Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) welcomes the "foldable screen era"! The $1999 iPhone Duo debuts with AI fully penetrating the hardware ecosystem.

Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) held its annual fall product launch event on Wednesday, officially introducing the companys first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, along with the iPhone 18 Pro series, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, and AirPods 5. This event marked a significant occasion as it was the first major product event hosted by the newly appointed CEO, Turnas. While showcasing a comprehensive hardware update, Apple Inc. further enhanced its Apple Intelligence strategy, positioning the new generation of iPhones and Apple Watches as personal AI gateways, and continuing to differentiate itself from competitors through edge AI and privacy protection. Among the products, the iPhone Duo attracted the most market attention. Apple Inc. described it as the most transformative upgrade since the original iPhone, and the most significant change in form factor for its flagship smartphone since the removal of the physical Home button with the iPhone X in 2017. The iPhone Duo adopts a passport-like foldable form and rounded corners, featuring a small independent screen on the front when folded, and forming a wide screen when unfolded, while also supporting vertical use. Apple Inc. stated that Duo would become the thinnest iPhone the company has ever produced once fully unfolded. Apple Inc. aims to address the user experience issues in daily scenarios such as scrolling and video watching that existing foldable smartphones face. The new device features custom hinges, proportionally coordinated dual displays, and a brand-new titanium body, with the goal of providing an iPad-like experience in a pocket-sized device. However, this new form factor comes with an unprecedented high price for Apple Inc. The starting price of the iPhone Duo is set at $1,999, making it the most expensive iPhone to date, with pre-orders starting on October 17 and an official launch on October 23. Convincing consumers to pay approximately $2,000 for a foldable smartphone will be the first significant market test for the new CEO Turnas. The iPhone remains Apple Inc.'s core business, contributing approximately $209.6 billion in revenue in the most recent fiscal year, accounting for just over half of Apple Inc.'s total sales. In addition to the foldable device, Apple Inc. also released the traditional flagship iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Both models are equipped with the new A20 Pro chip, further enhancing edge AI computing capabilities. The A20 Pro uses a 2-nanometer process and features a 6-core CPU and a 7-core GPU, with the two high-performance cores achieving a speed increase of up to 20%, while GPU performance increases by up to 40%. The A20 Pro also includes a new Neural Engine, which Apple Inc. claims is essentially equivalent to integrating two neural network engines into a single chip, further improving the local execution capabilities of machine learning and AI models. The imaging system is also a key focus of the iPhone 18 Pro upgrade. For the first time, the 48-megapixel main camera features a variable aperture that can automatically adjust based on different lighting conditions while providing users with more manual control options, including the ability to adjust aperture and shutter speed. At the same time, Apple Inc. has further strengthened the image authenticity feature in the era of AI-generated content. The company introduced a new standard called Apple Reference Image, designed to verify the authenticity of photos taken with the iPhone 18 Pro, and supports the use of the SynthID standard for identifying AI-generated or edited images. However, Apple Reference Image will not be launched in the EU and China markets for the time being. AI was a consistent theme throughout the event. Turnas positioned the iPhone as a personal AI center that emphasizes privacy protection, highlighting that Apple Intelligence will run directly on-device whenever possible, rather than uploading large amounts of personal information to the cloud. Apple Inc. also showcased an upgraded Siri. The new version of Siri is expected to collaborate with approximately 300,000 applications at launch and can utilize users personal information from texts, emails, calendars, and photos to answer questions. This related Siri AI feature is expected to be launched in October. In addition to the iPhone, Apple Inc. is also working to further develop the Apple Watch as an AI wearable device. The newly released Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 now include a smart audio feature. Among these, Siri Recap can generate a summary of the user's conversations throughout the day through environmental audio processing, while Live Recap can display a text record of the last 15 seconds of conversation. The device can also identify critical sounds such as a baby crying, doorbells, and alarms. In response to privacy concerns over continuous audio monitoring, Apple Inc. emphasized that users have the option to choose whether to enable these functions, and the system will not create or save recordings. Original audio cannot be accessed by Apple Inc. or other applications and will be deleted immediately after processing. Health features are also a key focus of the new generation of Apple Watches. Both devices are equipped with a new health sensing system, with Apple Inc. claiming it possesses the most accurate heart rate tracking capabilities in wearable devices, along with new daily body readiness scores similar to Whoop and Fitbit, which assess users' physical conditions based on their recovery and rest. The starting price for the Apple Watch Series 12 is $399, while the Ultra 4 is priced at $799, with the latter offering a battery life of up to 50 hours and faster charging. Both products will be officially launched on September 18. Apple Inc. also released the AirPods 5. The new earphones further enhance active noise cancellation, with the $129 version improving noise-cancellation performance by 50% over the previous generation and supporting hands-free Siri AI interaction and real-time translation; the $149 premium version adds earphone volume control, longer battery life, and wireless charging functionality.