John Ternus has entered his second week as Apple’s chief executive, and the company has revealed the first major change to the iPhone since it was released almost 20 years ago.
Ternus, who took on Apple’s top job after Tim Cook stepped down, was onstage on Wednesday at the company’s annual product release event in front of huge images of the first foldable iPhone.
With a book-style format, the new iPhone, dubbed the Duo, is the largest ever-sized product. And with a US starting price of $1,999 (£1,475) going up to $3,200, it is also the most expensive. UK prices start at £1,999.
Ternus said the Duo was “inspired by the iPad” but called the folding features “fluid and completely intuitive.”
The foldable phone has been a work-in-progress inside Apple for several years.
When unfolded, the new Duo has the look of a small iPad. When folded in half, it has the look of a wider iPhone.
Ternus said during the event that Apple wanted to avoid the look and feel of other foldable smartphones on the market, which he said “feel like two phones stuck together… making a larger screen feel much smaller.”
The Duo, he said, is the “result of a series of remarkable innovations that we think will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone.”
Ternus was directly involved in developing the foldable iPhone as he spent many years as a top executive inside Apple’s hardware division before being tapped earlier this year as Cook’s successor.
Previously, the highest starting price of the newest iPhone was $900 (£664). Apple also revealed on Wednesday the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, which in the US start at $1,199 (£855) and $1,299 (£959) respectively.
The iPhone has been Apple’s top-selling product and accounts for more than half of the company’s sales each year.
In recent quarters, the company has boasted that the iPhone is more in-demand than ever, with the most recent version of the device becoming its most successful product launch.
The company also revealed more about the coming relaunch of its audio and chat assistant Siri, which it now calls Siri AI.
Starting with the iPhone 18, the bot will now be able to go across information on a person’s phone, like messages and emails, to find information, answer queries and take action on a person’s behalf.
Some Siri AI features will also be available on the new Apple Watch, including the ability to take notes of conversations and transcribe them, should a wearer enable that feature.
Ternus referred to new AI-enabled capabilities on the iPhone as an “intelligent personal hub” and admitted that Apple would be making use of “the most private details of your daily life.”
Source: BBC
