It’s official: Apple has dropped its invites for its annual fall event titled “Surprise and shine,” and “Techtember”, as coined by Marques Brownlee, couldn’t come soon enough. Just like clockwork, we expect to see several new iPhone models at that event, but we could also see other new products too. Without further ado, let’s break down what we should expect to see at Apple’s most anticipated event this year.
AirPods
It seems that every fall, we get some new AirPods of some sort. For example, we saw the introduction of the AirPods 4 in September 2024, and last September marked the debut of the AirPods Pro 3. Furthermore, it looks like this year will be no exception, as earlier this week, Mark Gurman expected that the next-generation AirPods 5 would be announced as early as Apple’s September event. This was further corroborated by some code that was discovered in the macOS 26.7 release candidate. From there, it references the identifiers: B868M and B868E. For comparison, the current AirPods 4 uses the identifiers: B768M and B768E. So, as it may allude, these new identifiers will more than likely be the follow-up to the AirPods 4. As you can see, there are two identifiers, which suggests that the AirPods 5 will continue to be offered in two variants: a base model that lacks Active Noise Cancelation and a higher-tier model that has Active Noise Cancelation. It’s unclear what new features the AirPods 5 could have, but may follow suit with the higher-end AirPods Pro 3 in terms of features. This could include the built-in heart-rate sensor, but we’ll just have to wait and see when Apple introduces the AirPods 5.
Apple Watch
Just like with the iPhone (more on that later), Apple has announced new Apple Watch models every September. Currently, we have the Apple Watch SE 3, the Apple Watch Series 11, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3. The new Apple Watch models we are expecting to see at Apple’s event are: the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4. The major feature that’s coming to both models is expected to be an all-new dual-core processor. The last time we saw a true performance upgrade was with the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. It’s been almost three years, so it’s time for the Apple Watch to get upgraded in terms of raw performance. Thankfully, this upcoming processor should handle AI-related tasks even better, especially for the upcoming Siri AI that Apple has up its sleeve.
Although we don’t expect the Apple Watch Series 12 to get a major redesign, we could actually see the return of the luxurious ceramic case, which was last seen with the Apple Watch Series 5. Apple could bring back that “Edition” brand for its ceramic watch cases, or Apple could come up with another brand, but who knows. On the other hand, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is rumored to get a major redesign since the original model came out in September 2022.
In terms of health features, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg didn’t specify what health-related improvements those Apple Watch models would feature, so we’d just have to wait and see. Gurman doesn’t expect the Apple Watch SE 4 to come out this year either.
iPhone
Of course, the biggest star of the show has to be the iPhone. This fall will mark a significant departure from previous fall announcements as Apple won’t announce an upgrade to the standard model this fall; instead, Apple will announce just the higher-end flagship models in the fall as part of its strategy to stagger its iPhone releases.
With that said, Apple is expected to announce both the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Those smartphones will be largely identical to their predecessors in terms of design, yet they may be even thicker (and consequently heavier) to accommodate larger batteries. The colors we expect to see based on previous leaks are: Silver, Dark Gray, Light Blue, and Dark Cherry, which means no more Cosmic Orange for those who love it. The major features we expect to see for the iPhone 18 Pro models are a smaller Dynamic Island, an improved LTPO+ display for better brightness and efficiency, and a main camera with variable aperture. As alluded the above, both iPhone 18 Pro models are set to have even larger batteries, so the iPhone 18 Pro Max should continue that lead in having the longest battery life ever in an iPhone with a battery that measures at a capacity of 4,288 mAh (for models in the United States).
Last but not least, I strongly believe that Apple will save the best for last, potentially as a “one more thing” from the company, and that will be the highly anticipated “iPhone Ultra,” which will be Apple’s first foldable. We’ve had foldable phones for several years from other competitors, but as technology improves, Apple will certainly make the foldable experience even better thanks to the countless optimizations the company continues to make on iOS. The iPhone Ultra will feature a 7.76-inch inner display and a 5.49-inch outer display. Additionally, the problem with early foldables was that there was a noticeable crease. Thankfully, the iPhone Ultra is set to have a virtually crease-free inner display. It’s also expected to have four cameras in total: one on the outer display, one on the inner display, and two on the rear. This means that the iPhone Ultra will have both the main (wide) and ultra-wide cameras, so there won’t be any dedicated telephoto cameras on this foldable. Another caveat is that the iPhone Ultra will have Touch ID instead of Face ID. So, come to think of it, the iPhone Ultra won’t be exactly the best in all specs; it’s just “specialized” in terms of design and versatility. The iPhone Ultra is also expected to come in just two colors: silver and some shade of indigo.
Both the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Ultra will feature the A20 Pro chip, which will be Apple’s first 2nm chip ever on an iPhone. Both of these phones are expected to feature the next-generation C2 cellular model; however, the iPhone 18 Pro models in the United States will stick with Qualcomm modems. Unsurprisingly, as memory gets even more expensive nowadays, we could see price hikes for those models, with the iPhone 18 Pro starting around $1,399 and the iPhone Ultra potentially around $2,500.
What we will unlikely see at Apple’s “Surprise and shine” event
Covering the AirPods, Apple Watch, and iPhone would cover a whole event, which means Apple could save other announcements for a later fall event. This means we won’t likely see an updated Apple TV/HomePod mini, the M6 MacBook Pro/iMac, or even the anticipated smart home hub, the “HomePad.” Instead, we could see those products as soon as October.
Conclusion
With all that said, after several months of virtually no new products, aside from the updated Mac mini and Mac Studio models, this is shaping up to be Apple’s most exciting season of the year, and it will definitely be worth waiting for as Apple promised that we’d see a lot of innovation starting this year, and it seems that the company is living up to its promises. Apple’s ‘Surprise and shine’ event will go live on September 9th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Make sure you bookmark this site and follow us on our socials so you won’t miss the latest news from Apple.
