Apple's Foldable iPhone Ultra Nears Sept. 9 Debut Under Ternus

Apple is set to unveil its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Ultra, at the September 9 event that marks new CEO John Ternus's first product showcase.

Apple has scheduled its "Surprise and shine" keynote for Wednesday, September 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PT at the Steve Jobs Theater, and the biggest expected reveal is the company's first foldable phone, widely rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra. Mashable reports the event will center on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max alongside the foldable, while the standard iPhone 18, 18e, and next-gen iPhone Air are reportedly pushed to a spring 2027 event. The timing is dramatic: John Ternus becomes CEO on September 1, succeeding Tim Cook after 15 years, and eight days later he is expected to introduce an entirely new iPhone form factor on stage.

The foldable launch is not just another iPhone refresh — it is the first major test for a brand-new CEO who comes from hardware engineering rather than operations. According to Gulf News, Ternus joined Apple in 2001, became senior vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2021, and is described as a key figure in products like the Mac. BusinessDay notes his deepest challenge may actually be Apple's AI position, with Reuters describing him as a product perfectionist who uses AI only when it genuinely improves the product. The foldable, Reuters reports, could become an important growth opportunity as the global smartphone market faces pressure — a first test of whether Apple can still enter an established category and reshape it.

Mashable reports expected specs for the iPhone Ultra: a book-style design with a roughly 7.8-inch inner OLED display, a 5.5-inch outer display, Touch ID instead of Face ID, four cameras with no telephoto lens, a liquid-metal hinge, a battery of at least 5,088mAh, and a price above $2,000, with some estimates around $2,399. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, as reported by Hindustan Times, says Apple tested a shorter, stubbier Apple Pencil that would attach magnetically for storage and charging, but scrapped it because it could get in the way when opening the phone and could leave marks on the delicate inner display. Gurman also reports early testers liked the hinge quality and iPad-like interface but were less impressed by the missing telephoto camera.

Apple is playing catch-up — Samsung, Google, and Motorola have sold foldables for years, and Samsung just shipped the well-reviewed Galaxy Z Fold 8. Yahoo Tech's reviewer lays out four lessons for Apple: revive a Flex Mode-style L-shaped stand experience for photo framing and split-screen use; make native apps foldable-ready at launch so favorite apps don't become harder to use; match Samsung's build quality, where seven generations of iteration produced a hinge that feels strong but not stiff and an interior crease that is basically nonexistent; and make the experience easy and fun, recapturing a sense of whimsy the reviewer says tech has lost over the past 5–10 years.

The stakes extend well beyond one gadget. Gulf News reports analysts have long argued Apple needs to diversify beyond the iPhone, and no category yet — Vision Pro, services, wearables — has produced an iPhone-scale breakthrough. That makes the foldable arguably the most commercially consequential Apple hardware launch since the Vision Pro, and the real question is whether Apple can make foldables mainstream as overall smartphone shipments decline. TechTrendsKE adds that the launch comes amid an AI credibility problem: Apple reportedly rebuilt Siri on Google's Gemini foundation after its own models underperformed, and the September rollout of the new Siri AI faces unusual pressure alongside the foldable debut.

The keynote streams live on Apple's website and YouTube channel at 10:00 a.m. PT, with pre-orders expected to follow, though exact dates are not yet confirmed per Mashable and Hindustan Times. Mashable expects Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 alongside the phones, while Gurman told Gulf News that Ternus's pipeline also includes a smart home device with facial recognition, a tabletop robot, AirPods with cameras, smart glasses, and a 20th-anniversary iPhone. Hindustan Times notes Apple Pencil support could return in a future foldable generation, and the iPhone 18 Pro is expected to move to A20 chips, a C2 modem with 5G satellite support, 12GB of standard RAM, and a variable-aperture camera system possibly exclusive to the Pro Max.