Apple’s “Surprise and shine” event on September 9 delivered the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, the company’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, AirPods 5 with Active Noise Cancellation, Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, and a redesigned Health app. It was John Ternus’s first keynote as CEO. Our live coverage has now closed. This page carries every announcement as it happened, plus the specifications, storage prices and regional dates Apple published on its tech specs and Store pages afterwards.
What Apple announced, by the numbers
- iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max: from $1,199 and $1,299, A20 Pro (2nm), 48MP main camera with a variable aperture from f/1.48 to f/4, up to 36 and 45 hours of video playback, four colors, 256GB to 2TB. Pre-orders September 12, in stores September 18.
- iPhone Duo: from $1,999, 7.6-inch inner and 5.4-inch outer displays, 5.2 mm open, titanium, Touch ID, dual 48MP cameras, Night Sky and Star White. Pre-orders October 16, available October 23.
- AirPods 5: $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, open-ear Active Noise Cancellation, up to five hours with ANC on. In stores September 18.
- Apple Watch Series 12: from $399, S11 chip, new Health Sensing System, Readiness score, ceramic returns. In stores September 18.
- Apple Watch Ultra 4: from $799, up to 50 hours of battery, a 45-hour Max Extended Workout mode. In stores September 18.
- Software: iOS 27 and watchOS 27 arrive Monday, September 14, with Siri AI in beta.
The new lineup in pictures
Every price and date in one table
| Product | From | Pre-order | In stores |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro | $1,199 | Sep 12, 5 a.m. PT | Sep 18 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | $1,299 | Sep 12, 5 a.m. PT | Sep 18 |
| iPhone Duo | $1,999 | Oct 16, 5 a.m. PT | Oct 23 |
| AirPods 5 | $129, or $149 with Wireless Charging Case | Open now | Sep 18 |
| Apple Watch Series 12 | $399 | Open now | Sep 18 |
| Apple Watch Ultra 4 | $799 | Open now | Sep 18 |
| iOS 27 and watchOS 27 | Free | – | Sep 14 |
Cameras, bands, cases and the new Health app
Our full coverage
- iPhone 18 Pro: price, release date, specs and every new feature
- iPhone Duo: full specs, price and release date
- AirPods 5: price, noise cancellation, battery and release date
- Apple Watch Series 12: price, release date and the Health Sensing System
- Apple Watch Ultra 4: $799, 50-hour battery and the 100-mile race mode
- iOS 27 release date and everything coming to your iPhone
- Event recap: everything announced
Live updates
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Welcome to The Mac Observer’s live coverage of Apple’s “Surprise and shine” event. The keynote starts at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. BST, 10:30 p.m. IST) from Apple Park. We’ll post every announcement here the moment it happens, with context from the TMO team. Updates appear at the top of this feed automatically.
How to watch: Apple is streaming the keynote on its Events page, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. No Apple device required. Viewers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney are watching after midnight on September 10. Full regional start times are in our event time guide.
A first for Apple: this is the first September keynote since John Ternus took over as CEO on September 1, with Tim Cook moving to executive chairman. Ternus has called today’s announcement a “huge launch,” and he’s expected to open the keynote himself rather than hand off to Cook.
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What to expect: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Reports point to a 2nm A20 Pro chip (around 18% faster and up to 30% more efficient than the A19 Pro), 12GB of RAM, a variable-aperture main camera with a new stacked sensor, a wider-aperture telephoto, a smaller Dynamic Island, and a simplified Camera Control button. New colors are said to include dark cherry, light blue and silver. The Pro Max is rumored to carry a 5,567 mAh battery. Pricing could climb $100 to $300 over the iPhone 17 Pro because of component costs.
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The foldable: iPhone Duo. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple will call its first foldable the iPhone Duo, not iPhone Ultra as earlier rumors suggested. Expect a book-style design with a roughly 5.5-inch outer display and 7.8-inch inner display, 4.5mm thickness when open, a Touch ID side button instead of Face ID, an A20 Pro chip, Apple Pencil support, and a starting price around $1,999 for 256GB, with higher tiers closer to $3,000. Here’s everything we know about the iPhone Duo so far.
