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Apple introduced its powerful and performant new iPhones last night, aligning them with Siri AI as the intelligent personal hub.

That’s all good and it does look as if analysts and the industry are broadly positive at what Apple has achieved – even while the first benchmarks for the A20 Pro chip are incredibly impressive. 

All the same, the part of the discussion which remains to be explored concerns the impact ambient, always-on AI will have on daily lives, and the extent to which Apple’s privacy commitments in its approach will be emulated across the rest of the industry, and the consequences if they are not.

Finally, we’re beginning to tweak the approach in the newsletter. Please let me know if you like the approach.

Leaked A20 Pro benchmarks are amazing

“It comfortably beats early Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Dimensity 9600 Pro results in single-core performance, although Xiaomi’s Xring O3 takes the multi-core lead.” Given all the tasks you most do are single-core, you’ll feel a definite performance boost with the new iPhones even on year-old models.

How Apple is trying to normalize always-on AI

While it’s furthering the conversation about using these tools, Apple is also pushing public acceptance of such technologies.

Audio Intelligence Privacy Overview

Apple published a white paper to explain its approach to protecting privacy when it comes to new breeds of context-savvy AI. Everyone should read this and no AI vendor should deliver less.

iFixIt concerned about iPhone Duo repairability

“Introducing the Duo on a beach is bold for a hinged device,” said iFixIt. “Foldables are an impressive feat of engineering, every bit, from the super-thin glass to the flexible OLED to the tiny springs inside hinges. So far, though, they’re not repairable.” Apple hasn’t yet published its own service and repair costs for the device.

How iPhone Duo stacks up against Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8

We’ll be waiting for the first in-depth reviews of both products, but here’s how the specifications compare. The IP rating seems particularly revealing, given the problems with dust identified by iFixIt.

What happened yesterday? It sure was busy – check out the early day newsletter here, and do look at the post event collection here. And please subscribe to receive them each day.

IDC analyst, Francisco Jeronimo shared a series of great points following Apple’s big launch September 9.                 

First he noted that price hasn’t changed that much, but more importantly stressed that with the iPhone Duo, “Apple showed up years after everyone else, yet it walks in and sets the rules. Apple entered the foldable market and, in one keynote, set the price and the standard every rival will now be measured against.”

He also said, “Other vendors spent years teaching consumers what a foldable is. Apple’s opportunity is to teach hundreds of millions of iPhone users why they finally need one.”

He also pointed out that with the unchanged prices around Apple Watch and AirPods, those products become “effective loyalty programs”. 

IDC forecasts worldwide foldable value to grow at a 20.6% CAGR between 2026 to 2030. Unit shipments grow from 20.3 million in 2025 to 22.9 million in 2026. IDC forecasts approximately 10 million iPhone Duo units and $27 billion in revenue in the first 12 months after launch, to become the largest foldable vendor in 2027.

But for him, the real test of Apple’s new approach wil be in China, where Huawei owns almost 80% of the foldable market. Can Apple convert some of these customers?

Elsewhere on Wall Street

Francisco’s positive slant seems to have been matched across the analyst community. Steet consensus is a buy with a $335.87 price target, and while some have higher expectations those with much lower targets are lonely in their view. 

• Citi calls the Duo the biggest new hardware category since Apple Watch and AirPods. It pointed to the importance of Siri AI across all the new products, and observed how Apple is moving toward agentic AI.
• TD Cowen warns “Price increases were modest, which aids affordability, but hardware general margins could face more headwinds in the coming year.”
• Bernstein noted,  “these lower price increases on entry models should help Apple continue to gain market share over Android rivals.”
• Morgan Stanley noted that Apple’s integrated hardware and software and the role of Siri AI in making the iPhone an intelligent hub will boost the company.
• At Goldman Sachs, analysts praised the decision to split the iPhone release cycle across two events saying this should support ASP growth. 
• JP Morgan pointed to the $100 price increases on iPhone as a positive, arguing that Apple’s decision balances component costs against sales volume. Apple “walks the fine balance” of absorbing memory costs while keeping the opportunity for a positive volume cycle. UBS takes a similar approach. 
• BoFA also looked at prices which were lower than the firm had anticipated and pointed out that the new CEO, John Ternus, is focused on core values.
• While concerned about supply availability, Oppenheimer expects Apple’s device will become “the most successful foldable phone on the market”.
• Laura Martin at Needham focused on new CEO, John Ternus. She likes his style, saying the company needs a “Wartime CEO” as it grapples with the challenges of AI.

