Everything Announced at the Apple Surprise and Shine Event

Apple’s September event is finally over, and there was a lot more than just a new iPhone. Well, actually i would say just a lot of overpriced iPhones and a new iPhone Duo. Also, the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Watch Ultra 4, along with the AirPods 5. Apple also packed plenty of AI features that they announced at the last Apple Event. There are some meaningful upgrades like a new chip, a larger vapour chamber, improved cameras, and more. So, here’s everything announced at the Apple Event, starting with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

1. iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max

If you were expecting Apple to redesign the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max completely, well, not quite. The new Pro models still feel very familiar compared to the iPhone 17 Pro series. The upgrades are more about what Apple has changed inside and what the cameras can now do.

The biggest change is the A20 Pro chip.

A20 Pro gets a 7-core GPU and more memory bandwidth

The A20 Pro comes with a 7-core GPU and a new Neural Engine. Apple says the chip gets a 50% increase in memory bandwidth, which should help with demanding apps, gaming and especially the AI features Apple is pushing across its devices. The Neural Engine cores also double up to 32 cores. This enables improved AI capabilities.

Apple is also claiming up to 40% more performance compared to the iPhone 17 Pro. That is a pretty big number on paper, although we’ll have to see how much of that difference you actually notice during everyday use.

The other upgrade I’m particularly interested in is the vapor chamber. Apple has made it three times larger in surface area compared to the iPhone 17 Pro. That should help the phone manage heat better when you’re gaming, recording video or doing other heavy tasks.

Battery: finally a serious upgrade

Battery life is another area where the iPhone 18 Pro looks interesting. Apple says the iPhone 18 Pro can match the battery life of last year’s iPhone 17 Pro Max, with the eSIM version offering up to 36 hours of video playback.

That is a much more meaningful upgrade than simply making the phone thinner or adding another few percentage points to a benchmark. This is one of the more useful upgrades for people who actually use their iPhone heavily throughout the day.

iPhone 18 Pro Camera Update

As usual, cameras are one of the biggest talking points with the new Pro iPhones. And this year, Apple is finally giving photographers something more interesting than simply saying the sensors are bigger.

The main camera now gets a variable aperture, with the aperture going down to f/1.48. In simple terms, the camera can control how much light enters the lens.

Apple is also adding Pro controls (finally!), giving you more manual control over the camera instead of completely relying on the iPhone. There’s also Focus Tracking to keep a moving subject in focus.

Also, you can now apply a Cinematic Mode-style effect after recording a regular video, instead of having to decide on the effect before you start recording. That is one of those features that sounds small but could actually be useful.

Smaller Dynamic Island

Apple is also making the Dynamic Island smaller on the iPhone 18 Pro models. It doesn’t disappear completely, but the reduced size gives the display a little more breathing room.

More importantly, Apple says the updated Dynamic Island can now show three activities at once, hi Color OS xD. A little late, but atleast, Apple is making it more useful as a multitasking area now.

There’s also iPhone Handoff, which lets you use one SIM across two phones. However, this feature is limited to supported carriers for now, including T-Mobile and Telecomm. So no use for Indian users. You can check out the pricing, along with the availability details for all the new products, toward the end of this article.

2. iPhone Duo: Apple finally makes a foldable iPhone

After years of rumors, leaks and enough “Apple foldable is coming” stories to fill the internet, Apple has finally made a foldable iPhone.

And honestly, the iPhone Duo is probably the most interesting iPhone Apple has launched in years. Instead of simply making the regular iPhone thinner or moving a camera around, Apple is trying something completely different here.

The iPhone Duo uses a book-style folding design with a 5.4-inch outer display and a much larger 7.6-inch inner display. Open it up, and you basically get a mini tablet that still folds down into something you can use like a regular phone.

iPhone Duo multitasking like the iPad

Apple has added side-by-side multitasking, letting you run apps next to each other on the larger inner display. So you can have something like Messages on one side and Safari on the other. Well, basically the split-screen feature has been around for years on Androids.

