the iPhone line, in order to unite all product ranges.

But when can you buy one?

This Is When You Can Buy Your New iPhone

Retailers and Carriers around the world are getting ready to sell Apple’s new smartphones, and leaks from the sales floor are helping confirm dates that match Apple’s historical pattern. Now the launch day is confirmed, the pre-order date and on-sale date speculation fall into place.

Popular French website mac4ever has the scoop thanks to an internal leak from a major French carrier (whose name the site is protecting), which confirms iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus orders will indeed be taken from September 11th.

To back this up, mac4ever’s contact at the carrier also sent a photo of the notification Apple has sent out to French carriers and also flagged up September 18th as the day sales and shipments will begin.

And there are some nice commercial advantages for Apple in having a seven-day gap between pre-order and pickup.

Focusing On Better Imaging

Apple will be looking to reclaim the mobile photography crown from Samsung. For me, the Galaxy S6 shooter is fractionally better than the iPhone 6 camera, but I can’t wait to try out the rumoured iPhone 6S camera. With a bump up to 12 megapixels, 4K video recording, and an improved image signal processor in the A9 chipset, the rear camera is going to be fighting to be the number one mobile camera.

Apple is also paying attention to the forward facing ‘selfie’ camera as well, as Mark Gurman writes:

Besides new camera hardware on the rear of the new iPhone, we are told that the front FaceTime camera will also see significant improvements. In addition to an upgraded sensor for higher quality video calls and selfies, Apple will indeed add front flash support. While some industry watchers have speculated that code in iOS 9 betas indicates that Apple will add a front-facing LED flash to the new iPhones, sources say that is not the case. Instead, the new iPhone’s display will take cues from Snapchat and Photo Booth, lighting up with a quick white screen when the shutter button for the front camera is pressed. Front-facing panorama shots and slow motion video in 720P are also likely to make it to the front camera this fall.

Expect much of talk from the stage to be around 4K video, on device editing, and images and video that ‘only Apple can deliver’ during the presentation.

Next: Apple’s risky new hardware at the heart of iOS 9, goodbye to the iPhone 5C, hello to a 24 karat gold iPhone…

Read more at : http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2015/08/28/apple-news-digest-iphone-6s-leak-release-date/