What’s not expected today: the standard iPhone 18, the iPhone 18e and the iPhone Air 2 have all reportedly moved to spring 2027, so the fall lineup is just Pro, Pro Max and Duo. No Macs are expected either. The M6 MacBook Pro is likely to get its own event later this year, and the OLED iPad mini is tipped for October.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: no big redesign this year, but a new S-series chip, a returning ceramic case option for Series 12, and an upgraded heart-rate sensor that collects data continuously through the day. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch SE 3 quietly went unavailable on Apple’s online store this morning, which usually signals a lineup shuffle.
AirPods 5: references in the macOS 26.7 release candidate pointed to new AirPods with an H3 chip, in both active noise cancelling and non-ANC versions. The camera-equipped AirPods are reportedly pushed to 2027.
Wildcards: a smart home hub with a 7-inch display, a faster Apple TV 4K (an A19-class chip surfaced in a code leak this week) and a refreshed HomePod mini have all been rumored, but none are locked in for today. The home hub in particular is said to be waiting on Apple’s revamped Siri.
Software: Apple should confirm release dates for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27 and visionOS 27. Release candidates typically go to developers right after the keynote, with public releases the following week, likely Monday, September 14.
Pre-orders and launch: because Friday falls on September 11, pre-orders are expected to open Saturday, September 12, with the new iPhones in stores on Friday, September 18. The open question is whether the iPhone Duo ships alongside the Pro models or trails them by a few weeks.
The keynote is getting closer. We’ll be back with the first announcements as soon as Apple goes live. Keep this page open; new updates load automatically.
The online Apple Store is down. Apple pulled its storefront offline a few hours before the keynote, the usual sign that product pages are being rebuilt for whatever is announced today. It should return after the event with the new lineup and pricing. More on the Store outage.
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Gurman’s final iPhone 18 Pro pricing: $100 more, not $300. Bloomberg reports the iPhone 18 Pro will start at $1,199, a $100 increase over the iPhone 17 Pro. That is well below the $200 to $300 jump some analysts had predicted, which suggests Apple is absorbing a chunk of the memory-cost increase itself.
Colors, per Gurman: the iPhone 18 Pro lineup is expected in a dark cherry red that replaces last year’s Cosmic Orange, plus sky blue and silver. No black this year, if the report holds.
John Ternus posted a teaser. Apple’s new CEO shared a short video of light hitting the edge of an iPhone and forming a hexagonal shape. The likeliest read is the variable-aperture main camera rumored for the Pro models, since a mechanical aperture opens and closes in exactly that pattern.
Smaller Dynamic Island, faster charging. A leaked video shows the iPhone 18 Pro’s Dynamic Island shrinking by roughly 20 percent, which lets iOS 27 run three Live Activities at once instead of two. Separately, iOS 27 code points to charging about a third faster than the iPhone 17 Pro.
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iPhone Duo: white or dark blue, $1,999, and an October ship date. A last-minute leak lists two finishes for Apple’s foldable, with 256GB at $1,999 and top configurations near $3,000. The Duo is not expected to ship alongside the Pro models; October is the current target. Apple Pencil support is also reported. Everything we know about the iPhone Duo.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: an AI recap of your day. Both watches are expected to add what reports call Ambient Sensing, which uses the microphone, GPS and other sensors to summarize meals, workouts, commutes and conversations without recording audio. Series 12 also brings back ceramic cases, and the Ultra 4 is said to push past last year’s 42-hour battery rating. Our Series 12 preview.
Trade-in sweetener. Apple is reportedly loosening its trade-in grading starting today, so phones with minor cosmetic wear get a higher value instead of being bucketed with damaged devices. Expect Apple to lean on that during the keynote to soften the Pro price increase.
Pre-orders: Saturday, September 12. Reports now point to pre-orders opening at 12 a.m. PT on Saturday for the iPhone 18 Pro models, with in-store availability the following Friday, September 18. AirPods 5 are expected today in ANC and non-ANC versions; the camera-equipped AirPods have slipped to 2027.
