Apple set Sept. 9 for its annual iPhone keynote, the first in 15 years not led by Tim Cook as chief executive and the riskiest debut for John Ternus.
Key Points:
- Apple's "Surprise and shine" event begins at 10 a.m. Pacific on Sept. 9 at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino.
- The iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and a first foldable iPhone are expected, while the standard iPhone 18 slips to spring 2027.
- Ternus becomes chief executive on Sept. 1, and Cook moves to executive chairman.
Apple Confirms Sept. 9 Keynote Date
Apple published the invitation Wednesday under the tagline "Surprise and shine," pairing the words with a backlit company logo and a burst of light behind it. The keynote begins at 10 a.m. Pacific, or 1 p.m. Eastern, at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. The company will stream the presentation on YouTube, on its own events page and through the Apple TV app.
Reporters received invitations to attend in person at Apple Park.
Apple declined to describe the hardware it plans to show, a routine posture in the weeks before its fall keynotes. Analysts expect the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the company's first foldable handset, which leakers have called the iPhone Ultra, alongside new Apple Watch and AirPods models.
Also Read: Cardano Could Integrate With Ethereum Within Months, Hoskinson Says
Analysts Weigh iPhone Ultra Pricing
The standard iPhone 18 is not on this year's fall schedule. Apple has split its release calendar and pushed the base model, the iPhone 18e and the iPhone Air 2 into spring 2027, according to supply chain reports. That decision leaves the September stage to premium hardware alone, with no entry-level phone on hand to anchor the range for budget buyers.
Analysts including Ming-Chi Kuo estimate the foldable will start near $2,000, while some research firms put its average selling price closer to $2,500 and expect first-year shipments in the single-digit millions. Apple has separately flagged higher memory costs, a squeeze that analysts say could push prices up across the Pro models as well this year.
That leaves Ternus with an unusually exposed first outing as Apple's chief executive. He must introduce Apple's costliest phone yet and defend a thinner fall lineup, all while suppliers struggle with component shortages and the difficulty of building folding displays at scale. Investors will also watch how he handles a category Apple entered years after Samsung and Google shipped their own folding phones.
Cook Hands Off After 15 Years
Apple said in April that Cook would move to executive chairman on Sept. 1, closing a run that began in 2011, and named Ternus, a 25-year company veteran who has led hardware engineering since 2021.
Apple's market value passed $4 trillion under Cook and annual revenue climbed above $400 billion, though critics faulted the company for reaching generative artificial intelligence late and for the weak reception of the Vision Pro headset.
Read Next: iPhone 18 Pro Misses The Camera Upgrade Apple Saves For The Pro Max
