CUPERTINO, Calif. — At a live event Tuesday that Apple dubbed “awe dropping,” the company announced its newest generation of iPhones, which included a slimmer option called the iPhone Air.
Apple CEO Tim Cook called it the “biggest leap ever for iPhone,” with the iPhone Air marking the first substantial addition to its iPhone lineup since the full-screened iPhone X launched in 2017.
It’s the tech giant’s bid to keep its foothold in a rapidly changing smartphone market, where competitors Google and Samsung are chipping away at Apple’s lead.
Aside from the new iPhone Air, Apple’s newest phones largely retain the design of its predecessors, extending a strategy of staying the course on a product that remains the dominant smartphone in the U.S.
Apple released the iPhone 17 Pro and introduced the iPhone Air during Tuesday's presentation.Apple
Consumer comfort with the form and function of the iPhone has allowed Apple to command the U.S. smartphone market, with iPhones representing 49% of all smartphones shipped to the U.S. in the second quarter of 2025, according to Canalys data.
But there are signs that the excitement of foldable phones is increasingly winning people over, as Samsung and other companies push products like the Galaxy Z Flip7 and the Galaxy Z Fold7, boasting foldable screens and bolder artificial intelligence features.
Compared with last year, Samsung shipments to the U.S. grew from 23% to 31%, narrowing Apple’s lead.
The updated phones came alongside updates to its line of Apple Watches and AirPods. These are the biggest takeaways from the event.
New phones, including the thin iPhone Air
The Apple iPhone Air family.Apple
Apple’s new lineup of iPhones includes the standard iPhone 17, the performance-focused iPhone 17 Pro and the larger-screened Max options that are familiar to consumers. The updates include better batteries and faster performance, as well as cameras with enhanced zoom capabilities.
But the flashiest announcement was the iPhone 17 Air, which, at 5.6 millimeters thick, is the thinnest iPhone ever made. Its smaller profile comes with some compromise, namely just one camera compared with three on the iPhone 17 Pro. It also has shorter advertised battery life, at 27 hours of video playback, compared with the standard iPhone 17’s 30 hours.
But at 0.2 millimeters slimmer than the Galaxy S25 Edge, which Samsung began selling in May, the iPhone Air represents Apple’s entry into the ultrathin smartphone market.
A new watch model focused on health
Apple Watch Series 11.Apple
In addition to new phones, Apple unveiled its new line of Apple Watches, the Series 11. The watch, available Sept. 19 for $400, comes with a new feature that the company says can detect hypertension, which Apple says it's working to clear with the Food and Drug Administration.
On top of blood pressure-sensing technology, the Series 11 will offer richer sleep measurements, assigning a sleep score to each night’s sleep for users who wear the watch to bed.
AirPods that do live translation
AirPods Pro 3.Apple
Apple also announced a new generation of its AirPods Pro product, the AirPods Pro 3. By far, the most exciting feature of the earbuds is a new live translation capability, fueled by Apple’s AI technology, Apple Intelligence. According to Apple, the device will allow users to listen to live audio and receive near-instantaneous playback in their preferred language. Apple also says the AirPods Pro 3 will be more durable and have longer battery life than previous generations.
Apple fans can preorder the new AirPods, available Sept. 19, for $249.
Some phone prices are changing
Apple iPhone 17.Apple
Is the iPhone getting more expensive? Sort of.
The iPhone 17 starts at the same price point as the iPhone 16: $799.
But the Pro models now start at $100 more, now $1,099. That baseline model, however, will have double the capacity of its predecessor, starting at 256 GB of storage, compared with just 128 on last year’s base model.
The word “tariff” was never mentioned in the Apple keynote Tuesday, but the event was the first major hardware reveal since President Donald Trump unleashed his steep tariffs around the world. Tariffs specifically on India and China raised concerns that prices for the India-made iPhone and largely Chinese-made accessories would rise.
Cook’s lobbying to the White House, which included $600 billion in domestic investment commitments and a 24-karat gold gift to Trump, appeared to help the company avoid the worst of the tariffs. In addition to a smartphone exemption from the tariffs on India, Apple also appeared to get a carve-out from incoming smartphone industry-specific tariffs.
Still, existing tariffs, including those on China, led to an $800 million hit to the company’s financials in the last quarter.
Pricing on its accessories largely stayed the same, with the new Airpods Pro 3 costing the same as its predecessor, at $249. An updated version of its Apple Watch SE, its cheapest model, also held its price point, beginning at $249.
Minor AI announcements
Apple Watch Series 11.Apple
Apple unveiled its play on artificial intelligence, called Apple Intelligence, at a splashy software event last year. Over a year later, many of the features it promised have yet to arrive in full force on iPhones.
Apple Intelligence did get a few mentions in Tuesday’s keynote.
In addition to the live translation feature in its AirPods, Apple announced that its refreshed line of Apple Watches would include new Apple Intelligence-powered features, like a “workout buddy” that uses heart rate and calorie burn data to craft prompts designed to motivate users while they are exercising.
Those AI features are slightly less ambitious than Google’s Pixel products, which allow users to flip cameras on and ask chatbots open questions about what the phones are seeing.
As Bloomberg reported, several major staff members on Apple’s AI projects have left the company as competitors like Meta poach top talent.
