Surprise and Shine: What Apple Announced Today, and What Each Announcement Costs

iPhone Duo: $1,999 and a long list of trade-offs

The iPhone Duo is the first foldable iPhone, with a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.4-inch outer one; Apple says the inner screen is 50% larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max's. It uses the A20 Pro and Apple's new C2 modem, and carries an IP68 rating where Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8 is rated IP48. Pre-orders open Friday, October 16; it ships Friday, October 23 in more than 70 countries. US pricing starts at $1,999 for 256 GB, then $2,199 (512 GB), $2,599 (1 TB) and $3,199 (2 TB).

The compromises matter as much as the screens. There is no Face ID, only Touch ID in the side button. There is no Action Button, which makes this the first iPhone with no physical mute control; silent mode is set from Control Center. The Duo is eSIM-only worldwide. Apple Pencil support is limited to the $79 USB-C model, not the Apple Pencil Pro, and arrives "later this year", not at launch. The phone ships with iOS 27.1. Battery life depends on which screen you use: Apple rates it at up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner display, 44 hours on the outer one, and 24 hours of mixed use. For a phone that interested buyers said they would pay about $781 for, the list of caveats is long.

iPhone 18 Pro: the $100 rise is $300 at 1 TB

The iPhone 18 Pro (6.3 inches) and iPhone 18 Pro Max (6.9 inches) keep last year's design with a smaller Dynamic Island. Inside is the A20 Pro, the first smartphone chip built on TSMC's 2 nm process; Apple claims up to 40% more sustained performance than the A19 Pro. The 48 MP main camera gains a variable aperture with six laser-cut blades (ƒ/1.48 to ƒ/4.0), with manual aperture controls in the Camera app.

The 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, $100 more than the 17 Pro models they replace. At 1 TB the gap widens to $300: $1,799 for the 18 Pro against $1,499 for a 1 TB 17 Pro, and $1,899 for the Pro Max against $1,599. The new 2 TB options cost $2,399 and $2,499. Pre-orders open Saturday, September 12; release is Friday, September 18.

Battery is the strongest argument for the larger model. Apple rates the 18 Pro Max at up to 45 hours of video playback and 30 hours of "typical use", against 39 hours of video for the 17 Pro Max; the 18 Pro goes from 33 to 36 hours. Two spec-sheet details deserve attention. In the US, the 18 Pro lists Apple's C2 modem while the Pro Max lists none and supports different LTE bands, which points to two different modems. And the eSIM-only list is unchanged from last year: the US, Canada, Japan, Mexico and eight other markets; Europe keeps its SIM tray.

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: same sensors, two prices

Both watches move to the S11 chip and a redesigned health sensing system, with a larger ECG electrode surface and a ring of photodiodes, which Apple says yields the most accurate heart rate tracking of any wearable. A Readiness score arrives each morning; a redesigned Health app with a "Health Age" feature is due later this year, and in the US Apple will sell a Quest blood panel of more than 50 biomarkers for $119. Series 12 starts at $399, Ultra 4 at $799 with a battery Apple rates at two days. Both are on pre-order today and ship September 18, in line with what was expected.

AirPods 5: noise cancellation for everyone, wireless charging for $20 more

AirPods 4 came in two versions, $129 without active noise cancellation and $179 with it. AirPods 5 folds ANC into the $129 base model. The pricier "AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case" costs $149 and adds wireless charging, swipe volume control and an extra hour of battery with ANC on. That is $30 less than the old top model for a superset of its features. Both ship September 18.

The footnotes: price rises, retirements and Siri limits

iOS 27 arrives Monday, September 14 for the iPhone 11 and later, with Siri AI limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and newer. Apple's fine print confirms that Siri AI and other server-side features will have daily usage limits, restored after a time-out period, and that "increased access" will be sold for a fee whose amount has not been announced; at WWDC, Apple said higher iCloud+ tiers would include it.

Every existing iPhone rose by $100 today: iPhone 16 at $799, iPhone 17e at $699, iPhone 17 at $899 and iPhone Air at $1,099. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are discontinued, so the cheapest way into a Pro is now $1,199. Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in June that Apple could no longer absorb the rising cost of memory chips. One item goes the other way: AppleCare One Family, at $49.99 a month in the US from September 14, covers every eligible device across a Family Sharing group of up to six people.

What to do with this

If you want a foldable, the wait runs to October 23 and the entry price is $700 above an iPhone 18 Pro Max. If you want a Pro, buy 256 GB or 512 GB and skip the 1 TB tier, where Apple's increase is triple the headline figure. If you were considering an iPhone 17, it costs $100 more than it did this morning. And if you buy AirPods, the base model finally has the feature that used to justify the expensive one.