Apple announced a new product lineup on 9 September, unveiling details of the iPhone 18 Pro series, including the foldable iPhone Duo, as well as Audio Intelligence, a new Apple Watch feature. Pre-orders will begin on 12 September, with launches expected to center on 23 October.
On 9 September, Apple announced a new product lineup, including the foldable iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro series, AirPods and new Apple Watch products. Pre-orders will begin on 12 September, and most products are scheduled to begin shipping around that time. While local media have presented the arrival of Duo as the biggest story, they have also focused on the other new features.
iPhone Duo was shown at launch as being priced in the ¥360,000 range, with its release scheduled for 23 October. The absence of a standard model and rising device prices have attracted attention, while the company is also expected to drive sales through a high-value-added strategy centered on Duo. Some views hold that the impact on high-end-oriented fans will be limited.
At the same time, the entire iPhone lineup is expected to be more expensive this year, with the particularly large price differences for purchases through mobile carriers identified as an issue. There is speculation that sales will be driven primarily by Pro models and that a standard model will eventually be introduced, but no details have been confirmed.
Apple Watch will feature “Audio Intelligence.” The company explained that the feature is designed without assuming continuous listening, using on-device AI to recognize surrounding sounds and convert them into text. It also emphasized that Live Rewind and Siri Recap will make it possible to summarize conversations and present their history.