Author: Manuel Bosque

Apple has set its September 9 “Surprise and Shine” event for 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT in Cupertino. Going by the usual mix of reports and rumors, this is where Apple is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, and new Apple Watch models.

YouTube Download

There’s a decent chance you’ll also see Apple hardware chief John Ternus take the lead in his first major keynote as CEO. He succeeded Tim Cook on September 1, with Cook now serving as Executive Chairman.

As for the foldable iPhone, the rumored names floating around are iPhone Ultra and iPhone Duo. Reports say it could come with a 5.5-inch outer screen and a 7.8-inch inner display, carry a price tag above $2,000, and possibly leave out a telephoto camera. Even so, it’s still being seen as a product that could help drive growth, even though Apple is arriving late to the category compared with Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and other competitors, especially in China.

There could be plenty more on stage. Apple may also introduce the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, with an A20 Pro chip, a smaller Dynamic Island made possible by under-display Face ID, camera upgrades, and a sky-blue finish. Reports also suggest the standard iPhone 18 has been pushed back until spring 2027. Add in possible Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra updates, plus the new M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio, which are said to go on sale September 22.

If you usually follow Apple launches, this keynote looks like one to watch. Apple is expected to stream it on its official website, YouTube, and the Apple TV app, and if the company sticks to its usual pattern, a replay should be available soon after.

Apple TV Download

Apple is expected to unveil its long-rumored foldable iPhone on September 9. The name showing up most often right now is iPhone Duo. Leaks point to a book-style foldable design, a possible new naming direction, and a starting price of about $2,000 for the 256GB version.

The latest leaks also suggest Apple has moved past names like iPhone Fold and iPhone Ultra. iPhone Duo is the one that keeps coming up. Price-wise, the higher-capacity models could push much closer to $3,000, with some rumors even mentioning a 2TB option.

Those same late leaks sketch out a pretty specific hardware picture: a 5.5-inch outer screen, a 7.8-inch inner display, and an upgraded hinge meant to make the crease less noticeable. Apple Pencil support has also been mentioned, along with side-by-side multitasking and color options in either white or dark blue.

That would place Apple’s foldable iPhone right up against Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line, and very much in the ultra-premium part of the market. If you’ve been holding out for a foldable iPhone that leans a little more toward productivity, this one looks like something to keep an eye on.

For now, though, every detail here still sits firmly in rumor territory. Apple hasn’t confirmed the name, the price, the launch timing, or how wide the international rollout would be. Some reports are also still pointing to a delay in China tied to an eSIM-only design. So the safest bet is to expect more on September 9, with availability still rumored for October, or possibly November.

Motorola briefly teased its still-unannounced Signature 27 on its website, which points to a broader launch and, maybe, the first official US release for the Motorola Signature series. A pop-up showed up for a short time on Motorola’s US, EU, and UK sites, with a dark, shadowy look at the rear camera, the tagline “A new perspective is coming,” and a prompt asking for your name and email if you wanted updates.

Then it disappeared.

Because Motorola pulled the teaser soon after people noticed it, this looks a lot more like something that went live too early than a planned announcement. Still, the fact that the exact same teaser appeared across multiple regions is the strongest sign so far that Motorola isn’t done with the Signature line, and that it may finally bring it to the US. The first-generation Motorola Signature never did.

People who went through the sign-up flow also reported seeing a “Crystals by Swarovski” logo. That points to a fashion-leaning special edition, which lines up pretty well with the original Motorola Signature and its more premium styling.

If you’ve been hoping Motorola would finally bring the Signature line to the US, this one’s worth keeping an eye on. Motorola still hasn’t confirmed the specs, price, release window, availability, carrier support, or whether it would be sold unlocked or through carriers. Earlier reports said the first Motorola Signature launched in January 2026 with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a 165Hz AMOLED display, and multiple 50MP rear cameras, so late 2026 or early 2027 seems like a reasonable guess for this one. For now, though, you can’t sign up anymore. The teaser’s gone.

The latest iPhone 18 Pro pricing rumor is a little less dramatic than the earlier ones. Instead of the $200 to $300 jump that had been floating around, the new talk is that Apple may raise the US price by about $100.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple could tie that increase to a handful of hardware upgrades: a variable-aperture main camera on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, an A20 Pro chip, vapor-chamber cooling, and maybe some efficiency gains from a 2-nanometer process. In practice, that should matter most for low-light photos, gaming, 4K video, and the kind of on-device AI work Apple keeps pushing onto the phone itself.

Still, don’t expect a major visual overhaul. Most reports say the iPhone 18 Pro will look a lot like the iPhone 17 Pro line, with a few tweaks rather than a full redesign. The details being mentioned so far include a burgundy red finish, a smaller Dynamic Island, and support for three Live Activities at once, up from two.

The price bump is reportedly coming from higher DRAM and NAND costs. Some estimates say memory prices could rise by as much as 400%, with the bill of materials landing roughly 40% above the previous model. That said, stronger US trade-in offers could take some of the sting out of it. Buyers in India, China, and parts of Europe may still end up paying more too, with estimates landing around ₹10,000, 1,000 yuan, and €100 to €300, depending on the market.

