Apple's new CEO John Ternus expected to debut foldable iPhone at event Wednesday |
By Gammatek ISPL Published: September 9, 2026 | 12 min read
Why This Matters Right Now
If you've ever waited to buy a new iPhone because "this isn't the year for anything really new," today might be the year that changes. Apple is holding its annual iPhone launch event this afternoon — the first led by new CEO John Ternus since he took over from Tim Cook just over a week ago — and the company is widely expected to unveil its first-ever foldable iPhone. This isn't a minor spec bump. It's Apple's biggest physical redesign of its flagship product since the company dropped the home button in 2017, a reported price tag pushing toward $2,000, and a very public first test of whether Apple's new leadership can still deliver the kind of moment that defines the smartphone industry. Whether you're deciding what to buy this fall or just watching to see if Apple can still surprise people, today's announcement will shape that answer.
A New CEO's First Big Moment
John Ternus officially became Apple's CEO on September 1, 2026, ending Tim Cook's 15-year run at the company — a tenure that saw Apple's valuation climb into the trillions largely on the strength of the iPhone. Cook has moved into the role of executive chairman, while Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran who spent years leading hardware engineering, steps into the top job at a moment when the company faces real questions: how to catch up in the AI race, how to manage a complicated relationship with U.S. trade policy, and how to keep the iPhone feeling essential after nearly two decades on the market.
Ternus kept characteristically quiet ahead of today's event. In an internal memo to staff last week, he described the upcoming launch as something he was genuinely excited about, without giving specifics. That restraint fits his reputation — colleagues and industry observers have described him as a steady, detail-oriented engineer rather than a showman, a contrast to some of Apple's more theatrical product reveals under Steve Jobs.
What's Reportedly Coming: The Foldable iPhone
The headline expectation for today's "Surprise and Shine" event is Apple's first foldable phone. According to reporting from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the device is expected to be called the iPhone Duo (some earlier rumors floated "iPhone Ultra" as an alternative name). It's reportedly designed with styling similar to existing foldables on the market from Samsung and Google, opening from a phone-sized form factor into a small tablet.
The price is the part getting the most attention: reports suggest the foldable could carry a price tag around $2,000 — nearly double Apple's current top-of-line iPhone 17 Pro, which starts at $1,099. Analysts have also floated the possibility that Apple raises prices on its standard Pro lineup by as much as $200 this cycle.
It's Not Just the Foldable
Alongside the headline device, today's event is expected to bring a broader lineup refresh:
iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max — rumored to include a new mechanical aperture system for improved low-light photography and depth control, hinted at in a short clip Ternus posted on X ahead of the event.
Apple Watch Series 12, reportedly including a new ceramic case option.
Apple Watch Ultra 4.
AirPods 5, expected in both standard and possibly a new variant.
Possible refreshes to smart home hardware, including speculation about a new HomePod, and a long-overdue update to Apple TV, which hasn't seen a refresh since 2022.
Why a Foldable, and Why Now
Apple has resisted entering the foldable category for years while Samsung and Google built it out. The strategic logic for finally moving now comes down to a few factors:
The iPhone still drives roughly half of Apple's total revenue. Any meaningful evolution of that product line carries outsized weight for the company's overall business, far more than a new Watch or AirPods refresh could.
The foldable category, while still a small share of the overall smartphone market, has been steadily growing — and industry watchers, including Samsung's own mobile leadership, have suggested that Apple's entry could expand the category rather than simply steal share from existing players. Samsung's senior vice president of mobile product management told CNN in July that broader visibility in the category would likely help everyone in it, not just the incumbents.
A higher price point on a flagship category could also help Apple's average selling price at a time when overall smartphone upgrade cycles have lengthened — people are holding onto phones longer, so a genuinely new form factor gives Apple a stronger reason for existing iPhone owners to upgrade sooner than they otherwise might.
Original Analysis: What a Successful Foldable Launch Actually Requires
Foldable phones have existed for years, yet they remain a niche category relative to total smartphone sales — largely because of three unresolved friction points across the industry: crease visibility on the inner display, hinge durability over years of daily folding, and price points that put the category out of reach for most buyers upgrading a standard phone.
Apple's entry doesn't automatically solve any of these. What it does change is the perception layer: Apple's brand carries a different signal of "mainstream readiness" than Samsung's does for a large segment of consumers who treat Apple's adoption of a category as validation that it's now safe to buy into. That's a real, if intangible, market effect — Apple has done this before with wireless earbuds (AirPods didn't invent the category, but normalized it) and with smartwatches.
The open question is whether Apple can avoid the durability and crease complaints that have dogged competitors for years, given the company's reputation for obsessive attention to build quality under Ternus's own background running hardware engineering. If early reviews after today's event highlight a genuinely improved hinge and display compared to existing foldables, that's a meaningfully different story than "Apple joins a category Samsung already perfected." If reviewers find the same compromises that have limited foldables so far, the higher price tag becomes a much harder sell.
What This Means If You're Deciding Whether to Buy
A few practical takeaways for anyone actually in the market this fall:
If you want the safest, most proven option, the standard iPhone 18 Pro lineup is the lower-risk choice — first-generation Apple hardware categories (original Apple Watch, original AirPods) typically see meaningful improvements by their second or third iteration.
If you're drawn to the foldable specifically for the larger internal display, compare the real dimensions and weight against your current phone once official specs are out — foldables trade thinness and pocketability in the folded state for a larger unfolded screen, and that tradeoff doesn't suit everyone's daily use.
Expect trade-in and carrier promotions to matter more than usual this cycle, given the reported price jump — the effective price after trade-in credit is likely to be the number that actually determines whether the foldable reaches mainstream buyers or stays a
premium niche purchase.
The Bigger Picture
Today's event is being watched as much for what it signals about Apple's next chapter as for the products themselves. A new CEO, a category the company avoided for years, and a price point testing how far Apple can push before demand pushback sets in — all landing in a single keynote. Whatever ships today, the more interesting story may be what it tells us about how Ternus plans to lead differently than Cook did, and whether "surprise and shine" ends up being more than just an event tagline.
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