Apple's "Surprise and Shine" Event Tonight: iPhone Ultra, New CEO, and the Fold Apple Kept You Waiting For

Apple spent a decade watching Samsung, Huawei, and Google fold their phones. Tonight, they fold back.

Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event is live tonight at 10:30 PM IST (1 PM ET), streaming at apple.com and on YouTube — and it's already one for the history books before a single product hits the stage. Two milestones are colliding at Steve Jobs Theater: Apple's first-ever foldable iPhone, and the company's first major product launch under a new CEO in fifteen years. UPI

TL;DR
Apple's September 9 event debuts the iPhone Ultra (foldable, ~$2,099+), iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max with A20 Pro chips, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and AirPods 5. New CEO John Ternus takes the stage for the first time. Standard iPhone 18 models are delayed to spring 2027.

The New CEO: John Ternus Takes the Stage

Ternus is a 25-year veteran of Apple's hardware engineering team who replaced Tim Cook on September 1 — exactly one week before the biggest iPhone event in a decade. That timing wasn't accidental. Time News

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman called the setup a "massive tailwind" for the incoming CEO — Tim Cook stepped aside deliberately so Ternus could have the credit of announcing the iPhone Ultra himself and begin his tenure on a high note. Macworld

Cook steered Apple to a $4.6 trillion market cap during his 15-year tenure. Ternus now inherits that empire, and tonight is his opening statement. Hardware is his native language — he led Apple's entire engineering organization. The question isn't whether he knows the products. It's whether he can own a room the way Jobs and Cook did. Time News

The Main Event: iPhone Ultra — Apple's First Foldable

This is the one everyone's been speculating about since Samsung launched the Galaxy Fold in 2019.

Apple's foldable is a book-style device with a 5.5-inch OLED outer display and a 7.8-inch OLED inner display when unfolded. Think passport meets iPad mini. MacRumors

Rumored specs at a glance:

• A20 Pro chip (2nm), 12GB RAM, and up to 2TB storage, all running iOS 27 Yahoo Finance
• The A20 Pro is expected to be approximately 18% faster and up to 30% more power efficient than the A19 Pro, with a 7-core GPU, wider memory interface, and a larger L2 cache MacRumors
• Apple's house-designed C2 modem — faster and more efficient than the C1X — though U.S. models may retain Qualcomm hardware for mmWave 5G connectivity MacRumors
• Name: Most likely called the iPhone Ultra (some reports say iPhone Fold or iPhone Duo)

Price: The foldable is expected to start at $2,099, making it Apple's most expensive iPhone to date — edging past Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra at the same price point. Yahoo Finance

Research firm IDC projects Apple could claim roughly 40% of the foldable phone segment within the next year and a half. That's a bold projection for a market where foldables still sit below 2% of global shipments — but Apple's entry alone tends to redefine what "mainstream" means. Quartz

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: The Reliable Anchors

For those not ready to drop $2,100 on a folding experiment, the Pro lineup is the safe bet.

The iPhone 18 Pro gets the A20 Pro chip, a smaller Dynamic Island, a simplified Camera Control button, and a new Dark Cherry color option. MacRumors

The Pro Max adds a variable-aperture main camera (expected to be exclusive to the larger model this year) and a significantly larger battery — 5,391mAh in the China model and 5,567mAh for U.S. units. Apple Podcasts

Both models also get 12GB of RAM, 256GB base storage, a LTPO+ display, a Samsung image sensor, and 5G satellite internet. Apple Podcasts

One notable absence: Apple isn't announcing a standard iPhone 18 at this event. The base iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and second-generation iPhone Air are all pushed to spring 2027. Apple is splitting its launch calendar — Pro models in September, everything else in spring. It's a strategic play to protect ASP (average selling price) at the September window. Business Standard

Analysts expect the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max to see price increases of $150–$200 due to elevated memory and storage costs. Yahoo Finance

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4

The Apple Watch Series 12 gets a faster S11 chip, longer battery life, improved fitness tracking, and a ceramic case option returning in white or dark gray. MacRumors

The Ultra 4 receives the same new chip and health upgrades, with Apple potentially expanding satellite connectivity features — including satellite Apple Maps and photo sharing via Messages. MacRumors

Neither watch gets a major redesign. Software may actually be the bigger story this year, with watchOS 27 delivering improved heart rate tracking, a redesigned Find My app, and Apple Intelligence upgrades. Garmin

Series 12 is expected to start around $399–$429; Ultra 4 is projected near $799. Macworld

AirPods 5

AirPods 5 arrive in two versions — with and without active noise cancellation — both likely using an H3 chip for improved sound and lower latency. No heart-rate sensor this time around (that stays on the Pro 3). Low drama, solid upgrade. Apple Podcasts

What Happens After Tonight

Pre-orders are expected to open Friday, September 11 (or possibly Saturday the 12th), with devices shipping September 19. Apple will also confirm release dates for iOS 27 and watchOS 27 that same week. TidBITS

And then the hard part begins — not for consumers, but for John Ternus. One keynote is theater. What comes after it is leadership.

Why It Matters

Apple entering the foldable market is less a product launch and more a permission slip. When Apple validates a category, that category stops being niche. It happened with the iPad. With AirPods. With Apple Watch.

The iPhone Ultra isn't going to be for everyone at $2,099. But it doesn't need to be. It's Apple's most significant iPhone design change since the original in 2007 — and a clear signal that after a decade of watching competitors experiment with form factors, Cupertino has decided it's done watching. TechBezon

The more interesting question isn't whether the iPhone Ultra succeeds. It's what John Ternus does when it doesn't go perfectly — because no first product launch ever does. That's where character gets revealed.