Everything Apple announced at its fall iPhone event, from the foldable iPhone Duo to an always-listening Apple Watch
TechCrunch Aisha Malik ● Covered by 6 sources
Apple showed its first foldable iPhone, new Watches, and updated AirPods. The Duo starts at $1,999, and the Watches are now listening for more than just taps.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Aisha Malik — read the original for the full story.
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Apple used its first fall event under new CEO John Ternus to roll out a very Apple mix of polish and price: a foldable iPhone, refreshed Pro phones, new Watches, new AirPods, and a redesigned Health app. The biggest reveal was the iPhone Duo, the company’s first foldable, which Apple says was inspired by the versatility of iPad. It’s a familiar strategy, just bent in half.
The Duo has a 7.6-inch Retina display when unfolded and a 5.4-inch outer display. The inner screen uses an under-display camera, while the phone also supports rear-camera selfies with previews on the outside. Apple says battery life reaches up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner display and up to 44 hours on the outer one. The camera setup includes a 48-megapixel fusion main camera and a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with 2x optical zoom. The hinge, made from Grade 5 aluminum, uses more than 100 specially engineered components. It starts at $1,999 with 256GB of storage, in two colors, with pre-orders opening October 16 and store availability on October 23.
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max keep the same design as before, but Apple clearly spent its energy on the camera system. The new 48-megapixel sensor uses a variable aperture controlled by six thin blades, which Apple says should help low-light shots and speed. The camera software adds new Pro controls for white balance, shutter speed, aperture, and a histogram, plus more customizable Photographic Styles with texture and grain controls. The phones can record 4K video in Dolby HDR Vision and apply cinematic effects after shooting. Pricing moves up too: the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, both $100 more than last year’s models. Pre-orders start Saturday, with availability on September 18.
Apple’s Watches are getting smarter without getting a dramatic hardware reset. The Series 12 and Ultra 4 add Audio Intelligence features aimed at AI-powered wearables, including Live Rewind, which shows the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as text, and Siri Recap, which pulls out key moments from everyday chats. There’s also Sound Recognition for sirens, alarms, doorbells, and a baby crying, pitched as help for people who are hard of hearing. The Series 12 starts at $399 and the Ultra 4 at $499, with pre-orders open now and store availability on September 18.
AirPods 5 bring stronger noise cancellation, better audio, Siri and Apple Intelligence features, and stem volume control that used to be reserved for AirPods Pro. Apple says background noise reduction is 50% better than the previous generation. They last up to five hours with active noise cancellation on one charge, or up to 22 hours with the case. They start at $129, or $149 with a Wireless Charging Case, and ship on September 18. Apple also showed a revamped Health app with an Insights tab, personalized guidance, a Readiness score, a Health Age calculation, and a new Longevity tab that draws from Apple Watch and iPhone data. It arrives later this year in U.S. English.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Apple keeps proving it knows how to make hardware feel inevitable, even when the pitch is mostly software and a very expensive hinge. The bigger story here isn’t the foldable hype; it’s how hard Apple is leaning into private, device-level AI while everyone else argues about model size and benchmarks. That’s the classic Apple move: close the system, charge a lot, and call it coherence.
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