Technology

Reports keep saying Apple is releasing a home smart display. It still hasn’t happened, and here’s why that’s a problem.

• A new report from KB Securities gets very gloomy about the RAM crisis
• We're told the "memory chip market is heading toward a severe supply shortage" in 2027
• AI demand has ramped up massively with infrastructure investments up 60% year-on-year to $1.3 trillion, creating even more demand for memory as fuel for that rise

If you thought the RAM crisis was going to get worse next year, you're very probably right — but apparently we might suffer an even more severe shortage than some analysts already expect.

Wccftech flagged up an article from Business Korea (translated from Korean), which suggests that the RAM squeeze is tightening its grip on two of the biggest memory chip makers.

Citing a report from KB Securities, the rumor is that Samsung and SK Hynix are now down to fewer than 10 days of memory inventory, which is very close to running dry.

This has caused concerns that available memory supplies could dwindle and be depleted in 2027, with analysts believing that the "memory chip market is heading toward a severe supply shortage" (again, bear in mind this is a translation, but the message is clear enough).

KB Securities notes that the AI boom is what's causing this, as memory chip manufacturers struggle to meet demand for HBM4 memory in AI data centers. Infrastructure investments for AI development have been revised upwards to $1.3 trillion for 2027, we're told, which is a 60% year-on-year increase.

Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, told Business Korea that: "AI servers will absorb demand for not only HBM but also server DDR5 and enterprise SSDs, potentially leading to a historic shortage."

There's a brighter spot of news from laptop maker Framework though, which, as VideoCardz reports, has taken an unusual step in reducing the price of some of its products. As you may recall, Framework has been hiking laptop prices due to the increased cost of RAM (as have other notebook manufacturers), but the company just announced that it has secured some fresh memory modules at a lower price.

This means that some of its current Framework Laptop orders will be knocked down in price, and the company said on X that it's "retroactively reducing prices for orders that shipped at higher price" too.

Analysis: there's a historic level of gloom, that much is certain

(Image credit: vlado85rs / Getty)

It's impressive to see Framework acting in the best interests of its customers, particularly seeing as the firm could have (theoretically) kept quiet about bagging a batch of cheaper memory chips, and just kept the difference itself.

While that's commendable, it's a pretty small (but still welcome) bone we're being thrown in the face of the bad news for the RAM crisis here. Talk of a "historic shortage" is worrying, and it feels like this is an escalation of the recent chatter about global memory supply woes which has already turned highly negative.

While this latest report talks about server DDR5 RAM (and HBM), this will obviously have a bearing on consumer products, too. Those less profitable memory sticks are going to end up sidelined even further.

With rumors about GPU price hikes again coming to the fore this week, it's difficult to catch a breath between the bouts of bad news. We can hope that the pessimism is overblown here, but I can't shake the feeling that this seems unlikely.

So no, neither of these fold, but the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max still feel like modern-day flagship smartphones after my quick hands-on right after Apple’s Surprise and Shine event.

While neither flagship device carries the mystique and intrigue of the iPhone Duo, both march forward with a laundry list of features and enhancements that will push the iPhone into the future for many.

As someone who’s spent a lot of time reviewing the entry-level iPhones, like the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16, which normally get the fun new colors, I was instantly struck by the new shades. Immediately, Burgundy for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max stood out — it’s a lovely dark shade of red that can shimmer a bit depending on how the light hits it, and it's definitely less of a pop than Cosmic Orange, but it's really just lovely.

Back in black

There’s also Glacier, a light blue that can come across as bluish silver depending on how the light hits it — and it was the color of the invite for Apple’s Special Event. Black, in a very matte, dark fashion, is back as a Pro color option alongside silver.

Aside from that, these new phones look and feel very much like the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in your hand — not a bad thing, as that ushered in a slightly sturdier build with the larger camera plateau.

