After years of rumours and speculation, Apple is expected to launch its first folding smartphone on Wednesday. All eyes will be on John Ternus as he fronts his first major product launch as CEO. Here’s everything you need to know.
Key Facts
- The keynote runs from the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, starting at 10am Pacific on Wednesday, 9 September. That is 3am AEST on Thursday, 10 September, for Australian viewers.
- According to Forbes’ tech contributor David Phelan, three iPhones are expected: the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the foldable, rumoured to be named the iPhone Ultra.
- The Apple Watch Series 12, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and AirPods 5 are widely tipped to join them.
- The foldable is likely to be similar in size and shape to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, opening to a tablet-shaped screen slightly smaller than the original iPad mini, Phelan predicts
- The inner screen is rumoured at roughly 7.8 inches with a 5.5-inch display on the outside, with Face ID replaced by Touch ID in the side button and no telephoto lens.
- Pricing estimates start around US$2,000 and climb past US$2,500 for more storage. The Pro models are tipped to rise US$100 to US$300 on last year.
Is the foldable iPhone finally here?
It has been 19 years since Steve Jobs walked on stage in San Francisco and pulled the first iPhone out of his pocket.
Since then we have seen 19 generations and more than 50 individual devices, from the 3G to the SE to the Air, and every one of them has been a rectangle with a fixed screen.
A foldable iPhone unveil this week would officially break that run (and likely the iPhone price record).
Samsung shipped the first mainstream foldable, the Galaxy Fold, in 2019. The category has stayed relatively small since with foldables accounting for roughly 1.6% of global smartphone sales in 2025, or about 19.6 million units, according to Counterpoint Research.
Apple has held off following suit, reportedly in the endless pursuit of a crease-free display. The device is now instead expected to use a liquid metal hinge, with Apple focusing on durability and on limiting how visible the crease becomes over time.
When is the iPhone 18 Pro tipped to go on sale?
Announcement: Wednesday, 9 September, 10am Pacific from the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino. For Australian viewers, that’s 3am AEST on Thursday, 10 September.
Pre-orders: Predicted for midnight Pacific on Saturday, 12 September, which is 5pm AEST that day. Apple normally opens at 5am Pacific on the Friday, but that Friday is 11 September, the 25th anniversary of the 2001 attacks, Phelan reports.
iOS 27: Expected Monday, 14 September, landing here in the early hours of Tuesday. It runs on every iPhone back to the iPhone 11.
Reviews: Tuesday, 15 September, with the Watches and AirPods likely embargoed a day later. Apple doesn’t announce these dates.
On sale: Expected to be Friday, 18 September. Australians should be among the first in the world to get hands on, since Apple opens stores at 8am local time rather than staggering by time zone.
How much will the iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone cost in Australia?
Analysts expect the foldable to start above $US2,000 ($2,775), climbing past $US2,500 ($3,470) for higher storage.
The iPhone 18 Pro models are tipped to rise between $US100 and $US300 ($139 to $416) on last year.
Will Australians be able to buy the foldable at launch?
Unclear at this stage but maybe not straight away. Some reports suggest the foldable iPhone could be in short enough supply, meaning Australian customers may have to sit tight.
What’s my trade-in worth?
Apple’s Australian trade-in program currently offers between A$55 and A$1,150 in credit toward a new iPhone, depending on the model and its condition. An iPhone 16 Pro Max is worth up to A$1,150, an iPhone 16 Pro up to A$1,015, and both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus up to A$765.
Those figures typically shift once a new lineup launches.
Who is Apple’s new CEO John Ternus?
Ternus is Apple’s eighth chief executive, following Michael Scott, Mike Markkula, John Sculley, Michael Spindler, Gil Amelio, Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.
He joined the company in 2001 as a product design engineer and has run hardware engineering since 2013, working on the iPad, the AirPods and the shift to Apple silicon.
Cook came out of operations and supply chains and turned Apple into one of the most valuable companies on earth. Ternus arrives from the engineering side, while Cook will stay on as executive chairman. He may not appear on stage on Wednesday at all as the changing of the guard takes place.
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