The MacRumors Show

Apple just had one of its biggest product launches in years. On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we share our first reactions to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12, AirPods 5, and Apple’s long-awaited first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo. 
We discuss the biggest upgrades, including the iPhone 18 Pro’s new camera system and A20 Pro chip, the Apple Watch’s new health and Audio Intelligence features, AirPods 5 getting ANC as standard, and what it’s actually like to see Apple enter the foldable market. We also talk pricing, some surprising omissions from the iPhone Duo, and whether Apple’s latest products are worth getting excited about.
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Ahead of Apple's "Surprise and shine" event on September 9, we talk through everything to expect on this week's episode of The MacRumors Show.
00:00 Intro
04:37 AirPods 5 predictions
09:26 Apple Watch predictions
18:35 iPhone 18 Pro expectations
28:39 iPhone Ultra first look
43:50 Apple Pencil and home product rumors
49:12 Event coverage and closing remarks
The event begins at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, and will be streamed on Apple's website, on YouTube, and through the Apple TV app. It is the first keynote since John Ternus succeeded Tim Cook as chief executive on September 1. Rumors suggest at least six new products will arrive at the event.
The Apple Watch Series 12 is expected to add a new chip, improved fitness tracking, better battery life, continuous heart-rate collection, and redesigned Health and Fitness experiences. A ceramic case option may return in white or dark gray, but no major redesign or Touch ID is now expected.
The Apple Watch Ultra 4 should receive the same new chip and health upgrades, again without a redesign. Apple may also expand its existing satellite connectivity features on the device with satellite Apple Maps and photo sharing in Messages.
AirPods 5 is expected to arrive in two versions, with and without active noise cancellation. Both may use an H3 chip for improved sound and lower latency, but are not expected to add the AirPods Pro 3's heart-rate sensor.
The iPhone 18 Pro should retain the iPhone 17 Pro's design while gaining an A20 Pro chip on TSMC's 2nm process, with RAM integrated on the same wafer. Other expected upgrades include a LTPO+ display, Samsung image sensor, simplified Camera Control without a capacitive layer, a narrower Dynamic Island, 12GB of RAM, 256GB base storage, and 5G satellite internet. It may use Apple's C2 modem outside the U.S., while U.S. models will likely retain Qualcomm hardware for mmWave connectivity.
The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max should share the smaller models's upgrades while adding a 5,391mAh battery in China and 5,567mAh battery in the U.S.. It may be thicker, heavier, and around 243 grams, with a variable-aperture main camerathat could be exclusive to the larger device.
The foldable iPhone, likely called the “iPhone Ultra," is expected to be the biggest announcement, using a wide passport-style design with 5.5-inch outer and 7.8-inch inner displays, an iPad-like 4:3 aspect ratio, and a nearly invisible screen crease. It may feature a titanium-and-aluminum chassis, liquid-metal hinge, vapor-chamber cooling, A20 Pro chip, dual 5,400mAh to 5,800mAh batteries, ‌Touch ID‌ power button instead of Face ID, rear wide and ultra wide cameras, dual selfie cameras in hole-punch cutouts, and the Camera Control button, with 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options. It is also expected to be more repairable than rival foldables.

It's been an unusually big week for Apple announcements. On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the new Mac mini and Mac Studio, the M6 and M5 Ultra chips, and invites to Apple's September event.
00:00 Intro and Apple’s Unexpectedly Busy Week
00:59 Apple Event Invite Predictions
06:19 What to Expect at Apple’s September Event
07:07 Sponsor: Claude
08:43 Why the Foldable iPhone Is the Big Surprise
13:13 Apple’s Smart Home Plans
15:28 New Mac Mini Announcement
17:12 What Makes the M6 Chip Different
22:16 Mac Mini Price and Buying Advice
30:24 M5 Ultra Mac Studio Explained
37:42 Apple’s New Polishing Cloth and Magic Keyboard
Apple confirmed on Wednesday that its annual iPhone event will take place on Wednesday 9 September at Apple Park, starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, with select members of the media invited to attend. The event's tagline is "Surprise and Shine." Apple is expected to introduce at least six new products, including the the Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and the first foldable iPhone. Pre-orders should follow shortly after, and release dates for iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate should also be revealed at the event.