The iPhone Duo also supports the Apple Pencil, which makes a lot more sense here than it ever would on a normal iPhone. A 7.6-inch screen gives you enough space to actually use a stylus for notes, sketches and other tasks.

It is powered by the same A20 Pro chip as the rest of the iPhone 18 lineup, so you get the same performance. Apple is also using Touch ID in the side button instead of Face ID. Something Apple has brought back from the older iPhones that users have been complaining about for a long time.

Camera, durability and design

It features the same camera units as the base iPhone 17: a 48MP Fusion Camera and a 48MP ultra-wide camera on the back, along with an 18MP selfie camera on the outside. The company has apparently managed to place the inner screen camera behind the display, which kind of keeps the folding screen cleaner.

The iPhone Duo also gets an IP68 water-resistant rating, which is a must-have thing for such an expensive device. Only the Pixel 11 Pro Fold was able to bring this IP rating to a foldable till now.

The whole thing is obviously meant to feel like a premium iPhone first and a foldable second. Apple is offering the iPhone Duo in two colors: Star White and Night Sky.

And then we get to the part where Apple reminds us that Apple’s innovation apparently comes with a mortgage application.

iPhone Duo price: almost ₹3 lakh. Yep.

The iPhone Duo starts at around ₹2,99,900. So we’re looking at a phone that lands close to ₹3 lakh. Yes, ₹3 lakh for an iPhone.

At that price, the iPhone Duo isn’t competing with regular flagship folds anymore. It’s competing with high-end laptops, TVs, holidays and possibly your better financial decisions.

The real question isn’t whether it is expensive; obviously it is. The question is whether Apple can make the foldable experience polished enough that people actually feel the price is justified.

And considering how long we’ve been waiting for Apple to enter this market, the iPhone Duo has a lot to prove. If you’re curious about what Apple left out of its first foldable, you can check out 6 features Apple missed in the iPhone Duo.

3. Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: Apple goes all-in on health

Apple also announced two new watches: the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. And this time, the focus is less on changing how the watches look and more on the health factor. That’s something Apple does every year.

The design isn’t getting a dramatic makeover, so if you were hoping to instantly tell the new Watch from last year’s model, good luck. The upgrades are mostly happening under the hood.

Both watches get new Apple silicon and improved health and fitness measurements. Apple is also putting a bigger focus on how your daily routine affects your overall health.

Readiness wants to tell you how ready you actually are

One of the more interesting additions is Readiness.

The idea is pretty simple. Instead of throwing a bunch of health numbers at you and expecting you to figure everything out yourself, Apple wants the Watch to turn that data into something more useful.

It looks at your routine and helps you understand whether you’re ready to push yourself or whether your body might benefit from taking things a little easier.

Apple is also redesigning the Health app, with a new health summary, Readiness and Fitness sections making the information easier to follow.

There’s also a new Health Age feature that tries to put your overall health data into an easier-to-understand number. And with the new Longevity section, it takes it further beyond steps and calories toward your overall long-term health. Well, something you have seen already on the Whoop and Google Fitbit Air.

And what about the new Watch Ultra 4? So everything same from the Series 12 with a battery life of 2 days. There are minor upgrades, like the larger surface at the bottom for better accuracy in tracking heart rate and other sensor-based features.

Apple Intelligence is coming to your ears and wrist

Apple is also using AI in some genuinely interesting ways here.

The new Audio Intelligence features can understand sounds around you. So, for example, the Watch could recognize something like a doorbell and alert you about it.

Then there’s Live Rewind, which can give you a transcription of the previous 15 seconds of audio. And Siri Recall can rewind a conversation you had, making it easier to remember something you discussed earlier.

This is the kind of AI integration that makes more sense to me than simply putting an “AI” label on a feature. Your Watch already sits on your wrist all day. If it can quietly understand useful things happening around you, that’s actually pretty handy.

Apple Watch gets tougher too

Apple says the new models get a 40% stronger Ceramic Shield, while the ceramic version returns with white and blue options.

