Hands on with the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4Photo by Victoria Song / The VergeAfter Apple wrapped up its “Surprise and shine” event today, we were able to get a look at the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4.Both of the new watches launch September 18th, with preorders available starting today.Read Article >Here’s how the new iPhone 18 Pro stacks up to the last-gen modelsImage: AppleApple’s release cadence for the latest iPhones is unusual. It’ll start with the 18 Pro models, then with the foldable iPhone Duo releasing in October for $1,999. It hasn’t confirmed when its base iPhone 18 model will launch. So, this post is focused just on the new the 18 Pro and the 18 Pro Max.Both phones are launching September 18th, with preorders opening Saturday, September 12th. The 6.3-inch iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199, which is $100 more than last year’s phone. The 6.9-inch iPhone 18 Pro Max goes up to $1,299, another $100 jump.Read Article >Hands-on with the foldable iPhone DuoIt folds.The first foldable iPhone is finally here, and following its announcement, we got the chance to try the phone for ourselves. We’ve long been told that Apple would make a foldable iPhone once the tech was good enough — has it been worth the wait?It definitely feels like something different. The inner screen has a decidedly matte finish that handled even some glare from the windows above the hands-on area well. The folding mechanism is smooth, and even IP68 rated, and the crease is almost impossible to find with my finger. The 5.4-inch outer screen looks petite by modern slab phone standards.Read Article >Apple’s newly cheaper polishing cloth supports the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro.Apple is raising iPhone prices by $100 on all of its old modelsFollowing Apple’s “Surprise and shine” event that saw the announcement of the iPhone Duo and the iPhone 18 Pro, the company increased the price on all of its last-gen iPhones that are still available for purchase.The iPhone 16 sold for $699 just last week, and now it’s up to $799. The iPhone 17E with 256GB of storage now costs $699 instead of its launch $599 price. The iPhone 17 starts at $899 with 256GB of storage instead of $799. The trend continues up the ladder with the iPhone Air, which now costs $1,099 instead of $999.Read Article >Apple skips the base iPhone 18 at its fall launch eventApple is taking the unusual step of skipping the base iPhone 18 this fall. At its “Surprise and shine” event today, the company revealed the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, alongside the new foldable iPhone Duo. But the base iPhone 18 was a no-show. Rumors had suggested Apple would only launch premium iPhones this fall, with the base model slipping to next spring.Instead of announcing the iPhone 18 today, Apple has raised the prices of its existing iPhone 17 models by $100. Even the older iPhone 16 that’s still on sale has gone up by $100 compared to last week, back to its original $799 starting price.Read Article >Apple brought ceramic back for the Series 12The Apple Watch Series 12 is launching with a ceramic option, making it the company’s first wearable since 2019’s Series 5 that can be configured with the pricey, scratch-resistant material. It can be configured with either pearl white or night blue ceramic finishes, and it starts at $899, going up to $949 if you purchase the 46mm size.While Apple didn’t resurrect its “Apple Watch Edition” branding for the Series 12 (it stopped using the name in a forward-facing manner when the Series 4 launched), the new ceramic option is similarly made for high rollers who won’t mind shelling out far more than the Series 12’s $399 starting price.Read Article >Apple completely revamped iOS 27’s controls and apps for the iPhone DuoScreenshot: AppleObviously, part of the appeal of a foldable phone is all that additional screen real estate. That gives you plenty of room for some serious multitasking that just isn’t possible, or at the very least is clunky, on a smaller screen. Apple rarely does things without seriously considering all the implications, so it was never just going to shove iOS as is into its new foldable.The company didn’t have to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel, however. It already had a mobile OS capable of multitasking in iPadOS, which was built on iOS to begin with. The company even said that the iPhone Duo was designed to be “as natural and intuitive as iPad.”Read Article >The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is ready for the new SiriImage: AppleApple announced the next version of the rugged and durable Apple Watch Ultra at today’s “Surprise and shine” event.The Apple Watch Ultra 4 features a design that’s nearly identical to last year’s Apple Watch Ultra 3 but is powered by Apple’s new S11 processor, which replaces the aging S10 chip first introduced with the Apple Watch Series 10 in 2024. The S11 will bring some much-needed performance improvements to the Ultra 4 ahead of Apple’s upcoming watchOS 27 release that will include the smarter and more capable Siri AI assistant announced at Apple’s annual WWDC conference earlier this year.Read Article >iOS 27 launches on September 14th with Siri AIDavid ImelApple is launching its next iOS 27 update on Monday September 