Not upgrading? The iPhone 17 Pro is effectively free on contract today. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are all running up to $1,100 in bill credits with a trade-in, and AT&T’s offer ends tomorrow, September 10. The best iPhone 17 Pro deals right now.
What you won’t see today: the standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 (all spring 2027), a new Apple Watch SE, and any M6 Macs, which are expected to get their own event later this year. Apple supplier Largan has also pointed to a major customer pushing a phone into the first quarter of 2027. Full list of what is probably missing.
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Expected pricing, one last time before Apple confirms it. iPhone 18 Pro around $1,199 (up from $1,099) and iPhone 18 Pro Max around $1,299. In India, estimates put the 18 Pro near ₹1,44,900. Earlier analyst forecasts of $1,299 to $1,399 now look too high, with Apple reportedly absorbing part of the memory-cost increase. Our pricing breakdown.
The invite, decoded. That point of light passing through the Apple logo on the “Surprise and shine” artwork is widely read as a nod to the variable-aperture main camera, the same idea behind John Ternus’s hexagonal teaser earlier today. A mechanical aperture would give the iPhone hardware control over exposure and depth of field for the first time. What the artwork might be telling us.
Colors, updated. A fuller leak now lists four iPhone 18 Pro finishes: black, light blue, burgundy and silver. That puts black back in the lineup after earlier reports suggested it was gone; burgundy is the dark cherry shade replacing last year’s Cosmic Orange. The iPhone Duo is still expected in white and dark blue.
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The keynote is under way. John Ternus has taken the stage at Apple Park for his first event as CEO. Announcements follow here as they happen, newest at the top.
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iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are official. Same 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch sizes, a new rear finish, and four colors: Black, Silver, Glacier and Burgundy. Black is back after skipping the 17 Pro. Our full iPhone 18 Pro story.
A20 Pro: Apple’s first 2-nanometer chip. Six-core CPU with Neural Accelerators, a 7-core GPU Apple says is 40 percent faster than the A19 Pro, a dual 16-core Neural Engine (32 cores total, double the AI throughput), and 50 percent more memory bandwidth. It sits on a new vapor chamber for sustained performance. The N1 wireless chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread; the C2 modem uses 15 percent less energy than the C1X and adds mmWave in the US.
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The camera rumor was right: variable aperture on both Pro models. The 48MP Fusion main camera now steps from ƒ/1.48 to ƒ/4 using six laser-cut blades, with manual aperture and shutter controls in the Camera app, faster Night mode, and new texture and grain sliders in Photographic Styles. Video gets Cinematic effects at 60 fps and 4K Dolby Vision HDR time-lapse. A new Apple Reference Image stores an untouched original with verification metadata so a photo can be proven real.
Battery and charging. Apple rates the iPhone 18 Pro at up to 36 hours of video playback and the Pro Max at up to 45 hours, or up to 30 hours of mixed use on the Max. Wired charging reaches 50 percent in about 15 minutes, wireless in 30, and five minutes on a cable gives the Pro Max roughly seven hours of playback. The Dynamic Island is smaller and shows three Live Activities at once.
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Prices: $1,199 and $1,299, with a 2TB option. iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 (256GB) and iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299, both $100 up on last year, in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. Pre-orders open Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT, availability Friday, September 18 in more than 65 countries, with 20 more on September 25. The US, Canada, Japan, Mexico and the Gulf states get eSIM-only models.
iOS 27 lands Monday, September 14 as a free update. The new Siri (Apple calls it Siri AI) ships as a beta in English first, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish following in October. Also new: Image Playground with photorealistic output, a Safari “Notify Me” feature, and iPhone Handoff where carriers support it.
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AirPods 5 announced, and this time with Active Noise Cancellation on the open-ear design. $129 for AirPods 5, $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, which adds a force sensor with swipe volume control. Apple claims up to 50 percent more noise removed than AirPods 4 with ANC, a new multiport acoustic design borrowed from AirPods Pro 3, hands-free Siri AI, head-gesture replies and Live Translation. Up to five hours with ANC on, 22 with the case. Pre-orders are open today; in stores September 18.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. Per the keynote coverage so far: a ceramic case option returns on Series 12, the Ultra 4 gets longer battery life, and both add the day-summary feature built on ambient sensing plus a new Readiness app. We will add prices and dates as soon as Apple posts them.