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As most readers probably already know, this is the short version of the more extensive curated Apple-related news summary I deliver each day via Substack. Please subscribe to get it all.

The iPhone is now Apple’s ‘intelligent personal hub’

Apple keeps the faith as it unleashes its hardware round-up for the AI era, with all eyes on the new iPhone Duo.

Apple raises iPhone prices by $100

Increase affects new iPhone Pro 18 devices alongside iPhone 16, the iPhone 17 lineup, and iPhone Air.

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Apple unveils iPhone Duo (PR)

A20 Pro chip, priced from a surprising $1,999, IP68, 7.6” open and 5.4” outer display. Star white and night sky and beautifully engineered. No Action button, will work with USB-C Apple Pencil, 31 hours battery life unfolded.

Here are the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max (PR)

Dramatically improved camera with 48MP Fusion Main camera, variable aperture, and new Pro controls. Redesigned Dynanic Island and A20 chip. Black, silver, glacier, and burgundy.

AirPods 5 gain Active Noise Cancellation (PR)

Improved sound quality, industry-leading automatic ANC, and Siri AI. From $129.

Apple Watch Series 12 with new Health Sensing (PR)

Health Sensing System and S11 chip, offering the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable, Siri AI and more.

Apple Watch Ultra with Health Sensing (PR)

Health Sensing System and S11 chip, the most accurate heart rate sensing, Siri AI, 45-hour battery life, and more.

This is Apple CEO, John Ternus’ manifesto

New Apple CEO’s first remarks leading a keynote are likely to inform the company future strategy.

Apple explains how Audio Intelligence maintains privacy

Audio Intelligence is a brand-new class of Apple Intelligence features that rely on AI and device sensors in a variety of ways. This is an important document to read.

Apple Watch Health Sensing System

Powered by Apple Intelligence, redesigned Health app offers deep health and fitness insights and recommendations to help optimize health and longevity.

Learn about Apple Intelligence usage limits

Apple tech note explains some features have usage limits to ensure a high-quality, reliable experience for everyone.

AppleCare One Family introduced

US customers get extended AppleCare coverage for every eligible device across up to six people for just $49.95/month and up to six total claims/year.

Apple has a new way prove your iPhone photos aren’t AI slop

Apple Reference Image can prove if an image taken with the iPhone 18 Pro is authentic.

Apple’s Series 27 release candidates are available now

Apple has published the series 27 release candidates for iPad, iPhone, Mac, Watch, TV, Vision operating systems.

Interesting insights into how Apple makes iPhone Duo hinge

The enclosure is grade 5 titanium with a mirror-polished finish, and the hinge cover itself is 3D printed titanium, made from 100 percent recycled material.

Developers: Prepare your app for iPhone Duo

Learn how to update and optimize your app for the foldable display of iPhone Duo.

First take from IDC analyst, Francisco Jeronimo

“The first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, is the headline. Apple showed up years after everyone else, yet it walks in and sets the rules. Apple entered the foldable market and, in one keynote, set the price and the standard every rival will now be measured against.”

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Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus led the company’s big iPhone launch event with the following words.

I think they should be seen as a manifesto that will guide his future management of the company, so it seems important to record them somewhere.

His remarks began with his trademark, “hello”, after which he said the following:

“I am so thrilled to be here today. Before we get going, I want to take a moment to express what an extraordinary privilege it is to represent the remarkable teams here at Apple. 

I have spent much of my life at this company, and I continue to be inspired every single day by the curiosity, invention, and relentless pursuit of excellence that define Apple. 

Our teams bring an incredible level of collaboration and care to everything they do. All in service of a mission that has guided us from the very beginning to make the best products in the world. 

Every day, people around the world rely on our products to create, learn, live healthier lives, and stay connected to the people and things that matter most. And the values at the heart of Apple continue to guide everything we do. 

As we look ahead, we see a future filled with enormous discovery and transformation. AI makes entirely new kinds of experiences possible. 

An AI can become even more useful when it brings together your life with the apps, services, and products you use every day. And this means the product at the centre of your experiences becomes even more essential. 

What I like to think of as an intelligent personal hub. 

It’s the intersection of broad new capability, and a deep understanding of your personal context that makes this idea so powerful.

Now, if you were designing the ideal version of this help from scratch, how would you do it? 