Arguably the biggest hardware change lives here, though, and it’s variable aperture — which you can actually see in action, opening and closing, with your own eyes — for the 48-megapixel main Fusion camera. This should give the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max a leg up in low light, as you can adjust — either manually with Pro Controls or by letting the iPhone set it automatically — aperture, shutter speed, and white balance.

You can pick between a set of four — ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8, and ƒ/4.0 — apertures for the main lens and, depending on your pick, you can let more light in or less, so it handles multiple depths for subjects in one shot more effectively.

The new variable aperture lens. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

I played around with these and the new Pro Controls interface at the top of the camera app, and here’s the good news: it’s fully customizable, so you can place what is most helpful there.

I didn’t have much time with it, but it’s clear it does open and close the aperture window on the back of the phone, so it moves as Apple describes. You have way more controls now over your photos so you can get closer to what you’re really after. It's also coupled with enhancements to Photographic Styles that will let you add in texture or grain, as well as AI-infused photo editing features as part of iOS 27.

The new Pro Controls on the iPhone 18 Pro. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

This 48-megapixel main camera with variable aperture is paired with a 48-megapixel telephoto lens and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens. This means that the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max can still shoot from 0.5x to 8x optical, and up to 40x digitally. So while the iPhone Duo folds, the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max do still pack the Pro-grade camera system.

On the front, there’s still the impressive CenterStage Camera and Face ID stack with all the nifty features that the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max ushered in, but the change is a dramatically smaller Dynamic Island. And it’s not a case of shrinking it for shrinking’s sake either — the increased screen real estate around the smaller island that’s centered at the top lets it show up to three Live Activities at once, and each of these can show a bit more detail.

For instance, if you have music playing at the top and a timer next to it, you previously couldn’t actually see how much time is left — that’s fixed now. I tried a mix of these — tossing Flighty, Maps, Music, Timer, and other apps at the top — and I do believe this will be genuinely useful. I’m not sure it’s an immediate reason to upgrade from, say, a 17 Pro, but those who swear by the Dynamic Island won’t be disappointed.

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

Those are the most evident changes I noticed from a brief hands-on, and it’s a toss-up for me between the Burgundy and Glacier shades and the camera upgrades for my favorite new feature. iOS 27 ran really smoothly on the unit I used in the hands-on space Apple provided, and that’s likely thanks to the two-nanometer A20 Pro chip under the hood. It’s Apple’s fastest yet and features ‘Super Cores’ in the CPU, much like Apple’s M-Class silicon for the Mac lineup.

It’s also paired with a new thermal architecture that includes a larger vapor chamber, which should keep the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max a bit cooler, especially around the raised camera plateau on the back. Perhaps the biggest change I didn’t get to test is the longer battery-life promise. The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max were no slouches in this department by any means, but Apple’s running laps year over year, with the 18 Pro now lasting as long as last year's 17 Pro Max and the 18 Pro Max going even further.

There’s a $100 price increase for these new devices in the United States — the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 for 256GB and the 18 Pro Max at $1,299 for 256GB. That’s a $100 increase generation over generation, and you can pay more to configure these up to 2TB. Both go up for preorder on September 12, 2026, and launch on September 18, 2026. There will be both carrier deals and the Apple Upgrade Financing route.

I’ll need to spend more time with both to see how much those changes actually matter in everyday use, but after this first hands-on, the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max feel like a continuation of what Apple started with the 17 Pro generation rather than a complete rethink.

And honestly, that’s not a bad thing. The hardware still feels premium in hand, the new colors are excellent, the smaller Dynamic Island looks genuinely useful, and the variable aperture is the one change that immediately made me want to spend more time with the camera.

The iPhone Duo may have the flashier story this year, but the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max still feel very much like the flagship iPhones to beat – and I’m especially curious to see what that camera can actually do once I get them out of Apple's hands-on area and into the real world.

@techradar

♬ Block Beat - Leo Lighthouse Junior

Hands-on: At Apple’s Sept. 9 event, I tried the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. The standout feature is the new variable aperture on the main camera.