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iPhone Duo is real. Apple’s first foldable is called iPhone Duo, runs the A20 Pro, comes in White and Dark Blue, and starts at about $2,000. Apple is pointing to October for availability rather than next week. Full specs and storage tiers to follow once the press release is out. What we expected going in.
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iPhone Duo, by the numbers, now on Apple’s site. 7.6-inch inner and 5.4-inch outer Super Retina XDR displays, both ProMotion 120Hz and up to 3000 nits; 5.2 mm thin open, 11.3 mm closed, 254 g; Grade 5 titanium with Ceramic Shield front and back; IP68. A20 Pro, C2 modem, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread, eSIM only. Touch ID in the side button, no Face ID.
Duo cameras: a 48MP Dual Fusion system (48MP main f/1.6 with sensor-shift OIS, 48MP ultra wide 13 mm), 2x optical-quality zoom, no telephoto, 4K Dolby Vision up to 120 fps. Two front cameras: a 12MP Center Stage camera on the cover and an under-display 1080p FaceTime camera inside. New tricks: Smart Take, Duo Preview on the outer screen, Kid Cue and Duo FaceTime.
Duo battery: dual cells, up to 24 hours typical use, up to 44 hours of video on the outer display and 31 on the inner. 50 percent in about 20 minutes on a 60W USB-C adapter; MagSafe and Qi2 up to 25W. Apple Pencil support is coming later this year.
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iPhone Duo pricing and dates: from $1,999 (256GB), pre-orders Friday, October 16 at 5 a.m. PT, in stores Friday, October 23. Colors are Night Sky and Star White; storage runs 256GB to 2TB. Apple has not published prices above 256GB. How it compares with what was expected.
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Apple’s iPhone Duo press release is out. John Ternus calls it “the most transformational change to iPhone since the original.” New details: $83.29 a month over 24 months, launch in more than 70 countries on October 23 with 28 more on October 30, iOS 27.1 out of the box, a Camera Control button, Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, a 3D-printed recycled-titanium hinge cover, and Apple’s claim of 35 percent better sustained performance than the iPhone 17 Pro.
Duo accessories: an iPhone Duo Case at $79 in sand or navy blue, and a Folio with a built-in kickstand at $129 in navy blue or taupe. Apple Pencil (USB-C) will work on both displays when support arrives later this year.
The spec sheets are live, and they answer the questions the keynote skipped. Apple has posted full tech specs for both iPhone 18 Pro models, so we now have the numbers nobody says out loud on stage: 211 grams for the 6.3-inch, 249 grams for the 6.9-inch, 8.75 mm thick on both, and 460 pixels per inch on each panel. Same thickness, 38 grams apart.
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The variable aperture has four stops, not a slider: ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8 and ƒ/4. Six laser-cut blades move between them, and the Camera app exposes aperture and shutter speed as manual controls. That is a little under three stops of range, or roughly seven times the light between the widest and the narrowest setting. Every iPhone before this one had a main camera stuck at one aperture.
The zoom range is the sleeper upgrade. Apple lists 8x optical-quality zoom in and 2x out, a 16x optical-quality range across five focal lengths: 13 mm ultra wide, 24 mm main, 48 mm and 100 mm telephoto, and a 200 mm crop. The 4x lens is a 100 mm ƒ/2.8 tetraprism with 3D sensor-shift stabilisation. The front camera also jumps to 18MP at ƒ/1.9.
Video, for the people who care about video. 4K Dolby Vision at 24, 25, 30, 60, 100 or 120 frames per second. ProRes up to 4K120 when you record to external storage. Spatial video at 1080p30. Cinematic mode up to 4K60. And the USB-C port finally runs USB 3 at 10 Gb/s, which is about twenty times the old 480 Mb/s, so pulling a day of ProRes off the phone stops being an overnight job.
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Storage prices, all four tiers, no more guessing. iPhone 18 Pro runs $1,199, $1,399, $1,799 and $2,399. iPhone 18 Pro Max runs $1,299, $1,499, $1,899 and $2,499. The ladder is the same everywhere Apple has published prices: one, two and three steps of a single amount, which is $200 in the US. The jump from 1TB to 2TB is the best value per gigabyte, and the worst value in absolute terms.
