iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus headlines Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” keynote at 10:00 a.m. PT from Steve Jobs Theater, the first product launch overseen by CEO John Ternus after he replaced Tim Cook on September 1. The event doubles as a strategic statement: Apple is betting that winning the AI era depends on the devices that deliver intelligence, not on who owns the underlying model.
Ternus, a University of Pennsylvania-trained mechanical engineer who joined Apple in 2001, inherits a company that posted $109.4 billion in Q3 FY26 revenue, up 16% year over year and the best June quarter in Apple history. He also inherits a Siri cloud tier powered by Google’s Gemini, a Cook-era deal that underlines exactly what Ternus appears to be distancing his tenure from: frontier models are a commodity, and hardware is the moat.
iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus opens with a $2,000 foldable
The headline product is Apple’s first foldable iPhone, marketed as the iPhone Ultra. The book-style device uses a 5.3-5.5 inch outer display and a 7.6-7.8 inch inner panel in a 4:3 aspect ratio that sits closer to the iPad mini than to any Android competitor. At 4.5 mm unfolded, it is thinner than any current iPhone. Apple shelved a stylus prototype after pressure marks appeared on the inner ultra-thin glass, rated Mohs 5 with a Mohs 2-3 polymer top layer.
The Ultra runs the A20 Pro on TSMC’s 2nm node with GAA nanosheet transistors and 12 GB of RAM, the threshold that gates the advanced Apple Intelligence tier in iOS 27. Two 48 MP rear cameras cover main and ultrawide angles; there is no telephoto. Touch ID returns via the power button because the TrueDepth module cannot be made thin enough. A dual battery delivers roughly 4,900 mAh combined from a 1,921 mAh and a 2,962 mAh cell. Pricing starts near $1,999, with some configurations reaching $2,500.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects 500,000 to 1 million units in Q3 2026 and broader availability in early 2027. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold at $1,799, leaving Apple in a premium slot roughly 5 to 11% above rivals. Huawei’s Mate XT2 tri-fold launched September 7 at $2,980-$3,725, and Xiaomi’s 18 Fold at $1,540+, so the Ultra lands between the two Chinese flagships on price.
iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12, and a broader lineup
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max share the A20 Pro chip, add a variable-aperture main camera, shrink the Dynamic Island, and debut Apple’s C2 cellular modem. The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 introduce the S11 chip, the first meaningful watch silicon leap since the S9 in 2023, tuned for on-device Siri AI on watchOS 27. AirPods, Apple TV 4K, and HomePod mini all receive refreshes, and a 7-inch smart home hub internally called HomePad gets a preview.
Notably absent: the standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and iPhone Air 2, all deferred to spring 2027. Every new iPhone this holiday season therefore starts at $999 or above, pushing budget buyers toward discounted iPhone 17 stock.
Hardware as the AI moat under John Ternus
The deeper story sits in the product pipeline Ternus personally oversaw as hardware chief and will now ship as CEO. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has documented work across smart glasses built in-house, camera-equipped AirPods that interpret surroundings, a robotic home display that recognizes speakers, a home security camera system, and a wearable pendant. Cook’s 15-year tenure produced three new categories: Apple Watch, AirPods, and Vision Pro. Ternus’s roadmap could deliver as many as ten. The iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus launch sets the stage.
Ternus takes the stage eight days after replacing Tim Cook. The Apple September 9 event Ternus keynote pairs the iPhone Ultra foldable debut with the iPhone 18 Pro and Apple Watch Series 12, all built around the A20 Pro chip on TSMC’s 2nm process and the S11 silicon powering on-device Siri AI. The iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus launch sets the hardware-first tone for Apple’s next decade. The iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus reveal positions Apple to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold while justifying a $1,999 starting price through the nearly invisible hinge crease and titanium frame engineering Ternus personally oversaw.
Apple has reported a record June quarter, posting $109.4 billion in revenue up 16% year-over-year, giving Ternus the strongest financial foundation any new Apple CEO has inherited. The pipeline behind that runway includes Vision Pro successors, camera-equipped AirPods that will feed Visual Intelligence to Siri, and the second-generation iPhone Air expected to arrive alongside the standard iPhone 18 in spring 2027. The September 9 hardware showcase is therefore less a one-day event than a proof point for a multi-year product cadence. The iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus strategy will be measured against whether the $1,999 entry price and the engineering concessions buyers must accept (no telephoto, Touch ID instead of Face ID, ultra-thin glass inner display) justify a step into Apple’s first foldable. Ternus’s engineering-first stance means the company will not chase Samsung on S Pen support nor match Huawei’s tri-fold Mate XT2, but it will lean on the A20 Pro chip, the titanium frame, and the nearly invisible hinge crease as evidence that Apple solved foldable engineering problems other vendors have not. The iPhone Ultra Apple September 9 event Ternus reveal is the first visible evidence of what kind of CEO he intends to be: the engineer who built the hardware being introduced.