Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” event ran today, September 9, 2026. Six product announcements, one rebuilt app, and one notable absence. Every price and date below is from Apple’s own press releases, linked at the bottom. If you only read one section, read the table.
Quick note before the list: the biggest surprise was not a product. John Ternus introduced the foldable, and Apple’s press release identifies him as “Apple’s CEO.” His quote on the Duo: “iPhone Duo is the most transformational change to iPhone since the original.”
The table
| Product | Starting price (US) | Pre-order | Ships |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone Duo | $1,999 | Fri, Oct 16 | Fri, Oct 23 |
| iPhone 18 Pro | $1,199 | Sat, Sep 12 | Fri, Sep 18 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | $1,299 | Sat, Sep 12 | Fri, Sep 18 |
| Apple Watch Series 12 | $399 | Today, Sep 9 | Fri, Sep 18 |
| Apple Watch Ultra 4 | $799 | Today, Sep 9 | Fri, Sep 18 |
| AirPods 5 | $129 | Today, Sep 9 | Fri, Sep 18 |
| AirPods 5 (Wireless Charging Case) | $149 | Today, Sep 9 | Fri, Sep 18 |
| iOS 27 / watchOS 27 | Free | n/a | Mon, Sep 14 |
| Siri AI (beta) | Free | n/a | Mon, Sep 14 |
| Redesigned Health app | Free | n/a | Later this year |
1. iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable
A 7.6-inch inner Super Retina XDR display with a nano-texture finish, and a 5.4-inch outer display covering 90% of the iPhone 18 Pro’s screen area. Both run ProMotion, Always On, and 3000 nits peak brightness, and both share the same aspect ratio so apps scale rather than reflow when you unfold.
The hinge uses more than 100 components inside a Grade 5 titanium, mirror-polished enclosure, with a 3D-printed hinge cover. Ceramic Shield on the back, Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, and IP68 rated at 6 meters for 30 minutes. Dust-tight on a device with a moving seam is the hard part, and Apple claims it.
Inside: the A20 Pro with a custom vapor chamber, and Apple claims 35% better sustained performance than iPhone 17 Pro. Cameras are a 48MP Fusion Main with an integrated 2x telephoto plus a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, with a FaceTime camera hidden beneath the inner display. Dual batteries deliver up to 31 hours of video on the inner screen, 44 hours on the outer, and 24 hours of mixed use.
Star white and night sky, 256GB through 2TB, from $1,999. It ships five weeks after the Pro phones, which is worth thinking about.
Read the full iPhone Duo breakdown, including what 100 hinge components actually means.
2. iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
The headline is a real mechanical aperture. The 48MP Fusion Main camera now has a variable aperture built from six laser-cut blades with four settings: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4. That is optical depth of field instead of computed blur, plus the ability to stop down for corner sharpness or to control motion in bright daylight.
The A20 Pro moves to a 2nm process with a 6-core CPU carrying integrated Neural Accelerators, a 7-core GPU that is 40% faster than A19 Pro, and a dual 16-core Neural Engine. The new N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, and the C2 modem is Apple’s second-generation in-house cellular silicon. The vapor chamber has 3x the surface area, worth up to 40% sustained performance.
Battery: up to 36 hours of video on the Pro and 45 hours on the Pro Max, though read the fine print, because those are the eSIM-only figures. Five minutes of charging gives the Pro Max about seven hours of video.
Also new: Apple Reference Image, which cryptographically signs sensor data. In a year when nobody can tell a real photo from a generated one, hardware-attested authenticity is a bigger deal than it sounds.
Colors are black, silver, glacier, and burgundy. $1,199 and $1,299.
Read the full iPhone 18 Pro breakdown and what the variable aperture actually does.
3. Apple Watch Series 12
An all-new Health Sensing System with new optical and electrical heart sensors. Heart rate is now measured every five seconds all day, and HRV as often as every five minutes, which Apple says is 24 times more often than before. There is a new 0-to-10 readiness score built on Apple Heart and Movement Study data, with four states: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, and Go For It.
The S11 chip runs watchOS 27. Battery is up to 24 hours everyday, 10 hours of outdoor workout, and 15 minutes of charging yields up to 12 hours. Sizes are 42mm and 46mm, in aluminum, titanium, and a returning ceramic option.
From $399.
4. Apple Watch Ultra 4
Same S11 chip and the same Health Sensing System, in natural or black titanium. The difference is endurance and reach: up to 50 hours of everyday battery, 84 hours in Low Power Mode, 45 hours in Max Extended Workout, plus satellite Emergency SOS, Find My, and Messages.
From $799. Worth saying plainly: the $400 premium buys battery, satellite, and GPS accuracy, not better health sensors. Those are identical to the $399 model.
Read the full Watch and Health app breakdown, including what Health Age actually measures.
5. AirPods 5
Active Noise Cancellation in the open-ear design, which Apple says removes up to 50% more external noise than AirPods 4 with ANC. A multiport acoustic architecture, next-generation Adaptive EQ, and improved dust, sweat, and water resistance.
