At 1 a.m. on 9 10 Beijing time, Apple held its 2026 fall product launch event at Apple Park, themed “A bright new chapter, made brilliant.” This was also the first launch event since John Ternus formally took over as Apple’s CEO on 9 1. His predecessor, CEO Tim Cook, became executive chairman.
The event introduced three phones—the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the first foldable iPhone Duo—as well as the AirPods5, Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple Watch Ultra 4. Notably, the standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and iPhone Air 2 were absent and will be launched later, in the spring of 2027.
iPhone 18 Pro lineup: starting at 9999 yuan in mainland China
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max feature 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR displays, respectively, with ProMotion adaptive refresh rates and always-on display. They have a unibody aluminum design, front and back Ceramic Shield panels, and come in four colors: black, silver, glacier, and burgundy.
Both models debut the A20 Pro chip, built using a 2-nanometer process, with 6-core CPU and 7-core GPU. Graphics performance is up to 40% higher than on iPhone 17 Pro, with a dual-16-core Neural Engine, 50% higher memory bandwidth, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. They also feature Apple’s in-house C2 modem, with upload speeds up to 50% faster than C1X. Together with a VC vapor chamber 3 times larger, sustained performance improves by up to 40%.
For imaging, the iPhone 18 Pro lineup features a 4800-megapixel Pro Fusion triple-camera system. The main camera is the first to offer four aperture settings: ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8, and ƒ/4.0. Low-light photography improves by 50%, and optical-quality zoom reaches up to 8x. Video capabilities are upgraded to 4K 120 fps Dolby Vision, with support for ProRes RAW and Apple Log 2. The iPhone 18 Pro Max offers up to 43 hours of video playback, the longest battery life ever on an iPhone.
The iPhone 18 Pro starts at 9999 yuan in mainland China, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at 10999 yuan (starting at 1199 and 1299 dollars, respectively, in the U.S. market). Storage options range from 256 GB to 2 TB. Preorders open on 9 12, with sales beginning on 9 18.
iPhone Duo: Apple’s first foldable, starting at 15999 yuan
The iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR foldable inner display and a 5.4-inch outer display. Both support 120 Hz ProMotion and always-on display. The inner display uses a nano-texture finish and a 10-layer ultra-thin structure, and introduces an under-display FaceTime camera for the first time, enabling a hole-free display. The device has a titanium frame and hinge housing, replaces the side button with Touch ID, and is powered by the A20 Pro chip and C2 modem. It features a 4800-megapixel Fusion dual-camera system. iOS 27 adds dual-screen interactions such as StandBy, tent mode, and upright FaceTime, with Apple Pencil support coming later this year.
The iPhone Duo comes in starlight white and midnight sky. It starts at 15999 yuan in mainland China (256 GB). Preorders open at 8 p.m. on the evening of 10 16, with sales beginning on 10 23. The device supports eSIM only worldwide; users in mainland China must visit a carrier’s physical store to verify their identity and activate it.
AirPods 5: starting at 999 yuan, with improved noise cancellation
AirPods 5 feature the H2 chip and a new multi-port acoustic architecture, delivering active noise cancellation in an earbud-style, tip-free design. Noise reduction is up to 50% better than on the AirPods 4 noise-cancelling model. A single charge provides up to 5 hours of listening with noise cancellation enabled, and up to 22 hours with the charging case. The wireless charging case is the first to include a force sensor, allowing volume adjustment with a swipe. AirPods 5 start at 999 yuan, while the version with a wireless charging case costs 1199 yuan. They go on sale on 9 18.