The Series 12 and Ultra 4 also get Apple’s latest silicon. Apple is calling the S11 its most powerful Apple Watch chip yet, with the focus again being on better performance and measurements rather than a huge visual redesign.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 keeps its familiar rugged design, but gets the same broader health and fitness improvements. So if you already have an Ultra, this doesn’t look like a “throw everything away and upgrade immediately” kind of generation.

5. AirPods 5: Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V AirPods Pro

Apple also gave its AirPods lineup an update with the new AirPods 5.

There’s no dramatic redesign here, and honestly, AirPods have reached the point where changing the shape every couple of years just for the sake of it would be unnecessary. The interesting stuff is happening with the audio hardware.

The AirPods 5 use a new multi-port acoustic architecture (Apple’s way of calling better sound), which should help improve how sound is delivered through the earbuds.

Apple has also added volume controls directly on the stem. So, you can adjust the volume from the AirPods themselves like the older AirPods Pro models.

Overall, the AirPods 5 feel more like a refinement than a complete overhaul. Basically, you get almost all the AirPods Pro features, including the Magnetic charging case, in the base-budget AirPods.

What happened to the regular iPhone 18, iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2?

If you were waiting for the regular iPhone 18, well, Apple basically told you to wait a little longer. For the first time in years, Apple did not launch the standard iPhone alongside its Pro models at the September event.

We got the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo, but the regular iPhone 18 was nowhere to be seen. And it wasn’t just the iPhone 18. The iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 are also expected to arrive in the next launch window.

Apple is reportedly moving these three phones to spring 2027 as part of a new split-release strategy. Instead of throwing the entire iPhone lineup at us every September, Apple is separating its premium and more affordable models across different parts of the year.

That means the lineup is getting a little confusing, but the idea is actually pretty simple:

• Fall 2026: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo
• Spring 2027: iPhone 18, iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2

So if you were hoping to pick up the regular iPhone 18 this September, you’ll have to wait.

There are a few possible reasons behind the change. Apple is dealing with higher memory and component costs, while also expanding the iPhone lineup with the new foldable. Splitting the launches could make production easier and give each group of phones more attention instead of putting six different models on the stage at once.

We don’t have official specifications yet, so there’s no point pretending otherwise.

The iPhone 18 is expected to be the regular flagship option, while the iPhone 18e should remain the more affordable model. The iPhone Air 2, meanwhile, is expected to continue Apple’s ultra-thin phone experiment, with rumors pointing to a second rear camera and better battery life.

For now, though, Apple has made one thing very clear: if you want a new iPhone from the 18 generation today, you’re paying for the Pro models or the very expensive Duo.

Every Apple Product Pricing, Pre-Orders and Availability

And now for the part that probably matters most: how much are these new Apple products actually going to cost?

Let’s just say Apple did not exactly come to India with a discount code.

iPhone 18 Pro India price

iPhone 18 Pro Max India price

So yes, the 2TB iPhone 18 Pro Max crosses ₹3 lakh. At this point, we’re not just choosing how much storage we need. We’re choosing how much of our bank account Apple gets to keep.

iPhone Duo

And honestly, the pricing deserves its own section because ₹2,99,900 is a wild number to see attached to an iPhone.

The iPhone Duo starts at ₹2,99,900 for 256GB and goes all the way up to ₹4,49,900 for the 2TB model. Apple will start taking pre-orders on October 16 at 5:30 PM IST, with the foldable becoming available on October 23.

₹4.5 lakh for a phone. Woah!

Apple Watch Series 12 India price

The Apple Watch Series 12 is available in multiple materials and sizes, so the pricing varies quite a bit.

Pre-orders are now open, with availability starting September 18.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 India price

The more rugged Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at ₹1,09,900.

Pre-orders are open now, with availability starting September 18.

AirPods 5 India price

Pre-orders are open now for some products, with availability from September 18.

And yes, you might want to check your bank balance before opening the Apple Store app. So that’s it with everything announced at the Apple Event 2026. Do you think it’s worth the upgrade, or is it better to buy an older Apple device right now?