Apple held its 2026 product launch event on September 9, marking CEO John Ternus’s debut. The company unveiled several new devices, including the highly anticipated foldable iPhone Duo, priced starting at $1,999 and set to launch on October 23. The iPhone 18 Pro and Max models were also introduced with new glacier and burgundy color options, featuring a $100 price increase from last year’s models. Alongside these, Apple announced the AirPods 5 with longer battery life, the Apple Watch Series 12 starting at $399, and new AI-powered features integrated across its product lineup.

A highlight of the event was the introduction of the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable smartphone. It boasts a design about the size of a passport with an internal 7.6-inch display and an outer screen nearly the size of the iPhone 18 Pro's. The phone’s titanium case, redesigned iOS interface optimized for dual screens, and support for Apple Pencil bring new multitasking capabilities. It also incorporates Apple’s in-house C2 modem, improving cellular performance while reducing reliance on Qualcomm. The C2 modem is 50% faster and 15% more energy efficient, enhancing 5G performance in the U.S.

The new A20 Pro chip, Apple’s first 2-nanometer SoC, powers the iPhone 18 Pro and Max, promising better heat management and advanced on-device AI processing. Apple emphasized increased CPU and GPU performance, a 50% boost in memory bandwidth, and a dedicated Neural Engine for faster AI tasks without relying on cloud processing. This chip upgrade supports new AI features like more intelligent Siri integration across over 300,000 apps and an innovative feature to verify photo authenticity to combat AI-generated images.

Apple also enhanced its Apple Watch Series 12 with AI capabilities dubbed Audio Intelligence, allowing live rewind and conversation summarization while safeguarding privacy by not storing or sharing audio externally. Battery life improvements were highlighted for the new iPhones, with the 18 Pro lasting up to 24 hours and the Max variant up to 30 hours. Despite these advancements, Apple’s stock dipped during the event, reflecting cautious investor sentiment about the high pricing amid a global component shortage, particularly for memory.