• Verdant argues some figures are overestimated by as much as 4-5x
• Steel and vehicle manufacturing are more likely to support jobs
• Megawatt growth doesn't correlate with job growth

A new Verdant report has argued data centers are unlikely to create as many jobs as many companies and reports believe – its latest estimations put all currently planned UK data centers at 10,400 permanent operational jobs, compared with the 40,200 jobs that industry body techUK projects.

techUK also claims that current data centers that are already in operation already support 24,300 jobs – a figure that Verdant contests as being closer to 4,400.

Ultimately, Verdant criticizes other estimations including techUK's for using older figures based on smaller campuses, but as data centers grow and become increasingly automated, they require fewer staff.

Are data centers actually creating that many jobs?

In short, Verdant explains that increasing automation means compute capacity can expand without employment rising proportionally, so adding another megawatt of compute doesn't necessarily mean adding a fixed number of new workers. Therefore, its rough estimation of 1.2 jobs per MW for new developments isn't hugely representative of all facilities.

The report also expects employment density to decrease further as facilities get larger, comparing data centers unfavorably to steel plants, vehicle manufacturing plants, hospitals and schools.

"The briefing concludes that while data centres may offer other benefits, employment cannot credibly be the primary justification for continued rapid build-out," the company wrote, calling for a pause on construction and wider public discussion.

All of this, of course, against the backdrop of hyperscalers investing billions to grow their capacities, with each new campus and expansion promising hundreds or thousands of operational jobs and tens of thousands of related roles across the likes of construction.

The iPhone Air 2 was a no-show at Apple Park on Wednesday.

Researchers say that they exploited the microphone and content recognition features of an LG TV to listen to user conversations.

Some of the most interesting features won’t ship with the iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4.

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max and the buzzy foldable iPhone Duo bring some great stuff. But there are some downsides, too.

The iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and iPhone Duo are coming soon, but the baseline model is presumably coming next year, likely for these reasons.

New CEO John Ternus says you already have your personal AI device. It’s called an iPhone.

Siri AI got a few more details during the iPhone Event, including a tie-in with Stuff. Here’s what the third-party app can do for you.

A camera hiding under Apple’s new folding phone sounds like the future, but comes with compromises too.

RAMageddon comes for the iPhone.

• John Ternus: 'I started the day with the idea of a personal hub'
• This, during Apple's famous 'one more thing' moment, to close its event
• And yet, no HomePod mini 2 — which feels like an oversight

Whether you followed our Apple event coverage or simply streamed the event itself (and referred back to us later for a rundown of what you saw) you'll know that alongside a cracking duo of AirPods 5 new releases and of course our first folding iPhone, Apple's John Ternus seemed to continually tease the idea of a "personal hub" to act as the remote for your life.

At one point during the event, before announcing those ice-white buds, Mr. Ternus also stood in front of a spherical array of speakers (imagine standing right in the center and streaming a bit of Rage Against the Machine…), so I felt sure Apple's "one more thing" moment would be the much-rumored, hotly anticipated HomePod mini 2, which we've been waiting on (and writing about) for quite some time now.

Most of us agreed that Apple's delay in releasing its second-generation HomePod mini would be intrinsically tied to everyone at Apple Park waiting, with bated breath, for the company's overhauled, AI-powered Siri assistant to be fully finished and worthy of some new products.

And it seems that those planets have started to align, with the iPhone Duo, Apple Watch and more all boasting Apple's new Audio Intelligence tech and even Siri Recap (a combination that can now translate things said around you). So surely it was full steam ahead, and this was it?

No HomePod mini 2, no party

(Image credit: Future)

And so I sat there, waiting for the "Behold, Apple's new and improved softball-sized wireless speaker (now in colors fit to grace any softball pitch), the HomePod mini 2! What's new? The chipset, the improved chattiness and the snappier responses".