Well, first, you would want something that is always with you. Deeply personal and able to bring intelligence to the moments when it matters most. 

It require a powerful processor that can run incredibly capable on device models to quickly answer questions in the moment, and pervasive networking to access knowledge, and even more capable models in the cloud. 

You need a large, beautiful display to show rich content … high quality cameras and microphones, so it can see, you can hear, and reason over the sights, sounds, and the world around you. 

Of course, you give it all day battery life. You’d want it to be super easy to use without a big learning curve. And finally, it wanted to work seamlessly with your other devices, apps, and services. So, it feels like one integrated experience. 

In other words, you would arrive at something remarkably familiar, because there’s no product in the world better designed to be your intelligent personal hub than iPhone. 

As your personal home, your iPhone can do so much more for you because it understands your context. This includes your calendar, your relationship, your routines. The most private details of your daily life. 

Now others see that data as something to collect and store. They move into their servers and ask you to trust them. 

But honestly, trust only goes so far when your data is no longer yours to control. 

That’s why Apple Intelligence runs on device whenever it can. When greater capability is needed, private cloud compute extends that same level of privacy protection, ensuring that nobody, not even Apple, can access what yours. 

It’s personal intelligence, that’s actually personal. iPhone sits at the centre of an amazing ecosystem of intelligent features and experiences that work seamlessly across the products you use every day. 

From Siri becoming more capable and more personal across your Apple products, to meaningful health insights, with Apple Watch. The powerful new AirPods features like live translation, and so much more. 

Simply put, iPhone brings powerful AI capabilities, together with your personal contacts, on the device you have with you all the time. So today, we’re going to take these experiences even further with the next generation of iPhone. And here it is.”

I’m still thinking through today’s announcement, but felt that it would be useful to record these words somewhere.

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There’s a great deal of information, leaks, price, name, feature data and more in this pre-Apple event curated collection of news. Take a look – and please subscribe to get the full news round-up after the show.

Apple CEO John Ternus shares his second ever Tweet

Folding iPhone attracts global attention

“Everyone, whether you’re the kid at home saving their money for a new iPhone, or an analyst on Wall Street, will pay close attention to everything that Ternus says and does,” said analyst, Michael Gartenberg.

Introducing, iPhone Duo

Late-breaking report claimed iPhone Fold/Ultra will in fact be iPhone Duo and cost from $1,999. Will support Apple Pencil.

Apple Watch gets Recaps feature

Summarizes your day using available data, including “overheard conversations”. [My take on this feature].

Fast charging?

Price increases capped around $100?

How to watch the Apple event

I think all my readers already know this but here are the four ways to watch the event in case it is useful to you:

• Apple Events Website
• Apple’s YouTube channel
• Apple TV App
• Apple Developer App

What happened yesterday? Follow this link – and subscribe to get the event wrap-up after the show.

Much more in the full edition which you can read here,

I’m really taken by Dynamic App Design’s new jazz exploration app, Sessionography: Jazz Explorer.

So much so that I think Apple should pay the developer and acquire it. It’s like Apple Music Classical for jazz, and I’m certain that jazz aficionados will love it.

So, what does the app do?

First, it links to Apple Music for playback. Then it introduces its own powerful features all built natively for Apple’s platforms. It’s Siri compatible, Apple Watch-savvy and just a great way to explore jazz.

Sessionography provides comprehensive information about music sessions, including musicians, tunes, labels, and studios. It allows users to explore connections between musicians, view discographies, and build customised mixes.

All of the music data comes from open source databases: MusicBrainz, Discogs, and a few others. The developer told me, “I’ve merged them and host them on my own server which allows me to manipulate the data and add layers of corrections as needed.”

That brings seriously cool features, so you can tap any musician to see everyone they ever recorded with, radiating out in a living graph, or find every recording of a standard, laid out across the decades, search by studio, find live recordings, and more. 

Essentially, Sessionography Jazz Explorer seems to be a real gateway into the world of jazz, making it an invaluable companion app for any jazz lover who uses Apple Music and an Apple product, Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. I think it should be very popular.

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You can complain all you want about how Apple won’t let you remove pre-installed apps, but in the EU, at least, you can remove 98% of them. This contrasts really well with standard Google devices, which only let you remove 38% of those preinstalled apps. Samsung and Xiaomi let you remove 57% of those apps. 

