> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://spyglass.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Apple Event Smelled of a Rich Mahogany - URL: https://spyglass.org/iphone-duo-event/ - Published: 2026-09-10T17:46:11.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-10T17:53:02.000Z - Description: Some thoughts on the iPhone Duo event... - Author: M.G. Siegler - Tags: iphone duo, apple, iphone fold, iphone, john ternus, tim cook, apple watch, greg joswiak, airpods, craig federighi, johny srouji, design, tech, ai, siri, siri ai “I’m John Burgundy?” Fine, that’s not actually how Apple’s latest keynote kicked off, but that’s how it would have if I were in charge. I mean, after the cinematic intro (complete with a cameo from a no-longer-the-“main character” Tim Cook), out walks John Ternus in his simple maroon shirt and jeans. Rumors had been swirling about a new iPhone in this very color and sure enough, later on he makes the reveal: “And we’re excited to introduce *Burgundy*. A sophisticated and unique new color.” Not quite: “[I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzx8KHjQD6c&ref=spyglass.org).” But also not entirely far off! I’ll have more to say on Ternus and his performance in another post, but for now, I’d thought I’d run through some quick thoughts and notes on the contents of the keynote itself. First, it was interesting/good that after his preamble reaffirming his full belief in and support of Apple’s principles and ideals, Ternus wasted no time making it clear where he believes the future of the company resides: AI. While in the past, the company has [swept aside](https://spyglass.org/liquid-glasslighting/) or [misdirected](https://spyglass.org/spyglasslighting/) from the technology — naturally, when it became a problem — he reframed it as the *key* element of what will likely drive Apple, and the industry going forward. And that’s because Apple, as it turns out, may have [exactly what they need](https://spyglass.org/apple-hardware-design-ai/) to lead here. Not only the best devices on which to run AI. But the device which is central to so many lives: [the iPhone](https://spyglass.org/apples-next-big-ai-thing-the-iphone/). If the Mac was the “Digital Hub” back in Steve Jobs’ day leading Apple, the iPhone is the “Intelligent Personal Hub” per Ternus’ term. I mean it could be catchier, but we all get what he means. Again, the iPhone as the brains — both in terms of compute and memory — as we all enter the Age of AI. While others aim to ingest your data to power their AI. Apple, as it turns out, [already has it](https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/). The iPhone 18 Pro models look great in that they look exactly like the iPhone 17 Pro models. But in Burgundy! And ‘Glacier’, their new light blue color. While the company believes they’ve reinvented Silver, the real killer for many will be the return of Black. Not Space Gray. Or Midnight. Or [Deep Blue Something](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ClCpfeIELw&ref=spyglass.org). Apple is [Back in Black](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgnJDJN4VA&ref=spyglass.org). After a brief Siri AI walk-through (since much of it was already talked about at WWDC), we got an overview of the A20 Pro. 6-core CPU (including 2 “desktop class” “super cores”). 7-core GPU. 2 Neural Engines. 2 nanometers. Then more talk about thermal packaging and vapor chambers than you probably thought possible. But it’s all in the name of battery life, which seems truly excellent here, so we’ll allow it. The big boy Max model is pushing *two days* (for video playback), Apple claims. Then the cameras. Variable apertures. More pro than ever (which will make switching to the iPhone Duo a particularly hard call). And a way for Apple to try to stem at least some of the AI deep fake trickery on the rise. Despite the Dynamic Island getting smaller, it can now display three live activities. The Child Safety work continues to sound great (but again, was mostly discussed at WWDC). The new ‘iPhone Handoff’ ability comes just in time to entice some of us to buy *both* an iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo since you can now easily swap numbers and connectivity between the two (well, provided you’re on T-Mobile in the US, or soon Verizon — AT&T? Where is our OG iPhone launch partner?!). Remember FineWoven? [Apple would prefer not to either](https://500ish.com/fine-woven-95c0bbb975fc?ref=spyglass.org). TechWoven remains. Now in Burgundy, of course. There’s also now a wrist strap for the iPhone to go alone with last year’s crossbody strap. The price? $1,199 to start. Yes, that’s up $100 from last generation. Yes, [that’s due to](https://spyglass.org/apple-price-changes/) component costs and supply chain issues. No Apple doesn’t mention it. But they of course mention [the new Apple Upgrade program](https://spyglass.org/apple-as-a-service/), which brings the price down to a mere $34.99/month. Which sure looks a lot nicer than $1,199. Pre-orders will indeed start on a Saturday this year, 9/12, clearly to avoid the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The device still launches on Friday, 9/18 though. Ternus comes back out to introduce the AirPods 5 and he is psyched! No, these aren’t [the models with cameras](https://spyglass.org/airpods-vision/) that Apple themselves accidentally leaked. Nor are they the top-of-the-line ‘Pro’ variant. These are the standard models, but this year they’re getting some ‘Pro’ elements that have trickled down. That includes active noise cancellation on the entry model and volume controls on the more expensive model. Why there are two models when the latter only costs *$20 more* and is clearly better — including longer battery life and a wireless charging case — I don’t know. I guess so Apple can proudly note that they’re keeping the same $129 starting price In an age where all other prices are moving the wrong way? Apple Watch Series 12 looks like a nice leap forward. Continuous heart monitoring. Better sensors and a better chip. Ceramic is back (including in a new blue shade), and