Outside the US. The UK runs £1,199 to £2,399 for the Pro and £1,299 to £2,499 for the Pro Max, with 0 percent finance over 30 months and pre-orders at 1 p.m. BST. India starts at ₹1,64,900 and tops out at ₹3,29,900, with up to six months of No Cost EMI and up to ₹7,000 cashback. Canada opens at C$1,749, Australia at A$2,099, Germany and France at €1,449, Japan at ¥179,800.
A detail worth knowing before you order. The 15-minute half-charge needs a 60W USB-C adapter, and there is no adapter in the box. Apple has not published a price for the one it sells, which is now called the 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max. On MagSafe or Qi2 you get 25W and half a charge in 30 minutes.
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iPhone Duo, the full sheet. A 7.6-inch inner display at 1878 by 2670 and a 5.4-inch cover display at 1398 by 2034, both ProMotion to 120Hz, both Always-On, both peaking at 3000 nits, with a nano-texture finish on the inside to cut glare and soften the crease. 5.2 mm thin open, 11.3 mm closed, 254 grams. Grade 5 titanium with a mirror polish, a hinge cover 3D printed from recycled titanium, and a hinge with more than 100 components. IP68 to six metres.
The Duo camera is two lenses doing four jobs. A 48MP main at ƒ/1.6 with sensor-shift stabilisation and zero shutter lag, a 48MP ultra wide at 13 mm, and an optical-quality 2x telephoto cropped from the main sensor rather than a third lens. Two front cameras: a 12MP Center Stage on the cover and an under-display 1080p FaceTime camera inside. There is a Camera Control button with a Siri Camera mode.
The four tricks only the Duo can do. Smart Take watches the frame and fires when everyone is actually posed. Duo Preview mirrors the shot onto the cover display so your subject can see themselves. Kid Cue plays animations on the outside to hold a toddler’s attention. Duo FaceTime lets someone next to you join the call on the second screen. Gimmicks or genuinely useful, we will find out on October 23.
Folding software. The Duo ships on iOS 27.1 rather than 27.0, with Split View for two apps side by side, a rebuilt StandBy, a redesigned Dynamic Island and a Call Context widget. iOS reads how the phone is posed, so seated, standing and propped-open layouts differ. Apple Pencil works on both displays, though that support arrives later this year.
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Apple Watch Series 12, the full press release. From $399 in 42mm and 46mm. Aluminum in dark bronze, black, light gold and space gray with Ceramic Shield 2 (60 percent tougher than Ion-X glass); titanium in radiant gold and natural; and ceramic is back in pearl white and night blue. The S11 chip drives a new Health Sensing System that reads heart rate every five seconds and HRV every five minutes, a daily Readiness score from 0 to 10, and Audio Intelligence features such as Live Rewind and Siri Recap processed inside a Secure Exclave. Battery is up to 24 hours, 10 hours of outdoor workouts, and 15 minutes of charging gives 12 hours. Pre-orders are open; in stores September 18.
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Apple Watch Ultra 4: $799 and more than two days of battery. Natural or black titanium, S11 chip, the same Health Sensing System and Readiness score as Series 12, up to 50 hours of normal use, 84 hours in Low Power Mode, 25 hours in Extended Workout mode and a new 45-hour Max Extended Workout mode with one-second GPS built for 100-mile races. Fifteen minutes on the charger gives 18 hours. New Trail, Alpine and Ocean band colors, plus a Hermès edition with a titanium Grand H band. Pre-orders open today; in stores September 18.
The redesigned Health app. A Longevity tab tracks seven categories over time, Health Age compares your metrics with your calendar age using Apple Watch data, an Insights tab summarizes heart, sleep, readiness and fitness, and Movement evaluations test flexibility, strength, balance and VO2 max with the iPhone camera, fully on device. Labs lets US users book a panel of more than 50 biomarkers for $119 at about 2,000 Quest Diagnostics locations. It launches with iOS 27 on Apple Intelligence devices, US English first.
watchOS 27 lands September 14 on Apple Watch Series 9 and later, SE 3, and Ultra 2 and later. Siri AI with personal context (beta, English first), a dynamic app grid, a one-handed tap gesture for the Smart Stack, the Siri Modular face, perimenopause and menopause support in Cycle Tracking, and Workout Buddy without a nearby iPhone, now in Spanish too.
