September 10, 2026 — At 1:00 AM Beijing Time, Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event kicked off at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park. It was the company's most consequential keynote in years — and the first under a new CEO .

John Ternus, who officially took over as Apple's CEO on September 1, opened the event himself. Tim Cook made a brief appearance on stage, said "Not me. That's your guy," and handed the spotlight to Ternus — a symbolic passing of the torch . The event lasted about 80 minutes, entirely pre-recorded .

iPhone Duo: Apple's First Foldable

After years of speculation, Apple officially entered the foldable market with the iPhone Duo .

The name "Duo" reflects its dual-screen identity — a device that's both a phone and a mini-tablet . Ternus described it on stage as the "most transformative iPhone since the original" and suggested other foldables feel like "two phones awkwardly stuck together" .

The Duo's hinge supports a wide range of open angles, and Apple says the fold crease is virtually invisible . The device also features a variable torque hinge for multi-angle positioning .

iPhone 18 Pro Series: 2nm Power

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max anchor the conventional lineup with a major internal overhaul .

A20 Pro: Apple's First 2nm Chip

The A20 Pro is Apple's first chip built on TSMC's 2nm process . Key specs :

• 6-core CPU: 2 performance cores (20% faster) + 4 efficiency cores
• 7-core GPU: Graphics performance up to 40% higher
• Dual Neural Engines: 32 cores total, enabling on-device AI at scale
• Memory bandwidth: 50% higher than the previous generation
• Vapor chamber cooling: For sustained performance

Apple calls the A20 Pro performance cores "desktop-class" and says they are the fastest CPU cores ever in a smartphone .

Variable Aperture Camera

The headline camera upgrade is a 48MP variable-aperture main camera . This mechanical aperture is exclusive to the Pro Max model and lets users manually adjust the lens opening from f/1.4 to f/2.8 . The Pro Max also gets a 6x optical periscope zoom .

Design & Pricing

The iPhone 18 Pro series :

• Dynamic Island: ~35% smaller, can show three Live Activities simultaneously
• Colors: Black, Silver, Glacier (light), Burgundy (wine red)
• Pro starting price: $1,199 (~¥9,999)
• Pro Max starting price: $1,299 (~¥10,999)
• Pre-order: September 12 (12:00 AM PT)
• Availability: September 18

The standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and iPhone Air 2 were not announced and are expected in spring 2027 .

Apple Watch: Series 12 & Ultra 4

Apple refreshed its watch lineup with a focus on health and AI .

The new "Readiness" feature analyzes sleep, activity, training load, and vital signs to recommend recovery, pacing, or performance . Audio Intelligence features — Sound Recognition, Live Rewind (shows text of the previous 15 seconds of conversation), and Siri Recap — will arrive in beta later in 2026 .

AirPods 5: Two Versions

Apple introduced two AirPods 5 models :

• $129 model: Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Siri access, Live Translation
• $149 model: Adds a wireless charging case, on-stem volume control, and up to 5 hours of listening with ANC enabled

Both feature Apple's H3 chip and redesigned open-ear fit. Apple claims the ANC removes up to 50% more outside noise than AirPods 4 with ANC . The camera-equipped AirPods previously rumored are not expected until 2027 .

Key Takeaways