Five things in Apple’s current lineup are the wrong purchase this week, and in each case the argument is a published date or a published price rather than an opinion: AirPods 4 in either version, iPhone Air at $1,099, iPhone 16 at $799, any coverage decision made before Monday, and an Apple Watch pre-order placed without checking one offer that expires on September 18.
This matters more than usual because the normal launch-week move failed in 2026. Older iPhone prices did not fall on September 9. The four models Apple kept are each listed $100 higher than the day before, and iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max were discontinued, so buying last year’s phone is no longer the cheap option it used to be. The current figures are Apple’s own Store listings, and Apple announced no increase.
Key facts: five purchases and the date against each
| Do not buy | The reason, with its date |
|---|---|
| AirPods 4 with ANC, recorded at $179 | AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case is $149 and lands September 18 |
| AirPods 4, recorded at $129 | AirPods 5 is $129 and adds noise cancellation |
| iPhone Air at $1,099 | $100 more buys iPhone 18 Pro, in stores September 18 |
| iPhone 16 at $799 | It starts at 128GB and 60Hz, and it went up $100 on September 9 |
| Per-device AppleCare+, decided today | Apple has published no price, and AppleCare One Family arrives Monday |
The $179 earbuds a $149 pair replaces on September 18
This is the clearest call in the lineup. AirPods 5 arrive at $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, and both carry Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation and Live Translation. Apple confirms both prices, and both land on Friday, September 18.
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| Model | Price | Noise cancellation | Listening with ANC | Total with case | Water and dust |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AirPods 4 | $129, recorded | No | Not applicable | Up to 30 hours | IP54 |
| AirPods 4 with ANC | $179, recorded | Yes | Up to 4 hours | Up to 20 hours | IP54 |
| AirPods 5 | $129, Apple’s store | Yes | Up to 4 hours | Up to 20 hours | IP57 |
| AirPods 5, Wireless Charging Case | $149, Apple’s store | Yes | Up to 5 hours | Up to 22 hours | IP57 |
| AirPods Pro 3 | $249, Apple’s store | Yes | Up to 8 hours | Up to 24 hours | IP57 |
One sourcing note. Apple’s own AirPods 4 specification pages carry no price in the content they serve, so $129 and $179 are figures recorded for those models rather than numbers read from an Apple page. The AirPods 5 and Pro 3 prices are Apple’s own. The catch on the $149 model is that neither AirPods 5 version includes a USB-C cable or power adapter in the box.
The two iPhones where $100 more buys a generation
iPhone Air is the harder one to say out loud, because at 5.64 mm and 165 g it is the most interesting phone Apple sells. It is also $1,099 today against $999 before the event, with one rear camera and a USB 2 port. iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 adds the A20 Pro, three 48MP cameras with a variable aperture, USB 3 at 10Gb/s and 36 hours of video against 27. Unless thinness is the requirement, the $100 is the better spend.
iPhone 16 at $799 is the same argument one rung down. It starts at 128GB, has no ProMotion and runs an A18, while iPhone 17 at $899 starts at 256GB with a 120Hz display, a 48MP ultra wide and 30 hours of video. Both headline prices include a $30 carrier connectivity discount Apple names only for those two models, so unlocked the recorded figures are $829 and $929.
Any coverage decision made before Monday
Apple has not published a single per-device AppleCare+ price for anything it launched in September 2026, iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo included. The rows exist on its support pages and the figures are absent. Nobody needs to buy blind today, because AppleCare One Family arrives on Monday, September 14 at $49.99 a month for up to six people through Family Sharing with six claims a year, and AppleCare One is already $19.99 a month for three products plus $5.99 for each extra device.
The related trap is the Apple Upgrade lease. It starts at $17.99 a month for iPhone and AppleCare is not included, the quiet change from the retired iPhone Upgrade Program. Budget protection separately or you have not compared like with like.
Three things not to wait for
- A better trade-in. Apple’s values fell on September 9, some by as much as $120. Its published figure is a range, $175 to $885 in US credit for an iPhone 13 or later, and holding the old phone longer has cost owners money rather than earned it.
- A refurbished iPhone 17 Pro. Apple Certified Refurbished had no iPhone 17 generation stock as of September 10, the newest listing recorded there was an iPhone 16 at 512GB for $909, and Apple publishes no schedule for when models appear.
- A watch trade-in offer that outlasts this week. Best Buy’s listing takes up to $325 off an Apple Watch Series 12 pre-order with an eligible Apple Watch trade-in, and it expires 9/18/2026. It is the only confirmed retailer launch promotion, and Amazon has Series 12 and Ultra 4 at list price with no discount.
What has not been confirmed
Verizon has published no iPhone 18 Pro offer at all, only a pre-order time. AT&T’s deals page still leads with last year’s Pro Max, and the $350, $930 and $1,200 tiers attributed to it appear in Apple’s footnotes rather than on its site. T-Mobile could not be verified, and Walmart, Costco and Target have published nothing for this launch. Our event recap has the full announcement.
iOS 27 and AppleCare One Family both arrive on Monday, September 14. iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 and AirPods 5 reach stores on Friday, September 18, and the Best Buy watch offer expires the same day.