14th. The headline feature is Siri AI, the delayed AI-powered overhaul of the Siri assistant. Siri AI is rolling out with iOS 27 as a beta, available initially for English-only devices. Apple says support for French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish is coming in October.Siri AI isn’t the only big feature in iOS 27, though. Apple is adding a new Liquid Glass opacity slider that lets you pick between a clearer UI or a more frosty one. A lot of built-in apps are also getting new icon designs, with subtle tweaks to colors.Read Article >Apple Watch Series 12 has an always-on Siri that makes AI recaps of your dayImage: AppleApple announced the Apple Watch Series 12 at its September 9th launch event, with Siri AI-powered Audio Intelligence as the highlight feature. The new abilities include a Live Rewind feature that allows users to replay the last 15 seconds of recently detected audio and view a text transcript of it on their watch by double-pressing on its Digital Crown button. There’s also a Siri Recap feature that uses “ambient listening” to take notes on audio from your watch, with summaries in the Siri app.Apple’s list of Audio Intelligence features:Read Article >Apple announces AirPods 5 with ‘best-in-class open‑ear active noise cancellation’Today, Apple announced the AirPods 5, updates to the AirPods 4 series that was first released in 2024. Apple says the new buds feature “best-in-class open‑ear active noise cancellation.”The AirPods 5 are redesigned with a new acoustic architecture, upgrades to adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC) with 50 percent better noise reduction than the AirPods 4, and improved sound.Read Article >Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro has a dynamic aperture main cameraPhoto by Antonio Di Benedetto / The VergeApple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at its event on Wednesday. The 18 Pro and Pro Max come in deep black, silver, “glacier,” and burgundy, with color-matched back glass. They also have a new A20 Pro chip and purportedly the longest battery in an iPhone. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 for 256GB, a $100 increase over the iPhone 17 Pro, while the 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299, also for 256GB. Both models will be offered in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations. Preorders begin on September 12th ahead of availability on September 18th.During Wednesday’s presentation, Apple highlighted how the new phones are well-equipped to work with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, including Siri AI’s more expressive voices.Read Article >Join us after the Apple event for a Vergecast livestream!Following Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” event, The Vergecast is going live to share our first reactions and answer your questions. Folding phones, non-folding phones, non-phones, we’ll talk about it all. Come hang out!iPhone 18 live blog: On the ground at Apple’s biggest eventIt’s not just time for any old Apple event, but one that’s expected to usher in a new era for the company. This is the first iPhone keynote to be led by Apple’s newly anointed CEO John Ternus, and all signs and rumors have been pointing to it being the one that also debuts a foldable iPhone. Ternus has already billed this as “a huge launch . . . that’s going to be phenomenal.” What bigger and flashier way to step into the limelight than with a new halo product of an iPhone?We’re also likely to hear about OS updates, Apple Watches, and possibly some AirPods. But this might be an unconventional event in more ways than one. It’s also possible the standard iPhone 18 won’t come until the new year — leaving just the pricey Pros and folding phone to be announced. And with RAMageddon raging on, there’s a chance everything will be more expensive this time around, too.Read Article >How to watch Apple’s September 9th launch eventImage: AppleApple’s September 9th launch event could be one of its biggest in years. It will be Apple’s first event since John Ternus took over as CEO on September 1st, stepping in for Tim Cook, and will likely feature the first models in Apple’s iPhone 18 lineup. That could include the long-rumored foldable “iPhone Duo,” coming just a couple months after Samsung debuted its own passport-style foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 8.Check out our iPhone 18 live blog, and these possible highlights to keep an eye out for.Read Article >Apple says ‘Fold’ and competitors ask ‘How wide?’Apple is almost certain to launch its first foldable iPhone tomorrow, seven years after Samsung’s Galaxy Fold initially went on sale. And while Apple might be a few years late to the party, the run-up to this launch proves that new CEO John Ternus has inherited a company that’s as influential as it’s ever been.Tomorrow’s iPhone event is likely to be a little different than what we’re used to. For one, the arrival of some iPhone 18 models will likely be delayed — the Pros will be available first, but the regular 18 is supposedly set to launch early next year instead. But leaks and rumors have consistently suggested that Apple will instead pair the release of its Pros with the first foldable iPhone, which is likely to be short, squat, and wide, about the size and shape of a passport.Read Article >