What Surveys, Leaks And Skins Already Reveal About Wednesday’s Debut

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple’s biggest product event in years is set for Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 1 p.m. ET, marking the first major keynote hosted by new CEO John Ternus and widely expected to include the company’s long-rumored first foldable iPhone.

The event, expected to be titled “Surprise and Shine,” will unfold at Apple Park, with CNET reporters on site to cover announcements as they happen. The presentation follows years of speculation about whether and when Apple would enter the foldable smartphone category, a segment Samsung has occupied since 2019 and one Google has more recently entered with its Pixel Fold lineup.

The rumored foldable device, expected to be called the iPhone Ultra, is anticipated to be joined by updated iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models. For the first time in the company’s recent product history, Apple is expected to exclude a base iPhone 18 model from Wednesday’s announcements entirely, reportedly pushing that device, along with a rumored second-generation iPhone Air, to a spring release instead.

Ahead of the event, CNET conducted a consumer sentiment survey examining how much interest, and how much money, U.S. adults are prepared to put toward a foldable iPhone. According to the survey, roughly 1 in 4 U.S. adults, or 25%, expressed interest in a foldable iPhone. However, respondents indicated they were willing to spend an average of just $781 on such a device, a figure that falls well short of the roughly $2,000 price some analysts have projected for the iPhone Ultra. Notably, that $781 average is actually $48 less than the starting price of the base iPhone 17 model, suggesting a significant gap between consumer price expectations and the phone’s likely actual cost, particularly given ongoing RAM shortages and broader rumors of price increases across Apple’s lineup this year.

Some of the clearest hints at the foldable device’s eventual design have come not from Apple itself, but from accessory makers moving quickly to capitalize on public anticipation. Phone accessory company Dbrand has already begun selling skins designed for the rumored iPhone Ultra, alongside skins for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, ahead of any official confirmation from Apple. According to CNET’s review of the products, the iPhone Ultra skins closely track months of leaked design details, featuring a wider form factor similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Analysts have also pointed to last year’s iPhone Air as a possible design precursor for the foldable device. The 5.6-millimeter-thick iPhone Air, while not considered a blockbuster seller on its own, may have served as a proof of concept for the thinner hardware engineering Apple would need to successfully execute a foldable design. Rishi Padhi, a research principal at Gartner, offered his assessment of the Air’s broader significance within Apple’s product strategy.

“The first iPhone Air may eventually be viewed as a transitional step rather than a failed product category,” Padhi said. “It proved that Apple could still make a thinner iPhone.”

Beyond hardware, Wednesday’s event is also expected to showcase Apple’s redesigned Siri assistant, part of the broader iOS 27 update first previewed at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. CNET writer Katelyn Chedraoui, who has used public betas of the new software ahead of its general release, described a marked improvement over the assistant’s previous shortcomings, noting that even longtime skeptical colleagues found the revamped Siri “immediately improved” during testing. The new version is expected to offer significantly better understanding of natural voice commands and improved general knowledge, drawing on generative AI advances that have reshaped digital assistants industrywide over the past several years.

Other anticipated announcements for Wednesday include updated Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 models, new AirPods, refreshed Mac hardware, and an updated Apple TV 4K streaming device. CNET’s coverage has also floated the possibility of a new camera pro mode within iOS, giving users more granular manual controls similar to features already found on some Android devices, along with speculation about whether Apple might adopt newer silicon-carbon battery technology already used by some Android manufacturers, including OnePlus, Motorola and Samsung, to boost battery capacity without increasing the physical size of its devices.

Pricing remains one of the most closely watched open questions heading into the event. Even setting aside the foldable device specifically, some analysts have suggested that if Apple pursues previously rumored price increases across its standard lineup, the cheapest new iPhone unveiled at Wednesday’s event could carry a starting price around $1,100, a notable jump from prior years’ entry-level pricing for Apple’s Pro-tier devices.

Wednesday’s presentation carries particular symbolic weight as Ternus’s first major public event since formally succeeding Tim Cook as Apple’s chief executive on Sept. 1. Given that all specific product details remain unconfirmed ahead of the keynote, based only on analyst predictions, leaked design mockups and third-party accessory listings rather than official company statements, Wednesday’s presentation is expected to finally resolve months of accumulated speculation, offering the clearest picture yet of how aggressively Apple intends to compete in the foldable smartphone category against established rivals, and what pricing strategy the company plans to pursue across its broader fall lineup heading into the holiday shopping season.