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WIRED's Uncanny Valley podcast examines a viral resignation from an Anthropic researcher who argued AI could plausibly cause human extinction within ten years. The episode also covers Apple's newly unveiled $2,000 foldable iPhone Duo, privacy concerns around 'always listening' Apple Watch features, and a WIRED investigation into flawed Census Bureau data cited by the Trump administration.
TrendForce projects Apple will ship 5 million units of its newly announced iPhone Duo foldable in 2026, giving it nearly a quarter of the global foldable smartphone market. That would help offset a broader slump in the category, with non-Apple Android foldable shipments expected to fall more than 20% year-over-year even as total foldable shipments edge up slightly to about 20.2 million units.
At Apple's 'Surprise and shine' event, new CEO John Ternus unveiled Audio Intelligence, an AI feature for recent Apple Watches and iPhones that transcribes and summarizes conversations, including a 'Live Rewind' that recalls the last 15 seconds of speech and a 'Siri Recap' that ambiently logs chats when enabled. Apple says the feature is encrypted and does not store raw audio, though it functions much like ambient-recording wearables from startups such as Plaud and Looki.
Apple released a condensed 95-second highlight video summarizing its 'Surprise and Shine' event, which ran nearly 80 minutes and introduced the foldable iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and AirPods 5 with Active Noise Cancellation. Alongside the short recap, Apple posted individual segment videos for each product announcement on its YouTube channel.
Apple's new foldable iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch inner display and 5.4-inch outer display, priced at $1,999. CNET compares this to buying a separate iPhone and iPad, finding the combined cost of those devices can be close to or even exceed the Duo's price depending on the models chosen.
Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable phone, alongside new iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods models. The device features a 7.6-inch inner display and 5.4-inch outer display, dual 48-megapixel cameras with simultaneous front-and-rear capture, up to 24 hours of battery life, and Apple's A20 Pro chip, starting at roughly $2,000.
Apple has opened trade-in credit for iPhone Air and iPhone 17 ahead of new successor models, offering up to $585 for either device despite the iPhone Air costing $200 more at retail after this week's price hikes. The iPhone 17 now starts at $899 and the iPhone Air at $1099, yet both receive identical trade-in valuations.
Apple's iPhone 18 generation launches without a standard model, offering instead the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a new folding iPhone Duo. The Pro models are up for preorder September 12 and ship September 18, while the Duo opens preorders October 16 ahead of an October 23 release. Rumors point to a cheaper standard iPhone, an 18e, and a second-generation Air arriving as early as spring 2027.
A tech commentary piece pushes back on comparisons between Apple's rumored foldable iPhone Duo and the Apple Vision Pro, arguing the two products face very different market conditions. The Duo starts at $1,999, well under the Vision Pro's now $3,699 price tag, and functions as a pocketable phone-tablet hybrid rather than a stationary headset with limited daily utility.
A Geekbench 6 benchmark result attributed to Apple's unreleased A20 Pro chip has surfaced online, showing single-core and multi-core scores roughly 25% higher than the current A19 Pro. The chip, built on a 2nm process, is expected to power the upcoming iPhone Duo foldable and iPhone 18 Pro models, with clock speeds nearing 5 GHz.
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max feature a Main camera with a wider f/1.48 maximum aperture, up from f/1.7 on last year's models. While variable aperture is the marquee addition to the camera system, this fixed aperture upgrade may matter more to everyday users who don't touch the phone's manual Pro controls.
A tech writer with years of foldable phone experience shares candid impressions of what daily use is like, framed around anticipation of Apple's rumored foldable iPhone. The piece notes that a larger screen and unique software tricks come bundled with real-world trade-offs that new foldable owners should expect.