Kerry Wan/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple just announced the iPhone Duo: its first foldable.
- It’s a book-style foldable with a 7.6-inch screen when fully opened.
- Apple also announced the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max and more.
After several years of development, Apple finally announced its own foldable: the iPhone Duo — a premium, compact device that combines all the best features of the iPhone in a book-style foldable that extends to a 7.6-inch display and features an under-display camera.
ZDNET was on the ground in Cupertino to go hands-on with the iPhone Duo, along with all the other devices Apple announced: the Apple Watch 12 and Ultra 4, and the AirPods 5. Here are the biggest announcements Apple made today.
1. The iPhone Duo: Apple’s first foldable
It’s been a long time coming, but Apple finally made it happen. To compete with all the compelling foldable Androids this year (including Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the new Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold), Apple is jumping into the foldable race a little late but exceptionally prepared — in true Apple fashion.
Also: How to preorder the new iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and everything else Apple announced
The iPhone Duo is Apple’s most premium phone to date. It resembles a squat iPhone with a 5.4-inch cover screen and opens like a book to reveal a 7.6-inch Liquid Retina XDR display that strongly resembles an iPad. In fact, the Duo uses a modified version of iOS that looks closer to iPadOS, with more horizontal room for icons and a vertical dock on the right side of the cover screen.
Kerry Wan/ZDNETThe Duo also differentiates itself from other iPhone models with support for the Apple Pencil — the first iPhone to do so — rounding out the tablet-like experience and creating a more premium use case.
Predictably, the Duo targets the enthusiast and power-user demographic, with the new A20 chip, 12GB of memory, and 256GB of storage. It’s got the price to match — starting at $1,999 and going beyond $3,000 with 2TB of storage, propelling it into a new tier of high-end devices.
Also: iPhone Duo or 18 Pro? 8 reasons why I’m skipping Apple’s first foldable
The cameras across the entire iPhone 18 Pro lineup feature some significant hardware and software upgrades. The Duo has a 48MP Dual Fusion Main camera and a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide lens, along with a 12MP Center Stage front camera and, notably, an under-display FaceTime camera that is all but invisible when the phone is unfolded. The trade-off, however, is that the UDC is not as good as its rear and external counterparts.
Kerry Wan/ZDNETLike any foldable phone, the biggest engineering hurdle is reducing the crease, and the Duo does that with a glare-reducing nanotexture coating and ceramic-fiber hinge system that bends the glass display just enough to minimize friction. ZDNET’s Kerry Wan went hands-on with the Duo and said it has one of the more inconspicuous creases among the foldables announced this year.
The iPhone Duo will be available for preorder on Sept. 16, with devices generally available on Oct. 23.
2. Don’t forget the regulars: iPhone 18 Pro & Pro Max
The spotlight might be on the new iPhone Duo, but the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max hit the ground with more power, bigger batteries, new colors, big camera upgrades, and, of course, higher prices.
Also: iPhone 18 Pro hands-on: I came for the Burgundy and stayed for the dual-aperture cameras
Both phones will run Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, the company’s first two-nanometer iPhone chip, which Apple says provides more power and greater efficiency in a similarly sized footprint.
Kerry Wan/ZDNETThe Apple iPhone 18 Pro comes with some significant battery upgrades — the largest increase in battery life of any smartphone on the market, Apple said. The iPhone 18 Pro will have a 4,288mAh battery capacity (up from 4,252mAh), while the iPhone 18 Pro Max boasts 5,567mAh (compared with the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 5,088mAh), equating to a reported 24 hours of runtime.
Apple has also improved fast charging, with a 50% charge in 15 minutes, while just five minutes of charging provides six hours of video. We’ll have to put these metrics to the test when we go hands-on with the new phones, but these figures suggest a notable increase in longevity.
Also: iPhone 18 Pro vs. iPhone 17 Pro: Is Apple’s newest flagship really worth $100 more?
Some of the biggest upgrades come with the camera. The iPhone 18 Pro’s 48MP Fusion main camera supports a variable aperture, allowing manual control via an on-screen rotor mechanism. This allows you to manually set the aperture for a greater or shallower depth of field while maintaining image quality in low-light conditions, resulting in DSLR-quality photos not typically possible on a smartphone.
Kerry Wan/ZDNETNote that the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max debut without a base-model iPhone 18, which will likely be announced in the spring.
The iPhone 18 Pro will start at $1,199 with the 256GB storage configuration. The iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299. Both will be available for preorder on Saturday, Sept. 12, and will ship on Sept. 18.
3. Apple Watch Series 12 & Watch Ultra 4
Apple’s new lineup of smartwatches includes the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4, its most high-end wearable yet, with an upgraded S12 chip and a bevy of new health-tracking features.
The new Ultra 4 supports up to 50 hours of battery life with everyday use, making it Apple’s longest-lasting watch to date. It also comes with Apple’s new Health Sensing system, which provides continuous heart rate monitoring throughout the day for a steady stream of data.
The smartwatches come with a larger electrode surface for improved skin contact, a new ring-style design for the watch’s photodiodes, and a green LED for heart rate tracking, which Apple says is more power-efficient. The new Readiness app aims to analyze the user’s current health status and provide a “score” with a suggested workout intensity for the day.
However, some of the more notable upgrades steer away from health tracking and toward general usability. For example, the watches include a new Siri Recap feature that harnesses “ambient listening” to record conversations and generate summaries of their content, delivered in the Siri app.
Also: Is Apple Watch 12 worth the upgrade? My advice as a Series 10 and 11 owner
Privacy concerns abound, but for now, Apple says you can choose when this feature listens and set it to specific times or turn it on or off in Control Center. It also harnesses Siri for on-command transcription by double-pressing the watch’s crown.
The Series 12 watch comes with a design very similar to that of its predecessor, with new ceramic cases in white and gray colorways for a more durable form factor.
Preorders start today, with orders shipping on Sept. 18.
4. Siri 2.0
Siri wasn’t the main focus of the event, but Apple did show off some notable new features, including the ability to fine-tune Siri’s voice to your preferences using sliders and visual dials to customize its pitch, accent, and gender.
Also: How to preorder the new iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and everything else Apple announced
The assistant will touch every part of Apple’s new lineup. From iPhones and Apple Watches to AirPods and MacBooks, Siri will be integrated into the core functionality of various features rather than remaining an isolated, standalone app (though that still exists, too).
5. AirPods 5
The new AirPods 5 feature improved active noise cancellation (ANC), with Apple citing 50% more noise reduction than their predecessors. They also feature an improved transparency mode that Apple says makes external sounds more natural.
Apple’s new Adaptive Audio feature blends ANC and transparency modes to lower the volume automatically when it hears the wearer start talking, while also supporting Live Translation, as long as the iPhone they’re paired with is compatible with the feature.
Screenshot by Joseph Maldonado/ZDNETThe AirPods 5 also come with a wireless charging case for $149, supporting up to five hours of listening time with ANC on or 22 hours with the case.
The AirPods 5 are available for preorder now, with general availability on Friday, Sept. 18.