And then, Ternus' people would wax lyrical about the fact that even six years after the original launched, the 2020 pricing of the new HomePod mini 2 had been put on lockdown (see what I did there?), so the price rise from $99 / £99 / AU$129 to $129 / £129 / AU$199 that was enacted in late June of this year would be reversed — just like the better-value AirPods 5. These, after all, just arrived with wireless charging, ANC and volume-swipe stems for $149 / £149, less than the $179 / £179 of the previous version!

But no.

What else might Apple have unveiled in its compact, Siri-powered "hub" speaker no-show? Oh, maybe an upgraded S9 chip, to replace the original HomePod mini's S5 chipset. Then perhaps deeper integration with Apple Intelligence for a chattier, more context-aware Siri that actually could become a voice to talk to, about music (music commands are all I use Siri for, when I use it at all).

How about stronger Wi-Fi or 2nd-gen Ultra-Wideband (UWB 2) for improved Handoff — something Apple did note at the event?

It seems that what Ternus said after his opening "I started the day with the idea of an intelligent personal hub" bit was most important. What was the end of the sentence? It was " …and why there's no product in the world better-designed to be that hub than iPhone". Ah. There's the rub. Folding phones.

I understand Apple's desire to get a foldable out there, but I have to disagree. A speaking speaker hub that plays music as well as the HomePod mini can, and is able to simply accept your iPhone-and-AirPods audio in one smooth audio handoff as you step in the door? That would be a hub that made your home a better place to be.

And if we look at the definition of the word — a hub is the central component of something — isn't home where the heart is for many of us? So wouldn't a HomePod mini 2 be a great intelligent personal hub, Mr. Ternus?

@techradar

♬ original sound TechRadar

Apple's 'Surprise and Shine' event unveiled long-awaited devices including the iPhone 18 Pro and the long-anticipated iPhone Duo, but Apple Watches also had their time in the spotlight.

The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are the latest models to join Apple's family of wearables, and both pack quite a punch on the features- and health-tracking front, thanks to the combination of the new Health Sensing System and deeper Apple Intelligence integration.

Of course every new Apple Watch offers improvements over the previous generation — the question is always whether it offers enough to make it worth the upgrade. To help you decide, I've compared the new Apple Watch Series 12 against its predecessor, the Apple Watch Series 11, so you can see all the changes side-by-side.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Series 11: Specifications

Apple Watch Series 11

Apple Watch Series 12

Price

From $399 / £369 / AU$679

From $399 / $369 / AU$649

Dimensions

42mm x 36mm x 9.7mm (42mm), 46mm x 39mm x 9.7mm (46mm)

42mm x 37mm x 9.7mm (42mm), 46mm x 40mm x 9.7mm (46mm)

Weight

30.3g (42mm); 37.8g (46mm)

32.2g (42mm); 39.5g (46mm)

Case/Bezel

Aluminum with a metal back or Titanium (100% recycled)

Aluminum, Titanium or Ceramic

Display

Always-on Retina LTPO3 display Wide-angle OLED at 374 by 446 (42mm) 416 by 496 (46mm). Ion-X scratch-resistant

Always‑On Retina display with wide‑angle OLEDs and LTPO3 at 374 by 446 (42mm) 416 by 496 (46mm)

GPS

L1 GPS, GNSS, Galileo, and BeiDou

Precision L1 GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou)

Battery Life

24 hours, 38 hours in Low Power Mode

24 hours, 38 hours in Low Power Mode

Connection

Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, second-generation ultra-wideband chip, and 5G (Optional)

Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, Second‑generation Ultra Wideband chip, and 5G (optional)

Water Resistance

IP6X

IP6X

Design

We weren't expecting a visual overhaul with the Apple Watch Series 12, and nor did we get one.

The new model packs the same digital crown and side button that you'll find on most Apple Watch models, and size-wise the only difference is that the Series 12 is 1mm wider; if you can spot that in real life, you have sharper eyes than I do.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

However, there are some design changes worth talking about. The key one is that as well as being available in Aluminium and Titanium, as the Watch 11 is, there's also now a Ceramic version — the first since the Series 5.