Bronze is the new Burgundy here (though yes, there are Burgundy bands). Apple Watch Ultra 4 gets roughly 15 seconds of airtime as the sensors seem much the same as the Series 12, just with much better battery life. On the software side, the ‘Readiness’ score as well as more longevity-focused metrics get Apple up to par with rivals. But the real hero feature — or villain, depending on your point-of-view is Audio Intelligence. [The last-minute rumors were true](https://spyglass.org/iphone-duo/). Apple Watch can now passively listen to what is going on around you throughout your day and note it down to distill back to you later in a daily recap. It can also quickly rewind what someone just said to you if you need to hear it again without asking them to repeat it! Apple is obviously quick to tout the focus on security for all of this — no actual audio is recorded — and it’s opt-in, with granular controls to use it sparingly. And yes, Apple is quick to tout key features for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. But still! It’s sort of wild that Apple is pushing forward with this given the obvious backlash it will garner. To be clear, I’m okay with this, but I’m not sure those I’m around with my Apple Watch will be? Perhaps Apple sees this as a way to get people used to such ideas ahead of those aforementioned AirPods with cameras — which will [clearly be called 'AirPods Pro with Visual Intelligence' ](https://spyglass.org/airpods-vision/#update)— which will be [doing similar things only with *images*](https://spyglass.org/pervpods/). We’ll see how this goes. Could it be something Apple has to bail on if public backlash mounts given the sheer number of Apple Watches in the wild? Or will everyone just quickly forget about it? At this point, Ternus comes back out for yes, “**one more thing**.” Has anyone ever been so excited to utter that famous phrase from Apple’s past? Given Ternus’ expression on delivery, I think not. He’s quick to note that others have done foldable devices, but that they’re more like “two phones awkwardly stuck together”. Apple intended to create a new device stemming from both the iPhone and the years of work on the iPad. And yes, the iPhone Duo *looks* great. Would it have looked even more great presented on stage, in-person? Probably, but you might also miss what is arguably the coolest feature: the way the software seamlessly transitions from open to closed. That’s the thing here. And the thing that the competition keeps failing to nail. It’s not just the hardware. It’s the hardware *and the software*. This is just Apple running their old playbook to perfection. This isn’t just an iPhone you can unfold, the software experience is going to be entirely different. If it seemed weird that Apple would do a more squat, [“passport”-style design](https://spyglass.org/iphone-ultra-blackberry-typing/), they’re not just scaling the software down to fit, they’re moving elements around — notably the dock and other key controls to the side to leverage the wider footprint. And Apple clearly feels good enough about the hinge and crease that they‘re *touting* the ability to use it while half-folded, and have come up with specific use cases (and software tweaks) for those times. Also, the crease, in part, seems nearly invisible thanks to using *a matte screen* on the inside — seemingly a small obvious thing that also no one else is doing for some reason? What makes the crease more pronounced on the other devices? The reflections off of it. Yes, the camera system on the Duo will clearly be a step below the Pro models — that alone is a good argument for not calling this the ’iPhone Ultra’ — but it still should be solid. Seemingly the dual camera system that Apple is aiming for with the *next* iteration of the iPhone Air? The new camera features that can be unlocked with multiple screens are fun. Yes, yes, the competition has done some of these before. No one cares. What people care about is a killer device. And again, that doesn’t just mean the hardware. That is literally half of the equation. Everyone always forgets that other half. If Apple gets thousands of developers onboard to update their apps for this new screen paradigm, look out. Apple seems to know they have [another potential hit here](https://spyglass.org/10-big-predictions-for-2026/#:~:text=The%20%27iPhone%20Fold%27%20is%20a%20big%20hit%20at%20launch) and pulled out all the big guns to help present it. Steve Lemay and Molly Anderson appear out of Apple Design — the latter wielding her British accent as is the way. Greg Joswiak emerges in night mode to bring the Apple Pencil support news (and drop the ‘Star White’ and ‘Night Sky’ names as he likes to do). Craig Federighi walks through iOS tailored for Duo and gets to say “heeeere’s Johny” to segue to Johny Srouji – who gets to talk through how they actually made the foldable fold. Joz comes back for the camera and folio case — with a kickstand! — which looks awesome. Very clever. Decidedly less clever is the price. But Apple was able to hit the all-important $1,999 starting point. Granted it only has 256GB of storage and if you’re already spending $2,000 on a phone, you’re probably going to want more than that, but still. Optics. The iPhone Duo is launching roughly a month after the Pro models, on October 23, which further muddies the Pro vs. Duo waters. I know Joz would tell you to get *both*. And with ‘iPhone Handoff’, you can now more easily accommodate that. For the low, low price of $3,198\. To start. With that, we’re back to Ternus to wrap things up. One hour and 18 minutes that felt neither long nor rushed. A solid event with cohesive messaging around this “Intelligent Personal Hub” notion that we might be hearing more about over the next decade or so as Ternus ramps up his time atop Apple. He’s kind of a big deal now. A true John Burgundy. **One more thing:** So which model am I gonna go with? Yeah, I need to try the iPhone Duo. In 'Night Sky'. Probably 512GB? Maybe 1TB? These are increasingly expensive decisions... ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-10-at-6.36.06---PM.png)