Apple played us yesterday, when everyone was expecting to see a stable public release of iOS 18.2, all we got is an release candidate 2, which is rare, but makes sense given that it's going to be one of the biggest update.

First, what time could you expect it? Here's when you can expect it in your time zone:

But what next? Based on the historical data and Apple's typical release patterns, we can now predict that iOS 18.2 is likely to be released on Thursday, December 10, 2024.

RC2 to public release data shows that for iOS 17.1, RC2 was released on October 21, 2023, and the public version came out on October 24, 2023, taking 3 days.

For iOS 16.5 RC2 was released on May 15, 2024, and the public release followed on May 18, 2024, also in 3 days.

The average time between RC2 and public release is 3 days (consistent for both recorded instances)

Now, we know the iOS 18.2 RC2 release date is December 9, 2024 (Monday)

So, if we combine the data, the calculated release date we get is December 12, 2024 (Thursday)

However, we need to consider Apple's typical release patterns such as that Apple usually releases major updates on Mondays or Tuesdays. And Thursday releases are uncommon for Apple, but fairly common when it comes to releases after RC2.

Given these factors, it's more likely that Apple will opt for an release on either Tuesday, December 10, 2024, or Thursday, December 12, 2024.

While the data-driven calculation points to December 12, Apple's historical patterns and the context provided in the search results suggest that Tuesday, December 10, 2024.