Apple sets September 9 event, teases first foldable iPhone

Apple has set September 9 for its next product event, an invitation-only gathering at its Cupertino campus that is widely expected to bring the company's first foldable iPhone alongside a new lineup of the standard iPhone 18 Pro line — and to double as the debut keynote for incoming chief executive John Ternus.

The company confirmed the date this week with the tagline "Surprise and shine," inviting press to Apple Park for a 10 a.m. Pacific event that will also stream online. Apple has not detailed what will be shown, in keeping with its usual practice, but the timing lines up with years of supply-chain reporting pointing to a foldable device that analysts and outlets including MacRumors have suggested could carry the iPhone Ultra name.

The device is expected to use a book-style folding design with an outer display around 5.3 to 5.5 inches and a larger interior screen near 7.6 to 7.8 inches when unfolded, a titanium frame, and Touch ID built into the power button rather than Face ID. Reported pricing estimates start near $1,999, positioning it well above Apple's existing top-of-line models. Alongside the fold, Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max with an updated variable-aperture camera system and Apple's own C2 cellular modem, plus new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra models, according to TechCrunch.

The event carries added weight because of a leadership handoff taking effect two days beforehand. Apple disclosed in an SEC filing in April that Tim Cook will step down as chief executive on September 1 to become executive chairman, with hardware engineering chief John Ternus succeeding him as CEO and joining the board. In its own newsroom announcement, Apple said longtime board chair Arthur Levinson would become lead independent director on the same date, completing a broader reshuffle at the top of the company.

Ternus, 50, joined Apple in 2001 and has overseen hardware engineering since 2021, giving him direct responsibility for the iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch lines he will now unveil publicly as CEO for the first time. Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, presided over more than a decade of growth that turned Apple into one of the world's most valuable companies, and his shift to executive chairman is intended to preserve continuity at the board level even as day-to-day leadership changes hands.

Apple has not confirmed pricing or specifications for any of the rumored products, and the company's silence leaves plenty of room for the September 9 keynote to depart from expectations, as it has in past years. What is certain is that a first-ever foldable iPhone, should it appear, would mark Apple's most significant hardware departure since it introduced the Apple Watch in 2015 — and would arrive in a market where rivals including Samsung and several Chinese manufacturers have sold folding phones for roughly seven years, giving Apple a long runway to study the category's durability complaints and crease-related design compromises before entering it.

Coverage from 9to5mac notes the event will be Apple's first major public keynote under Ternus, a transition point the company has tried to frame as routine succession planning rather than any signal of strategic change. Apple typically streams its keynotes live on its website, the Apple TV app and YouTube, with new hardware becoming available for pre-order within days of the announcement and shipping within roughly a week — a cadence that, if followed this year, would put the foldable iPhone in customers' hands before the holiday shopping season begins in earnest.