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Duo pricing and dates, confirmed. $1,999 for 256GB, $2,199 for 512GB, $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for 2TB, or $83.29 a month over 24 months. Pre-orders open Friday, October 16 at 5 a.m. PT. It reaches more than 70 countries on Friday, October 23, with 28 more on October 30. Colours are Night Sky and Star White. The Case is $79, the Folio with the built-in kickstand is $129.
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iPhone 18 Pro tech specs are up, and they fill in the blanks. 211 g and 249 g; 8.75 mm thick on both; 460 ppi panels at 2622 x 1206 and 2868 x 1320. The main camera has four aperture stops (f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, f/4), the 4x telephoto is a 100 mm f/2.8 tetraprism with 3D sensor-shift stabilization, and Apple quotes 8x optical-quality zoom with a 16x range. The front camera is 18MP at f/1.9. Video: 4K Dolby Vision up to 120 fps, ProRes 4K120 to external storage, spatial video. USB-C runs USB 3 at 10 Gb/s, IP68 to six meters, and the 15-minute half-charge needs a 60W adapter. How the variable aperture works.
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Storage-tier prices, straight from the Apple Store. iPhone 18 Pro: $1,199 (256GB), $1,399 (512GB), $1,799 (1TB), $2,399 (2TB). iPhone 18 Pro Max: $1,299, $1,499, $1,899, $2,499. In the UK the Pro runs £1,199 to £2,399 and the Pro Max £1,299 to £2,499, at 0 percent APR over 30 months, with pre-orders at 1 p.m. BST on September 12. In India the Pro is ₹1,64,900 to ₹3,14,900 and the Pro Max ₹1,79,900 to ₹3,29,900, with No Cost EMI and up to ₹7,000 cashback, pre-orders at 5:30 p.m. IST.
iPhone Duo storage prices: $1,999 for 256GB, $2,199 for 512GB, $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for 2TB, or $83.29 a month for the base model over 24 months. Two colors, Night Sky and Star White. Pre-orders October 16 at 5 a.m. PT, in stores October 23 in more than 70 countries, 28 more on October 30. Full Duo specs.
iOS 27 details from Apple’s feature page. It runs on iPhone 12 and later, with full Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 or newer. New: a Siri mode inside the Camera app for visual search, Safari tab organization by topic and Notify Me alerts for price drops and restocks, Spatial Reframing and an Extend tool in Photos, context-aware Messages suggestions, richer VoiceOver image descriptions, auto-generated video subtitles with translation, and 4K recording plus AI clip search in Home. Apple Intelligence supports 15 languages; the Siri AI beta starts in English on September 14.
AirPods 5 pre-orders are live at $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case that adds swipe volume control and charges on Apple Watch chargers, Qi pads and USB-C. Apple claims up to 50 percent more noise removed than AirPods 4 with ANC, five hours with ANC on, 22 with the case, plus hands-free Siri AI, head-gesture replies and Live Translation. In stores September 18. Our AirPods 5 breakdown.
Ternus on the Duo: “iPhone Duo is the most transformational change to iPhone since the original.” Strong words for a phone that arrives six weeks after the ones you can buy next Friday, and a reminder that Apple has decided the foldable is a flagship rather than an experiment.
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That is everything from Apple Park. Six new products, two operating-system release dates, and prices for every storage tier. Pre-orders: AirPods 5 and both Apple Watches today, iPhone 18 Pro on Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT, iPhone Duo on October 16. Availability: September 18 for the phones, earbuds and watches, October 23 for the Duo. iOS 27 and watchOS 27 arrive Monday, September 14. We will keep this page updated with anything Apple adds. Read the full recap.
