Apple has announced its annual fall event via a post on X. This year, the event will take place on Tuesday, September 9th, and is expected to largely focus on the new iPhone 17 series.
It’s all but certain that Apple will unveil the iPhone 17 family in two weeks, including the standard iPhone 17, a 17 Pro, and a 17 Pro Max model. According to various industry media, this may also include an extra-thin version, the iPhone 17 Air.
Competitor Samsung already has such a wafer-thin model: the South Korean company launched a special Edge version of the Galaxy S25 at the end of May, which is only 5.8 millimetres “thick.” Insiders suspect that the iPhone Air will approach 5.5 millimetres, but that this will come with some compromises, such as (only) a single camera and a somewhat shorter battery life.
Simultaneously with the iPhone 17, Apple will also release the thoroughly revamped iOS 26 operating system. It is characterised by the striking Liquid Glass design of the interface. All buttons, menu options, and app icons will appear differently and be more translucent.
You could say that with this, Apple is (a little) returning to the early days of Mac OS X: exactly 25 years ago, the company unveiled the very first version of that Unix-based operating system with, for that time, a striking, watery Aqua interface.
Smartwatches and earphones
Apple is keeping the details of its new gadgets secret until the last minute, but if the rumours are true, the company will also unveil new smartwatches (Series 11, Ultra 3, and an SE update) and improved AirPods earphones (Pro 3) during the September event.
We might also see a new iPad Pro tablet and a faster version of the Vision Pro headset. The latter is a mixed-reality headset that overlays computer images onto reality using cameras. We expect updates for these devices soon anyway, but it’s quite possible Apple will schedule a separate event for them later this year.
Bloomberg news agency announced in mid-August that Apple was also working on a tabletop robot that could follow users around their homes. The digital companion could reportedly turn to a talking person and even try to attract the attention of someone who wasn’t looking.
The robot would also reportedly feature a significantly improved version of Apple’s Siri voice assistant, allowing it to join multi-person conversations. However, it’s highly unlikely that Apple will reveal anything about this “tabletop robot” at its September event.
