So, let’s get straight to the point, because yesterday Apple unveiled the first foldable iPhone in its history. The biggest design change the company has ever made to its most profitable product. And it wasn’t Tim Cook on stage. It was the new CEO, who had been in the job for just one week.
And do you know what the stock did while he was speaking?
It fell.
THE NEW CEO AND HIS FIRST BIG BET
John Ternus officially took over as Apple CEO on September 1. Of course, as we’ve discussed before, Tim Cook hasn’t left the company. He remains as executive chairman. But the spotlight now belongs to Ternus.
The audience welcomed him with more than 30 seconds of applause.
“We will continue to change the world in ways we cannot even imagine today,” he said.
Now pay attention to how he opened the presentation. He didn’t start with a product. He started with a question: if you were designing the ideal device for artificial intelligence from scratch, what would it look like?
“You would want something that is always with you, deeply personal,” he said.
And then, naturally, the answer was the iPhone.
Sound familiar?
That is exactly how Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone.
And here’s something important. Ternus isn’t a marketing guy. He’s an engineer. And the first thing he does as CEO is launch an entirely new product category in the middle of a global memory shortage.
THE IPHONE DUO
Now let’s get to the star of the evening.
It’s called the iPhone Duo, and it’s roughly the size of a passport. When unfolded, it gives you a 7.6-inch display, the largest ever put into an iPhone. When folded, you get a 5.4-inch external display, roughly 90% of the surface area of the iPhone 18 Pro.
A titanium frame, two batteries, Apple Pencil support, and a fingerprint sensor built into the side button.
“The other foldables look like two phones awkwardly glued together,” Ternus said.
A direct shot at Samsung.
But the biggest challenge isn’t the display. It’s the software.
Craig Federighi said Apple redesigned the entire iOS experience to work properly across two displays. Two apps running simultaneously, buttons in new positions, and an entirely new logic for how the interface works.
Inside the phone there is also something that didn’t get nearly as much attention: the C2 modem.
It’s the second modem Apple has developed itself. It is 50% faster than the previous generation while consuming 15% less power.
And every modem like this means one fewer chip coming from Qualcomm.
Analysts are already saying that Qualcomm could potentially be completely out of the iPhone by the time the iPhone 19 arrives.
The price?
$1,999, with pre-orders starting October 16 in more than 70 countries and retail availability beginning October 23.
THE IPHONE 18
Externally, the iPhone 18 Pro looks very similar to last year’s model.
But it comes in two new colors: Glacier and Burgundy.
Internally, however, a lot has changed.
The A20 Pro is the first smartphone chip in the world manufactured using TSMC’s 2-nanometer process.
Six CPU cores, seven GPU cores, 40% better graphics performance and 50% greater memory bandwidth.
There is also a second neural engine dedicated exclusively to artificial intelligence, as Apple is betting on running AI directly on the device rather than in the cloud.
The camera now features a variable aperture with six laser-cut blades, each thinner than a human hair.
And there is one feature that is likely to generate plenty of discussion: Apple Reference Image.
It cryptographically signs the photograph at the pixel level at the moment it is taken, allowing you to prove that the image was not generated by AI.
In Europe, however, we won’t have it.
Nor will China.
The battery lasts up to 36 hours on the Pro and 45 hours on the Pro Max. And just five minutes of charging gives you six hours of video playback.
And now for the bad news.
The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199, while the Pro Max starts at $1,299. That’s $100 more than last year.
Why did the price go up?
Memory.
There is a global shortage of DRAM and NAND, and prices have surged.
Apple had already increased prices on MacBooks and iPads in June.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the standard iPhone 18 wasn’t even announced.
It has been pushed back to the spring, alongside the cheaper 18e and the iPhone Air 2.
THE WATCH THAT LISTENS TO YOUR CONVERSATIONS
This may be the strangest part of the entire event.
The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are getting something Apple calls Audio Intelligence.
Live Rewind shows you a written transcript of what was said during the previous 15 seconds.
And Siri Recap passively listens throughout the day and creates notes from your conversations.
A title, a summary, and key points. From a meeting or even a conversation with your child’s teacher.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The watch listens.
Apple says no audio is stored, that the recording is deleted immediately after processing, and that every feature is optional.
Still, it remains to be seen how consumers will react to it.
At the same time, the watch now measures your heart rate every five seconds, 60 times more frequently than before.
And every morning it gives you a readiness score indicating how much your body can handle that day.
In other words, Apple is going directly after Whoop, Fitbit and Amazon Bee.
Prices?
The Series 12 starts at $399, while the Ultra 4 starts at $799.
No price increase.
And the AirPods 5 start at $129, with noise cancellation that is 50% stronger than before, or $149 with wireless charging.