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Apple Watch Series 12 is the biggest sensor change in years. New optical and electrical heart sensors read heart rate every five seconds all day and heart rate variability every five minutes, which Apple says is 24 times more often than before. It splits HRV into a Recovery figure and an overall figure, and Apple cites a study of more than 1,000 people to claim the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. From $399 in 42mm and 46mm.
Ceramic is back, and the aluminium got tougher. Series 12 comes in aluminium (dark bronze, black, light gold, space grey) with Ceramic Shield 2 that Apple rates 60 percent tougher than Ion-X, in titanium (radiant gold, natural), and in ceramic (pearl white, night blue). Battery is up to 24 hours, outdoor workouts up to 10, and 15 minutes on the charger buys 12 hours. New Sport Bands, plaid Sport Loops made with a new inkjet process, and a Hermès edition with a Rocabar Club band.
Readiness is the feature people will actually use. A single score from 0 to 10 each morning, built from recent activity, training load, vitals and sleep, with four verdicts: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, Go For It. It updates through the day. Alongside it, Audio Intelligence runs on the S11 chip inside a hardware-isolated Secure Exclave: Sound Recognition alerts, Live Rewind for the last 15 seconds of a conversation as text, and Siri Recap.
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Apple Watch Ultra 4 goes past two days. $799, S11, natural or black titanium. Up to 50 hours of normal use, 84 in Low Power Mode, 25 hours of Extended Workout and a new Max Extended Workout mode that stretches to 45 hours with one-second GPS, built for 100-mile races. Fifteen minutes of charging returns 18 hours. Satellite messaging, Emergency SOS and Roadside Assistance stay, with two years included.
The Health app is where all of this lands. A Longevity tab tracks seven categories over years. Health Age compares your metrics against your calendar age using VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep and HRV. Movement evaluations test flexibility, strength, balance and VO2 max with the iPhone camera, entirely on device with no video kept. And Labs sells a panel of more than 50 biomarkers for $119 at about 2,000 Quest Diagnostics locations in the US.
AirPods 5, with the asterisk Apple did not read out. $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case. The five-hour ANC figure and the 22-hour case total belong to the wireless-case model; the standard one is rated four hours and 20 hours. Both get the open-ear Active Noise Cancellation, Live Translation, head-gesture replies and an IP57 rating. Only the pricier case adds the force sensor for swipe volume.
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Software: everything lands Monday, September 14. iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27, all free. iOS 27 runs on iPhone 11 and later. Siri AI arrives as a beta in English, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish in October, and Apple Intelligence covers 16 languages. Two caveats Apple buried in footnotes: Siri AI is not available in the EU on iPhone, iPad or Watch at launch, and it is not available in China at all while Apple works through the rules there.
The best of the rest in iOS 27. A Siri mode inside the Camera app for visual search, Safari grouping tabs by topic and a Notify Me alert for price drops and restocks, Spatial Reframing and an Extend tool in Photos, a Liquid Glass slider that runs from ultra-clear to fully tinted, and Apple’s own performance claims of 30 percent faster app launches, 70 percent faster Photos and 80 percent faster AirDrop.
Trading in? The maths is less generous than the billboards. Apple will credit $175 to $885 toward an iPhone 18 Pro for an iPhone 13 or later, and the top figure needs an iPhone 17 Pro Max. The carriers advertise up to $1,200, which is a ceiling paid as bill credits over 36 months on a qualifying plan, not money off today. Apple has not published per-model carrier values, so read the fine print before you commit for three years.
And what did not appear. No standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18e or iPhone Air 2, all reportedly held for spring 2027. No Macs, despite an M6 generation waiting. No Apple TV 4K, no HomePod mini, no smart home hub, even though a code leak this week pointed at new Apple TV silicon. Six products is a big morning; it is still a shorter list than the rumour mill had.
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That is a wrap on our live coverage. Six products, two operating-system dates and a foldable iPhone that Apple calls the biggest change since the original. Pre-orders for iPhone 18 Pro open Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT with phones in stores Friday, September 18. AirPods 5 and both Apple Watches are orderable now and land the same day. iPhone Duo pre-orders open October 16 and ship October 23. iOS 27 arrives Monday, September 14. Thanks for reading along, and see you at the pre-order scrum.