If you’re already thinking about upgrading in 2026, this smaller rumored increase could make the iPhone 18 Pro a more reasonable buy at launch, assuming Apple sticks to its usual iPhone event timing.

Apple is widely expected to show off the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at its September 9 event, alongside the new iPhones, if recent leaks and reports hold up. The headline changes are said to be faster chips, new health features, and a round of improvements tied to watchOS 27.

Assuming those leaks are right, this looks less like a big visual reset and more like the kind of update current Apple Watch owners actually notice day to day: moving past the S10 chip to an S11 or S12 package, snappier apps, better battery efficiency, a smarter Siri, a new Readiness app, and more detailed strength tracking that covers sets, reps, and weight.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 could end up being the more interesting of the two on the hardware side, with reports pointing to a lot more sensors and an upgraded optical heart-rate sensor. There’s also a chance it gets a new high-blood-pressure alert system if FDA review wraps up in time, building on the hypertension notifications Apple added in watchOS 26.

As for the design, the rumors are all over the place. Still, you probably shouldn’t go into this week expecting a dramatically different watch, even with talk of a possible Apple Watch Ultra 4 redesign, 128GB of storage, the return of a ceramic option, and Touch ID now seeming less and less likely.

If you already wear an Apple Watch, those performance and health upgrades may be enough to make the new models worth picking up , even if they don’t look very different at a glance.

Apple should fill in the rest on September 9. If the reports are right, both watches will then roll out through the company’s usual retail channels.

There’s a new discussion on product strategy making a pretty straightforward case: software teams can now build and ship a lot faster with code generation, rapid prototyping, and automated testing, but deciding what actually deserves to be built is turning into the bigger bottleneck for product teams.

The argument is that as building gets cheaper, product judgment gets harder to find. The numbers behind that are ugly: 42% of startups still fail because they misread demand, 70% to 80% of new consumer packaged goods fail, 95% of new products fall short of expectations, and about 80% of software features are rarely used or never used at all.

The discussion also points to MIT-cited research showing a surge in new mobile apps as automated coding spreads. User attention, though, isn’t expanding at the same pace, so teams are competing less on shipping speed and more on relevance, habit, and whether people keep coming back.

If you work in product, this is worth reading because behavior data is starting to carry more weight. Product teams can see what users return to, where they get stuck, and where they abandon tasks, and repeat use says more than surveys or launch-day curiosity.

You can read the full discussion online.

Intel is reportedly preparing to raise prices on its PC processors by about 10% starting October 5, according to Digitimes and industry researchers. If that happens, the first place most people are likely to feel it is in newly released desktop and laptop systems.

CPU-Z Download

Digitimes and industry researchers say this planned increase would come after roughly a 10% rise in Q1 2026, followed by another increase in July that also affected Intel server CPUs. Some server parts reportedly went up by more than 1,000. Put together, it extends a pattern that started in late 2025, as Intel shifts away from defending market share at all costs and puts more weight on protecting margins.

For buyers, the effect may show up slowly. PC brands can work through existing inventory and current supply agreements before higher costs fully reach store shelves. Still, you could end up paying more later, with memory and PCB costs staying under pressure, data-center demand tightening capacity, and Intel reportedly giving priority to higher-margin server products. Digitimes says that could happen even if it leads to some share slippage after Qualcomm’s own price increase on September 1.

If you’re planning to buy a mainstream PC, this is something to watch. Digitimes also says Intel may cut another 5% to 10% of its workforce, while still hiring selectively, and discontinue some low-margin Intel Small Core chips. Those parts are used mostly in industrial, IoT, and embedded systems, not in typical home PCs.

There’s nothing to download here. Any Intel price change would show up later in future PC configurations and prices set by PC makers.

Speccy Download

Episode 8 of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, “We’re as Confused as You Are,” arrives on HBO Max on Thursday, September 10. In the US, HBO Max has the release set for 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET.

In most international markets, HBO Max shows it going live on Friday local time: 2:00 a.m. BST in the UK, 6:30 a.m. IST in India, 9:00 a.m. SGT in Singapore, 11:00 a.m. AEST in Australia, and 1:00 p.m. NZST in New Zealand.

Season 1 is almost at the finish line. HBO Max’s current release calendar has episode 9 dated for September 17 and episode 10 for September 24, so there are three episodes left, including this week’s.

The Big Bang Theory spin-off Stuart Fails to Save the Universe centers on Stuart Bloom after he damages a device built by Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard. That sets off a larger multiverse story, with alternate realities, bigger set pieces, and more room for the side characters to get involved.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe was created by Chuck Lorre, Zak Penn, and Bill Prady, with Kevin Sussman leading the cast alongside Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn, and John Ross Bowie.

If you’ve been following the show, this episode looks like one to keep up with. Reaction has been mixed, but the series reportedly drew 3.1 million views in its first six days, has stayed in the top half of HBO Max’s charts, and has already been renewed by HBO Max for season 2. Interest is still there. You can watch it on HBO Max.