Apple held its first iPhone launch event under new hardware chief John Ternus, unveiling a foldable handset for the first time alongside updated iPhone Pro models, AirPods and Apple Watches. The centrepiece was the iPhone Duo, a book-style foldable that opens flat, marking Apple's entry into a market long dominated by Samsung and signalling the company's confidence in foldable display technology after years of speculation. Rather than releasing a standard iPhone 18, Apple focused this generation's main line-up on two Pro models with substantially upgraded cameras.

The iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch inner screen and 5.4-inch outer display, an A20 Pro chip, a 48-megapixel camera and up to 44 hours of video playback; it starts at $1,999 and ships on 23 October. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max gain a 48-megapixel main camera with variable aperture, a new A20 chip and an updated Dynamic Island, priced from $1,199 and $1,299 respectively and available from 18 September. Apple also introduced ANC on the entry-level AirPods 5 for $129, a new $149 AirPods variant, and Watch Series 12 and Watch Ultra 4 models featuring a "Siri Recap" tool that transcribes and summarises spoken conversations.