- Apple releases its first foldable device, iPhone Duo, for $2k+
- iPhone 18 Pro is a mostly boring update with a fancy new camera
- No base iPhone 18 this year! It’s expected early 2028 instead
- Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and AirPods 5 also join the fray
Apple’s September showcase has wrapped, and it was a big one! John Ternus opened his first keynote as CEO by framing iPhone as an “intelligent personal hub,” before the team unveiled no fewer than 6 new Apple devices. Yes, the long-rumored folding iPhone is part of the 6, and no, the standard iPhone isn’t.
If you missed the live stream, we’ve pulled out the key announcements so you can get up to speed in a few minutes. Here’s what you need to know.
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
Let’s get the quiet stuff out of the way first, which is roughly what Apple did. The 18 Pro and Pro Max look pretty much identical to last year’s models, with the exception of a new burgundy finish. It’s a classic ‘tock’ year for the Pro models; an iterative upgrade that doesn’t upend the status quo.
The camera is the biggest area of change, with the 48MP Fusion Main camera now rocking a variable aperture, using six laser-cut blades to shift between four settings – opening to ƒ/1.48 for low light, narrowing to ƒ/4 to keep a whole group sharp. Aperture control on a phone is a technical marvel, and it hands photographers options that weren’t possible before. To complement the change, a new customizable ‘Pro Controls’ system comes to the Camera app, bringing the stock app closer to our favorite third-party camera apps.
Under the hood, A20 Pro is the first 2-nanometer phone chip, with a dual 16-core Neural Engine doing twice the AI work of the A19 Pro, and a redesigned vapor chamber to stop it buckling under pressure. A Monster Hunter demo made the case for the graphics side, and it looked remarkable running on a phone. But the headline number for most people is battery: up to 36 hours of video playback on the Pro and 45 on the Pro Max.
What’s telling is how Apple used the stage time. A big chunk of this segment went on Apple Intelligence and the new Siri rather than the phones themselves. Siri AI is a big change, but it isn’t exclusive to these devices, so the opening stretch played like a rerun of June’s WWDC reveal. But we know all know why Apple breezed through this part of the presentation: to save time for the main event.
iPhone Duo
That’s right, the folding iPhone is finally here. Duo screens, introduced here by a duo of presenters. And it’ll set customers back a minimum of duo thousand dollars.
Closed, it’s passport-sized to fit neatly in one hand – an asymmetric shape with rounded corners on the right, like a short, wide iPhone. Sorry, left-handers. The 5.4-inch outer display covers 90 percent of the screen area of an 18 Pro, so it works as a normal phone rather than a compromise. Open, it’s a small iPad: a 7.6-inch inner display, half again as large as the Pro Max. Touch ID moves to the side button, there’s no Face ID, and the FaceTime camera sits under the inner display and stays hidden until you need it – a first for Apple, and hard not to wonder how long before it reaches the regular models.
iOS 27 has been rebuilt around the shape. The Dock, Lock Screen controls, and in-app navigation move to the side, the Dynamic Island runs vertically along the edge, and Split View puts two apps side by side on an iPhone for the first time. there’s a mesmerising animation as the Duo opens or closes, melting one display into the other. Netflix, Zoom, and Slack already have layouts built for it. Apple Pencil support comes later this year rather than at launch.
Then the compromises. Two rear cameras where the Pro has three, with an integrated 2x telephoto rather than a dedicated lens, and no variable aperture. That means Apple’s most expensive, futuristic iPhone doesn’t have its best camera system. Battery tells a similar story: mixed use across both screens gets you 24 hours per charge, compared with 36/45 hours on the 18 Pro/Pro Max.
iPhone Duo: perfect if one of your hands is twice the size of the other!
In the controlled conditions of a keynote, the Duo looked great. The fold wasn’t visible at all when open, to the point I suspected foul play from the video team. Apple’s own wording is careful – its hinge design minimizes how visible the crease is, rather than removing it. Definitely something customers will want to check out in-store for themselves, and the durability question won’t be answered properly until these are in people’s hands for a while.
Pricing starts at $1,999, which lets Apple technically say it came in under the $2,000 mark everyone expected. But that’s for 256GB, which is a bit thin these days – storage upgrades will come at a premium.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
It wasn’t just iPhones revealed today. Two new Apple Watches are here.
Both get the new Health Sensing System and the S11 chip. Heart rate is now measured every five seconds all day, feeding a new “readiness score”. A redesigned Health app follows later this year with a Longevity tab and Health Age, which shows how your metrics track against your actual age. Ceramic returns on Series 12 in pearl white and night blue, and workout battery life is up 25 percent to 10 hours. Ultra 4 gets the same sensing system and readiness, plus longer battery life. All good changes, but it’s been a while since a Watch upgrade felt essential.
The more interesting addition is a suite of Audio Intelligence features. Sound Recognition comes to the wrist, alerting deaf and hard of hearing users to sirens, alarms, doorbells, or a baby crying without needing an iPhone nearby – a genuinely useful accessibility feature. But it goes further, quickly finding itself in unsettling territory. Live Rewind gives you the last 15 seconds of a spoken conversation with a double press of the Digital Crown, while Siri Recap generates an AI summary from a conversation after the fact. Apple has built in real safeguards – nothing is stored, nobody is identified – but a watch that’s always listening isn’t going to sit right with many. Both features arrive in beta later this year.
AirPods 5
Active Noise Cancellation comes from AirPods Pro to the more basic open-ear design, removing up to 50 percent more noise than AirPods 4 with ANC, alongside a more natural Transparency mode. Live Translation is here too, as is hands-free Siri AI with head gestures for yes and no. There’s no price rise at the entry point, which is welcome, but there’s a second model at $149 which adds a wireless charging case, on-stem volume swipe, and five hours of ANC playback (22 with the case).
Pricing and availability
First of all, iOS 27 and the other new operating systems arrive as free updates on Monday, September 14, with Siri AI rolling out in public beta the same day.
iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299, both with 256GB of storage. Pre-orders open Saturday, September 12, with availability from Friday, September 18.
Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at $799, both available to pre-order now and also in stores on September 18.
AirPods 5 are $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, pre-ordering now and shipping September 18.
iPhone Duo runs on its own schedule, coming later than the rest. It starts at $1,999 for 256GB and maxes out at 2TB, with pre-orders opening Friday, October 16 and availability a week later and availability in even more countries a week after that. That gives you a month or so to get saving…