Apple Is Launching A $2,000 Foldable iPhone Today Under New CEO John Ternus
Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event kicks off at 10 AM Pacific today at Apple Park in Cupertino, and for the first time in 14 years, Tim Cook is not the one on stage.
John Ternus, the 47-year-old hardware engineering chief who was named Apple's 17th CEO on September 1, is hosting his first major product event. The lineup is the most ambitious Apple has unveiled since the original iPhone Ultra rumor cycle began.
The headliner is the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable smartphone, priced at approximately $2,000. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has described it as a device Apple hopes will serve as both a status symbol and a signal that the company is still capable of surprising the world.
The foldable book-style form factor unfolds to a tablet-sized display. It is a direct response to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold line, which has dominated the premium foldable market for years, and to fears that Apple has been playing catch-up on hardware innovation while leaning on services growth.
Joining the Duo at today's event: the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, featuring the A20 Pro chip, a smaller Dynamic Island, a simplified Camera Control button and a new Dark Cherry color, expected to start at $1,100 to $1,200 with price hikes of $100 to $300 across the lineup due to rising memory and storage costs.
Also on stage, the Apple Watch Series 12 with a new S11 chip, continuous heart rate monitoring throughout the day and a possible return of ceramic cases for the first time since 2019.
The Apple Watch Ultra 4 gets the same chip upgrade. AirPods 5, available in noise-canceling and standard versions, round out the launch. Pre-orders open Saturday September 12. Devices ship September 18.
What Is Happening With Apple Stock?
Apple stock, AAPL, enters today's event down approximately 8 percent for the year following the July earnings report in which Tim Cook, on his final earnings call as CEO, called the global memory shortage a "100-year flood" and guided Q4 revenue growth below analyst expectations.
The stock peaked near $235 in December 2025 before the memory shortage narrative weighed it down through the spring and summer.
The foldable iPhone is the pivot the market has been waiting for. Wall Street has long argued that Apple's replacement cycle, the average number of years between iPhone upgrades — has stretched too long because each new generation offers incrementally better cameras and chips but nothing that compels consumers to spend $1,000 on an upgrade.
A $2,000 foldable at a new form factor is a different conversation. Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Wedbush both argued heading into today that a successful iPhone Duo launch could reaccelerate growth in fiscal 2027 and push shares back toward their highs.
AAPL closed Tuesday at $215.44. The event starts in two hours. The stock's next move depends entirely on whether what Ternus puts on stage lives up to two years of buildup.
