iPhone 18 Pro & iPhone Duo: Price, Release Date & Everything Apple Announced

Apple's "Surprise and shine" event on September 9 delivered exactly what the name promised: no standard iPhone 18 this year, but a price-hiked Pro lineup and the company's first-ever foldable iPhone, called the iPhone Duo. It was also the first keynote led by new CEO John Ternus. Here's every price, spec, and date Apple confirmed.

iPhone 18 Pro & Pro Max: Price and Specs

The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, both for 256GB and both $100 higher than last year's iPhone 17 Pro models. Apple didn't explain the increase directly, but it lands alongside a broader run of price hikes across the Mac, iPad, and even older iPhone models tied to rising memory costs. Storage now goes up to 2TB for the first time on an iPhone, though Apple hasn't published pricing for the 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB tiers yet.

Design stays close to the iPhone 17 Pro, with the aluminum unibody and Ceramic Shield 2 carried over, but the internals move forward meaningfully: a new A20 Pro chip built on a 2nm process with a 6-core CPU and 7-core GPU that Apple says is up to 40% faster than the A19 Pro, a 48MP main camera with a genuine variable aperture using physical aperture blades, and a smaller Dynamic Island capable of showing up to three Live Activities at once. Apple also added proper manual camera controls - shutter speed, aperture, white balance, and exposure - directly inside the Camera app for the first time. Battery life improves too, helped by the new C2 modem and, on eSIM-only models, extra internal space freed up by dropping the physical SIM tray.

iPhone Duo: Apple's First Foldable

The bigger news was Apple's long-rumored foldable, officially named the iPhone Duo. It uses a book-style, notebook-style design and is the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made when unfolded. Specs include the same A20 Pro chip as the Pro models, a 7.6-inch inner Super Retina XDR display, a 5.4-inch outer display, and a 48MP Fusion main camera. The standout feature is an in-display selfie camera hidden beneath the inner screen, giving it an edge-to-edge display with no notch or cutout - the camera only becomes visible while actively in use. It launches in two colors, Star White and Night Sky, starting at $1,999 for 256GB, with Apple Pencil (USB-C) support planned to follow later in the year.

Release Dates & Availability

Preorders shifted from Apple's usual Friday slot to Saturday this year, reportedly to avoid landing on the 25th anniversary of September 11.

Also Announced: Apple Watch and AirPods

The event wasn't just about iPhones. Apple refreshed the Apple Watch Series 12 and the rugged Apple Watch Ultra 4, and introduced AirPods 5. Apple also raised prices on several older iPhones it continues to sell: the iPhone 17 now starts at $899 (up from $799), and the iPhone 16 at $799 (up from $699) - increases that caught some analysts off guard, since the Pro price hikes had been anticipated but the older-model increases hadn't.

Where's the Standard iPhone 18?

Notably absent from the lineup was a standard iPhone 18. Apple is reportedly restructuring its release calendar, holding the standard iPhone 18, a new iPhone 18e, and an iPhone Air 2 for a spring 2027 launch instead - meaning anyone wanting a new iPhone this fall has to choose from the premium end of the lineup only.

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