Apple held its annual iPhone event, titled Surprise and Shine, on 9 September 2026 at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the company’s first foldable iPhone. Apple did not introduce a standard iPhone 18 this year, with the more affordable line expected to arrive in spring 2027 instead, according to reporting ahead of the event.
A Book-Style Foldable Design
Apple’s foldable iPhone uses a book-style design with a roughly 5.5-inch OLED display on the outside for everyday use, unfolding into a larger internal OLED display of about 7.6 inches. Unlike Apple’s standard Pro models, the foldable uses Touch ID rather than Face ID and omits a telephoto camera, trade-offs reportedly made to keep the folded device thin.
A New Chip Across the Lineup
All three new iPhone models use Apple’s latest A20 Pro chip, built on a 2-nanometre manufacturing process the company says improves both speed and power efficiency. Apple also announced new Apple Watch models and AirPods alongside the phones, and confirmed release dates for its next round of software updates, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate.
Why It Matters
Apple’s entry into foldable phones comes years after rivals such as Samsung established the category, making this launch a significant test of whether Apple can bring its scale and ecosystem advantages to a phone format that has so far remained a niche, premium-priced segment of the smartphone market. The event’s product mix, anchored by incremental Pro upgrades alongside one genuinely new form factor, reflects Apple’s typically cautious approach to entering categories only once it believes the technology and consumer demand are ready. How the foldable is priced and positioned against Apple’s existing Pro Max model will be closely watched as an early signal of how seriously the company intends to compete in the category longer term.
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