It’s beginning to look a lot like a big season in the United States for mobile gadgets, with the still-rumored launch by Apple in September of a new iPhone, expected to ignite fresh growth in the smartphone market in the US and worldwide.

Apple is also widely expected to unveil a new tablet computer that will be a smaller version of the hot-selling iPad.

But other big tech firms are not sitting idle.

Microsoft is launching its new Surface tablet in late October, and will be pushing hard to sell Windows-powered smartphones. Google has already launched its own branded tablet and smartphone selling alongside other devices powered by its Android system from makers including Samsung.

And many analysts expect Amazon to unveil at least one updated model of its Kindle Fire tablet computer at a news conference September 6.

“This season is going to be exciting,” said Rob Enderle, a technology analyst and consultant with the Enderle Group.