Good morning everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today’s Apple media showcase.
We will have two reporters on the scene at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, to bring you live coverage. You’ll be hearing from Julian Chokkattu, Boutayna Chokrane, Lauren Goode, Reece Rogers, and Michael Calore throughout the event. We might have some special guests pop in as well. We’ll be posting frequent news updates here, with the highlights also going on our social platforms.
Apple’s presentation begins at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, and 6 pm in the UK. We have a complete rundown on how to watch the show and what to expect.
Come back approximately 30 minutes before the presentation starts—about 9:30 am in California—and you’ll see the words on this page replaced by a feed of our live updates.
A Folding iPhone Today
The short version of what to expect: The folding variant of the iPhone should make its debut today. The word around Silicon Valley is that it’s expected to be named the iPhone Ultra and that it will likely cost more than $2,000.
We’ll probably also see a Pro version iPhone today, and we can expect the folding iPhone and the Pro models to go on sale later in September.
What about the base model iPhone 18? That might not arrive until early next year, though Apple might tease it today. The longer wait could be because of a number of factors, including rising manufacturing costs and the ongoing memory crisis affecting the whole PC industry. Also, delaying the next generation of cheaper iPhones—the 18, the 18e, and the Air—would give Apple an opportunity to promote its premium handsets more heavily.
It’s also likely we’ll see the newest Apple Watch and Watch Ultra models debut at today’s event.
Both the new iPhones and the new Apple Watches will be getting some additional capabilities enabled by Siri AI, the newest version of Apple’s artificially intelligent assistant. So, expect lots of talk about the beefed-up new chips in these devices as well as “on-device AI,” secure computing, and battery optimization. Siri AI is actually powerful and impressive in our testing of the beta version, but just like the various Siris that came before it, there are limits to how helpful it can really be in your day-to-day life.
Also notable is the list of things we’re not expecting: Apple’s various smart-home products that have been rumored to be close to release, including new HomePod speakers and a smart home device that’s used to interacting with Siri’s camera-based Visual Intelligence capabilities.
Along those lines are the rumored AirPods with tiny cameras in them that can be used, in conjunction with voice commands, to give Siri AI some additional context about what you’re looking at and inquiring about. Those earbuds might come today, but we could just as well see them at an additional event in late September or in October. (It’s likely the smart-home products will show up at the next event too.)
How to Watch
To watch the livestream, you can, of course, just hit Play on the video stream on this page. But it’s better on the big screen.
You can watch it in your TV’s YouTube app; just tune into Apple’s YouTube channel. You can also watch it on Apple’s own streaming app. If you have an Apple TV or any streaming box, just go into the Apple TV app. When you open the app, the livestream for the event should be displayed prominently right at the top. This works even if you don’t subscribe to Apple’s paid streaming service. Watching it on the television frees up your laptop screen so you can follow the live blog. Convenient!
We’ll see you back here about half an hour before the event begins.