What the data says

While it’s important to note that outside EU, customers can remove only 88% of pre-installed apps, the data still means Apple’s iPhone is the least locked-in smartphoe money can buy. That’s the findings of a recent Surfshark study which looks at bloatware on mobile devices.

It’s also interesting to consider how many preinstalled apps there are on each device”

• Samsung, 88 pre-installed apps.
• Google, 71 such apps.
• Xiaomi, 61 apps are pre-installed.
• Apple, 50 pre-installed apps.

You need to consider each of these apps as potential data collectors, meaning each app on your device is a potential leak. It is also interesting that these apps each gather personal data,

What Surfshark said

“Data collection practices by popular applications, particularly social media platforms and chatbots, raise privacy concerns. While certain data points are necessary for basic operational functionality, entities may harvest information for targeted advertising or may even share it with undisclosed third parties. As a result, users are highly recommended to audit installed applications, review permissions, and remove or disable unused apps. Even never-used applications can gather personal data and link to your device,” said Tomas Stamulis, Chief Security Officer at Surfshark.

But ultimately, but putting customers in more control, closed Apple is ironically the most open OS around, in that you can delete installed apps you do not want to use.

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As regular readers already know, what follows is an abridged version of the full daily newsletter which is packed with all the Apple-related news of today. Find it – and subscribe – here.

Global foldable sales will reach 100m this year

Counterpoint says cumulative total will see Apple grab 25% of foldable market this year. “That would be a very strong start and shows the impact Apple can have on the category even before supply fully ramps up.”

Deploying enterprise AI on Apple hardware is suddenly a no-brainer

Horace Dediu: “The question changes from why should we use Apple devices to why shouldn’t we?” (Macs do AI).

Apple reaches memory supply deal

Apple has reached a long-term NAND memory supply deal, with a report claiming it to be with a long-term Japanese supplier, Kioxia.

Apple must stem the foldable tide

South Korea’s Newsis claims the number of young (20-30-year old) iPhone users switching to Galaxy Flip or Fold doubled in August. Can iPhone Ultra stop the trend?

Lots more in the full collection – click here to get to it. Wondering what happened over the weekend? You’ll find out here. Want to make sure you never miss anything that matters? Subscribe to the newsletter.

While it isn’t likely to fix the price problem, a new memory supply deal may at least guarantee Apple has enough of it to put inside its products.

South Korea’s Economy Tribune tells us that Apple has reached a long-term NAND supply deal, potentially with a long-term Japanese supplier, Kioxia.

Reflecting the importance of memory supply, Apple has reached a multiyear deal with volume and pricing teals undisclosed. It is not known for certain that Kioxia is the other party, but the report cites sources who describe this as likely. 

Market watchers are curious to see if Apple will reach similar long-term deals for DRAM. It is also interesting that Apple’s new deal has no price cap.

A TrendForce report also claims Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will jointly supply 70% of the iPhone Ultra’s 12GB LPDDR5 DRAM, with the remainder coming from Micron. TrendForce last week predicted memory costs for the new iPhone Pro model will be 400% higher than a year earlier.

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What to expect at Apple’s ‘Surprise & Shine’ launch

Here’s the TL;DR refresh:

• iPhone Ultra: First folding iPhone, expect a 7.8” foldable display, A20 chip, Touch ID. C2 modem for 5G. Just 4.5mm-4.8mm thick, 48MP wide and ultra-lens camera and 24MP selfie camera… and a $2k+ price tag.
• iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: Now in silver, dark cherry, sky blue with A20 chip, smaller Dynamic Island, and better Wi-Fi. iPhone 18 Pro Max purportedly gains a variable aperture camera and 24MP selfie camera. C2 modem for 5G.
• Apple Watch Series 12: New and faster processor and possible ceramic version along with upgraded health tracking tools.
• Apple Watch Ultra 4: New and faster processor along and upgraded health tracking tools.
• Home products: New HomePod mini 2 and updated Apple TV 4K anticipated.
• AirPods 5: Standard model plus a slightly better set with ANC.
• Smart home hub: A smart display for home users.

Dark Cherry is everywhere at IFA

Macworld explored 27 halls at Germany’s IFA show to find the most interesting Apple-related products, with all kinds of dark cherry-colored accessories on show.

Who is John Ternus

Apple’s new CEO is known for being both highly competent and unshowy. He’s calm but seems to have a taste for risk as he enjoys racing cars. He’s also moving into Cook’s old office.

Many more stories available in our companion daily news feed here, please subscribe.

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