Technology

Apple Unveils Foldable iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro and AI Upgrades Under New CEO Ternus

By Kif Leswing

Apple held its largest product launch event of the year on Wednesday, introducing several new devices including its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5 and Apple Watch Series 12. The event marked the debut of new CEO John Ternus, who received a standing ovation lasting roughly 30 seconds before delivering his keynote address.

Ternus opened by framing the iPhone as central to Apple's artificial intelligence ambitions before revealing the iPhone 18 Pro, which arrives in two new colors, glacier and burgundy, and a larger Max version. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199, a $100 increase over last year's iPhone 17 Pro, while the Max version starts at $1,299, also up $100. Apple attributed the price increases to a global shortage of components, particularly memory chips. Preorders begin Saturday, with shipments starting September 18.

The iPhone 18 Pro features Apple's new A20 Pro chip, the first high-volume smartphone processor built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's advanced 2-nanometer node. Apple said the chip's six-core CPU runs up to 20% faster, its new seven-core GPU offers up to a 40% performance boost, and memory bandwidth has increased by 50%. The company said the redesign, which places core logic silicon beside memory chips, was partly a response to a global memory shortage affecting suppliers such as SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron.

The phone also introduces an