Apple held its annual autumn product launch event on Wednesday, officially introducing its first-ever foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro series, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, and AirPods 5. This event also marked the first major product showcase led by new CEO John Ternus. While the hardware lineup saw a comprehensive refresh, the company doubled down on its Apple Intelligence strategy, positioning the latest iPhones and Apple Watches as personal AI gateways while continuing to emphasize on-device AI and privacy as key differentiators against rivals.
The most closely watched announcement was the iPhone Duo, which Apple described as the most transformative upgrade since the original iPhone and the most significant design shift for its flagship handset since the iPhone X removed the physical Home button in 2017. The device features a passport-like foldable form factor with rounded edges, a small external display when closed, and a wide horizontal screen when opened, also supporting vertical usage. Apple stated that fully unfolded, the Duo becomes its thinnest iPhone to date. The company aims to address common issues with existing foldables in daily activities like scrolling and video playback by utilizing a custom hinge, well-balanced dual displays, and a new titanium chassis, delivering an iPad-like experience in a pocket-sized device.
However, this new form factor comes with an unprecedented price tag for Apple. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999, making it the most expensive iPhone ever sold, with pre-orders beginning October 17 and availability starting October 23. Convincing consumers to pay roughly $2,000 for a foldable phone will be a significant early test for CEO Ternus. The iPhone remains Apple's core business, generating approximately $209.6 billion in revenue over the last fiscal year, accounting for just over half of total sales.
Beyond the foldable device, Apple also unveiled its traditional flagship models, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, both powered by the new A20 Pro chip, which strengthens on-device AI capabilities. The A20 Pro is built on a 2-nanometer process with a 6-core CPU and 7-core GPU, delivering up to 20% faster performance on its two high-performance cores and up to 40% improved GPU performance. The chip also includes a new Neural Engine, which Apple says effectively integrates two neural network engines into a single silicon, significantly boosting local machine learning and AI model execution.
The camera system is a major upgrade focus for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. The 48-megapixel main camera now features a variable aperture for the first time, automatically adjusting to varying lighting conditions, while users gain more manual controls, including the ability to adjust aperture and shutter speed independently. Additionally, Apple introduced a new standard called Apple Reference Image to verify the authenticity of photos taken with the iPhone 18 Pro, while also supporting the SynthID system for identifying AI-generated or edited images. However, this feature will not be available initially in the European Union or China.
AI permeated the entire event. Ternus positioned the iPhone as a privacy-centric "personal AI hub," reiterating that Apple Intelligence will process tasks on-device whenever possible rather than sending sensitive personal data to the cloud. The upgraded Siri was also showcased, capable of working with approximately 300,000 apps at launch and answering questions using personal context from messages, emails, calendar events, and photos. These Siri AI features are slated for release in October.
Apple also pushed further into wearable AI with the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, introducing "intelligent audio" capabilities. Among these, Siri Recap can generate summaries of a user's daily conversations through ambient audio processing, while Live Recap provides real-time text transcriptions of the last 15 seconds of speech. The devices can also recognize important sounds like baby cries, doorbells, and alarms. To address potential privacy concerns around continuous audio monitoring, Apple emphasized that these features are entirely opt-in, no recordings are created or stored, and raw audio is inaccessible to Apple or other apps, being deleted immediately after processing.
Health tracking remains a key focus for the new Apple Watch models. Both devices feature a new "health sensing system," which Apple claims offers the most accurate heart rate tracking in a wearable, along with a daily body readiness score similar to that offered by Whoop and Fitbit, which assesses a user's physical state based on recovery and rest. The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399, while the Ultra 4 is priced at $799, offering up to 50 hours of battery life and faster charging. Both models will be available starting September 18.
Apple also unveiled the AirPods 5, which enhance active noise cancellation. The $129 version delivers 50% better noise cancellation than the previous generation and supports hands-free Siri AI interactions and real-time translation. The higher-tier $149 model adds volume controls on the earbuds, extended battery life, and wireless charging capabilities.