The Ceramic Watch 12 comes in two colors, Pearl White and Night Blue, while the Aluminum model is available in Space Gray, Black, Light Gold and the stunning new Dark Bronze shade, perfect for both casual and smart wear. The Titanium versions come in Radiant Gold and Natural.

Sticking with the Apple Watch 11? Then your choices are between Space Gray, Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver for Aluminum, and Slate, Gold, and Natural Polished in Titanium. And to reiterate, there is no Ceramic Watch 11 — so if you want that, you'll need the new model.

Features

Minor design changes aside, the key reasons to upgrade to the Apple Watch 12 relate to its health-tracking smarts.

Many of these stem from its new S11 chip. Apple — inevitably — describes this as its "most powerful wearable chip", and it powers the new Health Sensing System and Audio Intelligence features.

Let's start with the Health Sensing System, the redesign of the previous generation's LED heart rate sensor array. The Series 12's electrode surface area is now bigger, allowing for better skin contact for ECG tracking. It also packs new optical-sensing photo diodes to capture light more efficiently, while its brighter green LEDs support accurate HR in motion. In short, it's the most accurate Apple Watch ever, tied with its sibling the Apple Watch Ultra 4.

It records heart rate continuously, up to every five seconds, and heart rate variability (a key part of sleep tracking and recovery metrics) up to every five minutes. That's a massive 24x more frequently than it did before, ensuring peak accuracy (in theory).

However one of the new standout features is the new Readiness Score, which has finally arrived on Apple Watch. Every other health wearable seems to have one, and Apple's Readiness Score will combine your rings, vitals and other health metrics into a single actionable, frequently updated number.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

There are also a significant redesign of the Health app which thrusts Apple Intelligence to the front of the experience. Now, Apple Watch lets you explore health profiles while offering personalized guidance thanks to Apple Intelligence. Once the Health app gets a sense of your health habits, it will tweak its recommendations so that they align with your health levels and data.

Health Age is another new feature that aligns your metrics and fitness level with your actual age, similar to features on Whoop and Garmin.

The Series 12 is packing tons of new fitness features, but Apple Intelligence — or at least, audio intelligence — is brand new and unrelated to health.

Audio Intelligence is comprised of four features. The Series 12 can listen out for sounds, be that a doorbell, traffic, or oncoming pedestrians, and will send alerts right to your watch face — which is ideal for users who are hard of hearing. You can also Shazam songs from your wrist.

Slightly more suspect are Live Rewind and Siri Recaps. Live Rewind allows you to go back 15 seconds to remember parts of a conversation. Didn't catch what the waiter said was new on the menu? Just double-press the digital crown and your watch will generate a transcript for you to read. Siri Recaps is a feature that, when active, listens constantly in the background, providing you with a summary of your day in the evening, including conversations.

We've covered these two features in more detail here, including Apple's privacy assurances and why the Cupertino giant might not be reading the room on this feature, as surveillance-capable wearables are receiving a lot of pushback at the moment.

You can pre-order the Apple Watch Series 12 now, which will be available starting September 18.

The new phone will set you back some $1,999, but enjoying the memes is totally free.

Apple unveils the iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5 and new Apple Watches. Compare prices, release dates, features and buyer trade-offs.

The post Apple Unveils Its 2026 Product Lineup: What Buyers Need to Know appeared first on TechRepublic.

Apple's September 9 'Surprise and Shine' event has come and gone, and we've learned a lot about Apple's latest crop of devices. While we've got new AirPods and iPhones (including Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo), it's the Apple Watches that have caught my eye as TechRadar's resident fitness and wearables writer — specifically, the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the latest version of Apple's flagship watch series.

