Apple’s Sept. 9 event is nearly here, and we’re expecting it to be filled with firsts for the company. The company’s fall event — starting Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) — will be the first to be hosted by new Apple CEO John Ternus and could be the stage where we see Apple’s long-rumored folding iPhone.
That possible foldable, rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra, is expected to be joined by a new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, but, for the first time, might exclude a base iPhone 18 by punting it to the spring, along with a rumored iPhone Air sequel.
CNET reporters will be at Apple Park for the company’s latest product unveiling, and we’ll count down all the final rumors and commentary in the leadup to the live event. Wednesday morning, you can follow along with us at CNET through both this live blog and with our livestream watch party (kicking off Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET) as we report all the announcements live as they happen.
Driving home from the G20 tech forum in Chapel Hill, I asked Siri to send my friend a text message. (Don’t text and drive, kids.) I didn’t use the exact right words I wanted to, so, per usual, Siri couldn’t understand what I meant and wrote an incoherent text. Hopefully, this is one of the last times I’ll have to deal with Siri screwups, thanks to the upcoming general release of iOS 27 with Siri AI.
We got our first glance at Siri AI inside iOS 27 at Apple’s June WWDC event. Since then, CNET reviewers have been busy testing the public betas of the new software. And so far, it seems like the new Siri lives up to the hype. Even my colleague Zach McAuliffe, who’s ignored Siri for a decade, said the revamped digital assistant was surprising and “immediately improved” – a green flag from CNET’s iOS expert.
I’m hoping the new Siri will give iPhone owners like me the quality-of-life updates we deserve. I don’t need my phone to start acting like a chatbot. I do want it to better at understand my voice commands and use improved world knowledge, two things that generative AI has gotten much better at over the past few years. So I’m unusually optimistic about Siri AI.
Apple’s super-slim iPhone Air wasn’t a blockbuster when it debuted last year, but it still may be one of the company’s most important products. The 5.6mm thick handset could lay the groundwork for Apple’s highly anticipated foldable iPhone, which has speculatively been dubbed the iPhone Ultra.
Samsung, for instance, debuted the skinny Galaxy S25 Edge last year before launching the also-slim Galaxy Z Fold 7 a few months later. It’s possible that with the iPhone Air, Apple was flexing its hardware capabilities, which it could then – ahem – fold into the iPhone Ultra’s design.
“The first iPhone Air may eventually be viewed as a transitional step rather than a failed product category,” Rishi Padhi, research principal at Gartner, told me. “It proved that Apple could still make a thinner iPhone.”
You can read more about how the iPhone Air may hint at what we’ll get with Apple’s first foldable phone here.
Dbrand may be providing the easiest way to get a peek at the iPhone Ultra, as the phone accessory company is already selling skins for the rumored foldable iPhone as well as the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. The iPhone Ultra skins skew closely to the various leaks we’ve been chasing about the iPhone 18 line over the last several months, featuring a wider design similar to what Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8.
We’ll officially find out on Wednesday what Apple’s presumed iPhone 18 Pro and Ultra phones look like, but until then, these skins may provide a pretty close idea of what to expect from the phones’ designs.
Apple could reveal its first foldable iPhone on Wednesday.
After years of rumors and patience, the iPhone Ultra or iPhone Fold is a highly anticipated addition to Apple’s iPhone lineup and could give other foldable phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series and Pixel 11 Pro Fold some serious competition.
Foldable phones are a niche tech product that may not be what everyone wants in an upgrade. Analysts expect standard and premium iPhone models to stick around, but CNET found some US adults are interested in a foldable iPhone. A recent CNET survey focused on consumer sentiment around Apple’s foldable phone shows that 1 in 4 US adults (25%) are interested in a foldable iPhone.
But how much they’re willing to spend is vastly different from the estimated $2,000 the phone could cost. US adults are willing to spend $781 on average for a foldable iPhone. Comparatively, that’s $48 less than the base model iPhone 17 and doesn’t seem likely given the phone’s expected features, RAM shortage and rumors of iPhone price hikes.
Apple went bold with its redesigned Pro models in 2025, and that was a nice change from the subdued shades of titanium on the iPhone 15 Pro and 16 Pro. For some, the iPhone 17 Pro’s design is too much, especially in a construction vest orange – great for Clemson fans. And while I think the 17 Pro looks dignified in dark blue, I want Apple to release a black iPhone 18 Pro – even if the only external change is the color. I truly love the two-tone Ceramic Shield panel on the back of the 17 Pro, and I could imagine Apple making a killer black and space gray model.
I would like Apple to add a pro mode in the Camera app, like some Android phones. With iOS 27 adding a Siri mode into the app, the lovable simplicity of the iPhone camera has felt like navigating a tiny furnished apartment. I can find everything just fine, but it just feels cluttered.
Apple increased the size of the battery on the 17 Pro, and it will be interesting to see how it powers the 18 Pro without the battery life taking a hit. Will Apple adopt silicon-carbon batteries that enable greater capacity without increasing physical size? The company’s iPhone line might sell in too many numbers for such a change, despite OnePlus, Motorola and Samsung launching phones this year using the technology.
My last wish is that the price remains the same. Even if Apple doesn’t adopt rumored price increases, there is a world in which the cheapest new iPhone announced at its “Surprise and shine” event would cost $1,100. And that’s a lot.
