Updated March 25 with further analysis of exactly when iOS 18.4 is likely to be released. Apples next big iPhone update will be iOS 18.4, unless theres a bug-squishing exercise to sort out a recent software problem, an iPhone 16e issue or a mild nuisance with Apple Intelligence before then. Apple almost never says when an update is coming, but this time around, its dropped a lot of hints. And now the Release Candidate of the software had landed, which may clarify things further: details below.As pointed out by Ryan Christoffel at 9to5Mac, the last big software release for iPhone was iOS 18.3 back in January, so weve been waiting a while here. Of course, there were smaller updates, iOS 18.3.1 and the most recent iOS 18.3.2, squishing bugs in the meantime.Apple iPhone 16NurPhoto via Getty ImagesFirst The Month: AprilI broke the news in February that Apple had quietly revealed that iOS 18.4 would be released in April, through a Newsroom update about another product, Apple Vision Pro. One element of that release confirmed the iPhone software was set for release in April.Now, Which PartWe can pin it down further. Apple had previously said that extra languages would be supported for Apple Intelligence, but hadnt said which release would include it.However, the iOS 18 page at apple.com has information, buried in a footnote: Additional features and Chinese (Simplified), English (India, Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish language support available in early April, with more languages coming over the course of the year, including Vietnamese. Some features may not be available in all regions or languages, it says.Early April, huh? Surely, this must mean the first half of the month, no? I mean, Id say anything from about April 12 onwards would count as mid-April, but lets not be picky. Which means what, exactly?Apple iOS 18.4 Release DateThis is a big, scheduled mid-cycle update and Apple always plans to release these on a Monday or Tuesday. The company has tended towards Mondays recently, which gives us a tight range of dates.Earliest would be Tuesday, April 1, which is less than two weeks away, but were not quite as advanced in terms of beta versions to suggest thisthe fourth public beta is the current state of affairs.Which leaves Monday, April 7, Tuesday, April 8, Monday, April 14 or Tuesday, April 15.Things have now slightly changed as on Monday, March 24, Apple gave us whats called the Release Candidate, likely the last update before the general release. That makes the very first of those dates, Tuesday, April 1, suddenly more likelyif the release candidate wasnt here now, it would probably have arrived next week.While its always more than a few days between release candidate and general availability, its often as little as a week or so, hence the reappearance of Tuesday, April 1 in the list of possible dates.The joys of not making an announcement is that Apple has the wiggle room to move things up to and including the release date, so things could change.However, while the prospect of iOS 18.4 as soon as April 1 is an enticing one, I still think the week after is the most likely. In other words, though this could chance, for now I believe Apple will release iOS 18.4 on Monday, April 7 or the day after, Tuesday, April 8.Back at 9to5Mac, Christoffel has pointed in the same direction The week of April 7 seems most likely, but Apple could potentially target a Monday, April 14 launch and technically still consider that early April. In any case, iOS 18.4s release will be here pretty soon, he says.Theres a lot coming in the update. Sure, the transformational upgrade to Siri has been put back, so we know thats not coming, but there are sweeping changes to notifications, to prioritize the ones that matter to you, a new style added to Image Playground, those languages mentioned above, Apple Intelligence finally arriving in EU countries, seven brand-new emoji (eight if you include the flag for the Isle of Sark), the new Apple Vision app, Visual Intelligence coming to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and upgrades to the Control Center.And thats before we get to improvements to the Photos app, the capability to pause App Store downloads, Apple Maps improvements for EV routes and lots of small tweaks.Needless to say there will be security updates and fixes for bugs. It seems that the addition of iPhone mirroring will not come to EU users as part of Apples response to the Digital Markets Act, and the same exclusion will apply to SharePlay screen sharing, apparently.More as we have it.