But how does it compare to the previous gen, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 — and is it worth upgrading? Read on for a full comparison of both watches, so you can make an informed decision.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Specifications

Component

Apple Watch Ultra 3

Apple Watch Ultra 4

Price

$799 / £749 / AU$1,399

$799 / £749 / AU$1,399

Dimensions

49 x 41 x 14mm

49 x 44 x 12mm

Weight

61.6g

63.1g

Case/bezel

Titanium

Titanium

Display

514 x 422 px LTPO3 always-on OLED Retina Display

514 x 422 px LTPO3 always-on OLED Retina Display

GPS

Yes, dual-band

Yes, dual-band

Battery life

42 hours

48 hours

Connection

Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, 5G, satellite

Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, 5G, satellite

Water resistant

Yes, WR100 (diveproof)

Yes, WR100 (diveproof)

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Price and availability

• Price is unchanged from last year
• $799 / £749 / AU$1,399
• Available from September 18

Here's an easy one to start with: the Apple Watch Ultra 4's price is unchanged from last year, at $799 / £749 / AU$1,399. It's available from the September 18, so if you were considering getting an Apple Watch Ultra 3 but were holding out, there's no reason not to wait a few days for the latest model.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: design

(Image credit: Apple)

Physically, little has changed in terms of looks, but there have been subtle tweaks. The titanium case is still there, slightly wider and slimmer than last year, and it lasts six hours longer than the Ultra 3 to make it to two days, or 18 hours with continuous GPS use.

The watch's heart rate accuracy is even better thanks to the new Health Sensing System. This redesign of Apple's LED optical heart rate sensor tech offers better skin contact thanks to an increased electrode surface area. Heart rate readings are now being taken up to every five seconds, with heart rate variability, an overnight measure of rest and recovery, being read up to every five minutes.

This makes Apple's heart rate sensor the most accurate of any wearable, according to Apple. It has apparently conducted tests against rivals using ECG chest straps, much like we do in our reviews.

I can attest that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is as accurate a wearable as it gets, so I'll be intrigued to test the new Ultra 4 against my trusty Polar H10.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Features

(Image credit: Apple)

• Finally, a Readiness Score
• New Audio Intelligence features
• Redesigned Health app

At last! Apple Watch gets a Readiness Score, a feature almost every other fitness wearable has had for years. Typically from Apple, it looks like the bee's knees, feeding into Vitals to generate a holistic overview of your night, and updating throughout the day, like Garmin's Body Battery function. A new Health Age feature also compares your current fitness level to those in your age group, much like Garmin's Fitness Age or Whoop's, er, Whoop Age.

It's unclear at the moment whether the Ultra 3 will get these features, or if it will be an Ultra 4 / Series 12 exclusive. But all the Apple Watch Ultra 3 features, including LTE and satellite connectivity, are available on the Ultra 4.

An incoming redesigned Health app on iPhone is Apple Intelligence-forward, offering personalized AI-powered insights, and what is clear is that this will also work with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and all Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhones. This Health App will show you Readiness, Longevity, and allow you to measure your VO2 Max using a coached guided workout on your iPhone's camera, then update it according to your activity levels and metrics.

Audio Intelligence features are exclusive to the Ultra 4 and Series 12, and include Shazam on your wrist, Sound Recognition (your watch will let you know the doorbell's rung or a siren's going off, for example), and two more features which are sure to prove controversial.

Live Rewind has your watch listen to and instantly recall a conversation up to 15 seconds previously, by double-tapping the crown of your Apple Watch. Siri Recap listens throughout the day and uses Siri AI to process live audio files, serving you a summary of the day in the evening. There are numerous controls and privacy safeguards in place here, but there's no doubt they'll come across as creepy to many. You can read all about Audio Intelligence on Apple Watch here.

Earlier this year, many Apple products (but not iPhones, AirPods or Watches) were hit with a huge set of price hikes. And then, more recently, Apple unveiled its new Mac mini range, which also comes at a 50% higher starting price than just five months before.