Battery is up to 4 hours with ANC on the standard model and 5 hours on the Wireless Charging Case model, with up to 22 hours total using the case. The charging case model adds a force sensor with volume swipe, a first for Apple’s open-ear design, and charges from an Apple Watch charger, Qi, or USB-C.
Live Translation, head gesture responses, and hands-free Siri AI are all here. $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case.
Dave Pakula, Apple’s VP of Hardware Engineering: “We’re thrilled that with AirPods 5, we’re able to bring Active Noise Cancellation, one of our most beloved features, to our most affordable AirPods.”
At $129, this is quietly the best value announced today.
6. The rebuilt Health app
A new Insights tab with summaries that update through the day, and a new Longevity tab built around a Health Age metric that scores you against your chronological age using VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep, HRV, and lab data including A1c and LDL.
New Movement Evaluations run at-home assessments of flexibility, strength, balance, movement mechanics, and VO2 max using the iPhone camera and Apple Watch, entirely on-device with no video recorded or stored.
And the sleeper announcement of the entire event: Labs. You can now schedule and buy lab work inside the Health app, over 50 biomarkers for $119, at roughly 2,000 Quest Diagnostics locations in the U.S. Apple just became a distribution channel for blood work.
Also added: perimenopause and menopause logging, with notifications for users 40 and over when cycle deviations suggest perimenopause, and when bleeding is logged after menopause.
Important: Apple states that the Vitals app is “for wellness purposes only and not for medical use,” and there is no FDA clearance language in today’s Series 12 announcement. Health Age is a motivational metric, not a diagnosis. Ships later this year, U.S. English first.
7. Siri AI ships Monday
Siri AI begins rolling out as a beta on Monday, September 14, in English, as part of iOS 27.
To be clear, since a lot of coverage today is getting this wrong: Siri AI was announced back in June 2026. Today is not the announcement, it is the ship date. Apple describes it as running on “the next generation of Apple Foundation Models that run on device and on servers using Private Cloud Compute,” with personal context understanding, onscreen awareness, and broad world knowledge.
Apple’s materials name no third-party model partner. CNN and other outlets reported in January that Apple signed a multi-year deal for Google’s Gemini to help power Siri. We are labeling that as reporting rather than confirmation, because Apple has not said it.
What did NOT happen: there is no regular iPhone 18
If you came here looking for a $799 iPhone 18, it does not exist yet. Apple announced only the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max today.
Reporting ahead of the event, including MacRumors’ release-schedule tracking, has Apple splitting the iPhone 18 line across two seasons, with the standard model expected in spring 2027. Apple has not confirmed that. What Apple has confirmed is that it did not launch one today.
Practically: the iPhone 17 is now the value pick in the lineup, and it is about to get cheaper.
Trade-in and financing, briefly
- Apple Trade In: $175 to $885 for iPhone 13 or later
- Carrier deals: up to $1,200 credit for iPhone 14 or later
- Apple Upgrade via Klarna: from $34.99 per month for 24 months
The carrier number is bigger and the Apple number is real today. Carrier credits arrive as bill credits over 24 to 36 months and generally disappear if you switch carriers or change plans. Read the terms before you let a $1,200 banner make the decision for you.
What we have not tested
MacReview has not received review units for any product announced today, and no hands-on testing has been performed. Everything above is sourced from Apple’s press releases and our own analysis of the published specifications. When hardware arrives, we test it and we publish results, including the ones Apple would rather we did not.
This post will be updated as Apple publishes additional specifications and as our reviews go live.
Frequently asked questions
What did Apple announce on September 9, 2026?
iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, AirPods 5, and a redesigned Health app. Siri AI also began rolling out.
How much does the iPhone Duo cost?
The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the US. Pre-orders open Friday, October 16 and it ships Friday, October 23.
How much does the iPhone 18 Pro cost?
iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299. Pre-orders open Saturday, September 12 and both ship Friday, September 18.
Is there a regular iPhone 18?
No. Apple announced only the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Reporting indicates the standard iPhone 18 is expected in spring 2027, though Apple has not confirmed this.
When does iOS 27 come out?
iOS 27 is a free update starting Monday, September 14. Siri AI begins rolling out the same day as a beta, in English first.
How much is the Apple Watch Series 12?
Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399. Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799. Both ship Friday, September 18.
Sources (all Apple Newsroom, September 9, 2026 unless noted): Apple unveils iPhone Duo · Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max · Introducing Apple Watch Series 12 · Apple unveils Apple Watch Ultra 4 · Apple introduces AirPods 5 · Apple advances health and fitness capabilities using Apple Intelligence · Apple introduces Siri AI (June 2026). Product images credited to Apple Inc. MacReview is not affiliated with Apple Inc.
Disclosure: MacReview has received no review units for any product announced today and has performed no hands-on testing. This article contains no affiliate links.
Last updated: September 9, 2026. Developing story.
