Apple: which iPhones to expect at the September 9 event and what's great about the new Mac mini

Based on leaks, the stage will see the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max — a natural follow-up to last year's flagships. The standard iPhone 18 doesn't appear to be on the September agenda. The third device could be the iPhone 18 Ultra — Apple's first-ever smartphone with a foldable design.

The name isn't final yet. A year earlier, Apple already reshuffled its numbering: instead of a sequential number, the OS got its release year and became iOS 26. So the "Ultra" suffix and the final name could still change.

Talk of a foldable model has been circulating since early 2025. In June 2026, a toggle between single and double screen was found in iOS code — effectively confirming that development had entered the home stretch.

In terms of design, insiders say the device will be closest to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8. It opens like a book: unfolded, it becomes almost a tablet with a large iPad-style display. According to leaks, the outer screen will be slightly shorter than a standard iPhone, making it easier to open. When fully unfolded, 16:9 videos and e-books look best.

The trickiest part is the hinge. Leaks suggest Apple has achieved a tight close between the two halves and an almost invisible crease on the display — something competitors spent years working toward.

There's a likely trade-off, though: rumors suggest the iPhone 18 Ultra will be missing one rear camera module. If confirmed, the foldable will fall behind the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in optical zoom.

The mini desktop got a major update with a focus on on-device AI. The chassis has been shrunk to 12.7 × 12.7 cm — half the footprint of previous versions.

A quick look at what's inside:

• Processors. The base model is powered by the M6 chip — Apple's first built on a 2-nanometer process: 12 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores, plus a debut dual 16-core Neural Engine. Performance gains of up to 4.8x over the M4. For professional workloads, there's an M5 Pro option: up to 18 CPU cores, up to 20 GPU cores, and up to 4x faster than the M4 Pro.
• Memory. With M6 — up to 32 GB of unified memory and up to 170 GB/s bandwidth. With M5 Pro — up to 64 GB and up to 307 GB/s.
• AI. Every GPU core features hardware ray tracing. Models run locally: LM Studio, Ollama, Perplexity Personal Computer, Claude Cowork. Multiple Mac mini units can be linked into a cluster for large language models. AI-powered Siri is promised from fall 2026 — currently in beta and English only.
• Ports & connectivity. On the front: two USB-C ports and an audio output. On the back: 2.5Gb Ethernet, HDMI, and Thunderbolt; the M5 Pro adds three Thunderbolt 5 ports with speeds up to 120 Gb/s. New to the lineup: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
• Displays. The M6 supports two 6K screens plus one 5K. The M5 Pro drives up to three 6K monitors simultaneously.
• Availability. Pre-orders are already live on apple.com, with the first units hitting stores on September 22, 2026.

On September 1, 2027, Tim Cook will officially step down as CEO. He will be succeeded by John Ternus, who currently oversees hardware engineering as Senior Vice President. Cook took the helm at Apple after Steve Jobs' departure and grew the company's market cap to $4.522 trillion — second in the world, behind only Nvidia.

It's possible the transition will be announced at the September 2026 event itself: Cook would open the show, while Ternus would handle some of the announcements.