This left me (and probably a lot of other people) fearing the worst about the prices of the new stuff coming at Apple's September 2026 event.

But as we watched new products being announced that were the same price, or actually better value, than their predecessors, I felt like I was watching Neo dodging RAM-ageddon bullets… even though the iPhone 18 Pro price rose (check out our full list of iPhone price hikes), it felt reasonable.

But then, just like Neo, we got clipped and dropped to the ground by the fact that Apple quietly increased the price sof all its older phones following the event. Here's the new pricing for those models:

The increased iPhone prices

Model

New starting price

Old starting price

iPhone 17

$899 / £899

$799 / £799

iPhone Air

$1,099 / £1,099

$999 / £999

iPhone 17e

$699 / £699

$599 / £599

iPhone 16

$799 / £799

$699 / £699

Let's run through how well we did in different areas in the US and UK prices (it may differ elsewhere, of course).

Apple's launch prices compared

New product

Launch price

Comparison model

Launch price

Apple Watch Series 12

$399 / £369

Apple Watch Series 11

$399 / £369

Apple Watch Ultra Series 4

$799 / £749

Apple Watch Ultra Series 3

$799 / £749

AirPods 5

$129 / £119

AirPods 4

$129 / £119

AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case

$149 / £139

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation

$179 / $169

iPhone 18 Pro

$1,199 / £1,199

iPhone 17 Pro

$1,099 / £1,099

iPhone 18 Pro Max

$1,299 / £1,299

iPhone 17 Pro Max

$1,199 / £1,199

iPhone Duo

$1,999 / £1,999

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra

$2,099 / £1,899

Apple Watch

A nice easy win here — we got new features across both the new regular model and the new Ultra, and we got them for the same price as the previous model. That's pretty great given the levels of inflation we're dealing with.

The only potentially offputting thing is Apple's slightly new always-listening Siri Recap option, now — but not the price, mercifully.

AirPods 5

These were the big win on value, in my opinion. When reporting on the AirPods 5 rumors, we said that we really wanted to see Apple improve what you got for the money specifically, because its entry-level were behind the best budget earbuds from competitors.

Well, that's exactly what we got. The basic AirPods 5 now have active noise cancellation, and along with other improvements this should make them competitive again at the same price. And the mid-range AirPods 5 model get on-ear volume controls and a few other small quality-of-life upgrades, which makes them cheaper than last year's mid-range model. It's a win all around — and you can pre-order them today.

iPhone 18 Pro

This is where things get rockier — but both models have a relatively modest $100 price increase in the US, which is under 10%, and in the world of 2026, I'll take that.

Of course, they've also improved compared to the previous model, and from what Apple's saying the new variable aperture camera system and the much longer battery life provided by the (somehow also super-powerful) A20 Pro chip might be well worth the extra cash.

iPhone Duo

Look, do I think $1,999 is an appealing price for a phone? It's not what I'd choose to pay. I wasn't happy about the rumors of it being that high, but it was kind of inevitable. However, the iPhone Duo folding phone needs to be assessed in context — and that context is: the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra costs more in the US (in the UK, Samsung has the edge).

It only costs $100 more, I'll grant you, but a win is a win — and again, given the price rises elsewhere in Apple's range earlier this year, I think it was far from a given that its fancy folder was going to actually undercut the competition.

@techradar

♬ Candy - Lane 8 & Quentin Quivera It's not all roses

Will we be as lucky with future releases? Perhaps not. It's notable that these product categories are some of the few that didn't get price rises in the hikes earlier this year.

We're expecting the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini to get new versions soon, for example, and these will probably arrive with the same price the current models do… which were just jacked up significantly. Same for the rumored new entry-level iPad.

And then there's the small matter of Apple having raised the prices of all its existing iPhone models. Unlike the iPhone 18 Pro, those increases don't come with any hardware or performance upgrades — they're just more expensive.

And I assume this means we're not getting a base iPhone 18 at all, if all these phones are sticking around with higher prices.