Apple announced the new Mac mini on Tuesday, offering M6 and M5 Pro chip options. The machine gains an N1 networking chip, bringing Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and moves to 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard, up from 1Gb, with a 10Gb option. Thunderbolt 5 is restricted to the M5 Pro model, which gets three Thunderbolt 5 ports while the M6 model keeps Thunderbolt 4. Genlock supportover USB-C is also new, syncing a display's refresh timing to a camera such as the iPhone 17 Pro. Pricing starts at $899 with 16GB and 256GB, rising to $1,699 for the M5 Pro at 24GB and 512GB. Pre-orders are now open, with launch on 22 September.
M6 is Apple's first 2nm chip. Its 12-core CPU is split into 2 super cores, 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, making it the first Apple chip to combine all three core types in one design. Super cores are Apple's top tier, optimised for single-threaded speed. The 12-core GPU features a Neural Accelerator in each core for the first time in a ‌Mac mini‌. The GPU also adds an updated shader architecture, Dynamic Caching, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing, while an all-new Dual 16-core Neural Engine doubles peak compute over the previous generation, with system frameworks able to drive both engines at once. Memory starts at 16GB and tops out at 32GB, running at up to 170GB/s. M5 Pro scales further, to an 18-core CPU, a 20-core GPU and up to 64GB at 307GB/s.
The new Mac Studio arrived alongside the ‌Mac mini‌, with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chip options. The M5 Max offers an 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores, an up-to-40-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in every core, and up to 128GB of memory at 614GB/s, with the GPU running up to 50% faster than the previous generation. Both configurations move to a next-generation SSD architecture on PCIe Gen 6 for up to twice the storage performance, and gain up to six Thunderbolt 5 ports at 120Gb/s, and the same genlock support as the ‌Mac mini‌. Apple's N1 chip also brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the ‌Mac Studio‌. Pricing starts at $2,499 for the M5 Max at 36GB and 512GB, and $5,499 for the M5 Ultra at 96GB and 1TB, with the 512GB memory option not arriving until late October.
M5 Ultra is Apple's first quad-die chip, using a next-generation version of UltraFusion to join two dual-die M5 Max chips into a single processor. The result is a CPU with up to 36 cores, and 12 super and 24 performance, delivering 1.25x the single-threaded and 1.3x the multithreaded performance of the M3 Ultra. Its up-to-80-core GPU is the most powerful Apple silicon GPU ever made and the first on an Ultra chip to feature Neural Accelerators. Second-generation Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading and third-generation ray tracing lift graphics up to 40% over M3 Ultra, and the chip features a 32-core Neural Engine. Memory reaches 512GB at 1.2TB/s, which is a 50% bandwidth increase.
Other announcements this week included a new, softer Apple Polishing Cloth at $9, down from $19, and refreshed U.S. Magic Keyboards for the Mac, now featuring glyphs instead of edge text. Apple Support's 1-800-APL-CARE line is also now answered by a generative AI assistant in the U.S. and Canada.
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YouTuber Michael Fisher, known as “MrMobile,” joins us on this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show to talk through key rumors about the “iPhone Ultra” and how the device could compare to rivals.
00:00 Introduction
03:29 Why the Short-and-Wide Foldable Is Winning
11:45 The A4 Paper Theory and Apple's Ideal Form Factor
14:01 Apple Could Validate Foldables for the Mainstream
17:25 The Crease Problem
20:11 Where Apple Can Beat Android Foldables
22:01 The Camera Compromise at an Ultra Price
28:40 Touch ID and First-Generation Trade-Offs
32:20 Can a $2,000+ Foldable iPhone Be Worth It?
39:36 What Apple Must Get Right: Durability and Software
Michael has covered the foldable phone category since 2019 and has personally owned or reviewed nearly every major device in it, from the original Galaxy Fold to Samsung’s newly redesigned Galaxy Z Fold8. He still carries a Motorola Razr Ultra as his personal phone alongside a rotating stack of review units.
Apple’s foldable iPhone, widely expected to be called the “‌iPhone Ultra‌,” is reportedly set to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro this fall, with a 7.8-inch inner display, a 5.5-inch cover screen, an A20 chip, and a starting price near or over $2,000. Samsung is widely believed to be the exclusive supplier of the foldable’s OLED panels, with mass production of the displays reportedly beginning in May.
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On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest Apple Watch rumors, including the return of the white ceramic Apple Watch, modest upgrades coming to the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and Apple’s plans for longer battery life.
Looking further ahead, rumors point to a major Apple Watch redesign in 2027 or 2028 that could introduce a new band attachment system, larger battery, new display technology, and a significant redesign of the hardware. We also discuss Apple’s broader plans for the Apple Watch lineup, including potential new form factors, display-less wearables, more premium models, AI-focused features, and the company’s long-term health ambitions.
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