Under New CEO Ternus, Apple’s First Foldable and Pro Refresh Signal a Bold Hardware Pivot

Apple’s September 2026 product wave arrived under a new face at the top. John Ternus, who officially took over as CEO on September 1 after Tim Cook’s 15-year run, led his first major keynote and delivered both an iterative Pro upgrade and the company’s long-awaited entry into foldables.

What happened is now clear. On September 9 Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max powered by the A20 Pro chip, a redesigned vapor chamber claiming up to 40 percent better sustained performance, a 48MP Fusion main camera with variable aperture for the first time, and battery life that reaches 36 hours of video on the Pro and 45 hours on the Pro Max. Pricing rose $100 year-over-year to $1,199 and $1,299 respectively. The same day the company introduced its first book-style foldable, the iPhone Duo, starting at $1,999 and opening to a 7.6-inch inner display. Duo ships in October while the Pro models, Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 and AirPods 5 hit shelves on September 18.

The Watch Series 12 keeps the $399 starting price and adds improved heart sensing and readiness scoring, though early reports note the absence of the handwashing timer. AirPods 5 bring active noise cancellation to the lower-priced model and start at $129. iOS 27 with expanded Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features rolled out shortly before the hardware arrived.

Why it matters goes beyond the usual September cycle. Ternus spent more than two decades in hardware engineering; this launch is the first public expression of a leadership team that has long lived inside the products rather than the supply-chain and services focus that defined much of the Cook era. The decision to price the foldable at $1,999—aggressive relative to earlier speculation of $2,500-plus—signals willingness to absorb higher component costs and chase volume in a category still dominated by Samsung. Variable aperture and under-display Face ID show Apple is still willing to push camera and industrial-design boundaries even on a familiar chassis.

At the same time the U.S. iPhone 18 Pro Max retaining a Qualcomm modem while international versions use Apple’s C2 chip underscores that full vertical integration remains a work in progress. Memory shortages earlier in the year already forced price increases across Macs and iPads; the modest $100 iPhone hike suggests Apple is carefully managing the consumer reaction while still protecting margins.

What to watch next is execution. Pre-order demand for the Pro models appears strong, with buyers favoring higher storage and the new color options including burgundy and glacier. Duo inventory will be the real test; limited initial supply is expected, and software that requires apps to be recompiled for the larger inner display could slow the ecosystem ramp. How quickly Apple can expand the C2 modem to U.S. models, whether the missing Watch features return in a software update, and how Ternus balances hardware ambition against the still-nascent Apple Intelligence feature set will define the first full year of the new leadership.

For now the message is straightforward: Apple under Ternus is shipping the products it promised, at prices that keep the company competitive, and with enough genuine novelty in the foldable to force the rest of the industry to respond.