2026-10-02 05:17:20
A visual history of Apple’s iPhone events.
For over a decade, Apple’s September event has been the canonical moment for new iPhone announcements. And this September was no exception, with Apple unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro and… one more thing… the iPhone Duo.
For posterity’s sake, I wanted to document the history of these events, from the slogans to the invites to what was announced. Enjoy!
Date announced: October 03, 2006
Event held: Macworld 2007 on January 09, 2007
Location: Moscone West, San Francisco
Back in 2007, Apple had a much smaller global presence than it does today. One of its main stages for product announcements and keynotes was the annual Macworld conference in San Francisco, held each January. It was there that Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone:
“A widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device… Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.”
It launched with a 2MP rear camera, 4GB or 8GB of storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and EDGE cellular data. There was no front camera, 3G connection, GPS receiver, or App Store. The 4GB model cost $499, while the 8GB version cost $599, with a two-year US carrier agreement.
Other Event Tidbits:
At that year’s Macworld, Apple also showcased the Apple TV, introduced the 802.11n AirPort Extreme, and announced it was changing its name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. The original iPhone would go on sale in the United States on June 29.
Date announced: March 13, 2008
Event held: WWDC 2008 on June 09, 2008
Location: Moscone West, San Francisco
Less than a year after the original iPhone went on sale, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 3G at WWDC on June 9, 2008. Apple’s pitch was simple: “Twice as fast at half the price.” The new model added faster 3G connectivity and built-in GPS, US pricing starting at $199 for the 8GB model with a two-year contract, and by the end of the year, it’s availability had expand from six countries to more than 70 by the end of 2008.
The software story was pretty consequential too. iPhone OS 2.0 brought support for native third-party applications through the App Store and plus Microsoft Exchange support for business email, calendars, and contacts.
Other Event Tidbits:
MobileMe was announced. This subscription service offered email, contact and calendar synchronization, a photo gallery, and online file storage. An individual subscription included 20GB for $99 per year. The service was ridiculed from the start for being quite unreliable on what it promised to deliver (i.e. syncing) and was replaced with iCloud several years later.
Date announced: March 26, 2009
Event held: WWDC 2009 on June 08, 2009
Location: Moscone West, San Francisco
At this event, Apple introduced the first “S” upgrade to the iPhone. The S stood for “speed,” and over the years, these upgrades would become associated with refinements and quality-of-life improvements to an existing design rather than major redesigns.
The iPhone 3GS looked much like the iPhone 3G, but featured a faster processor, better battery life, and a whopping 3MP camera capable of recording VGA video at 30 frames per second. Storage options also increased to 16GB and 32GB.
We also got another look at iPhone OS 3.0, back before it was called iOS, which finally added cut, copy, and paste. So to the kids out there, be nice to your iPhone elders who had to go nearly two years without the ability to copy something on their devices.
Other Event Tidbits:
MacBook Pro: The aluminum unibody family expanded to 13-, 15-, and 17-inch models, using Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Built-in batteries offered up to seven hours of use.
Date announced: April 28, 2010
Event held: WWDC 2010 on June 07, 2010
Location: Moscone West, San Francisco
We still haven’t moved into that familiar September slot, but we’re getting closer. The iPhone 4 was the last iPhone announced in the summertime, making its official debut at Apple’s annual WWDC.
The iPhone 4 was also the model whose prototype was famously left behind in a bar and sold to Gizmodo for $5,000. The site revealed the new design before Apple’s official unveiling, and the story soon took another dramatic turn: a nighttime police raid on the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, during which officers seized computers and other devices as part of the investigation into how the prototype had been obtained.
As for the phone itself, the iPhone 4 remains, in my opinion, one of the most recognizable and beautiful products Apple has ever released. It had a stainless steel frame that doubled as an antenna (cue Antennagate), the first Retina display, the first A-series chip in an iPhone (A4), a front-facing camera, a gyroscope, and FaceTime. Looking back, I’m still impressed by how much Apple managed to pack into this upgrade and how far ahead it felt compared to the previous generation. We don’t see jumps like that very often anymore.
Other Event Tidbits:
This was the first and only iPhone I camped out overnight to get.
The iPhone 4 was initially unveiled in both a black and white finish, although the white finish was delayed until the following Spring owing to material-durability issues.
At the time, the iPhone was also only available on GSM networks because GSM and CDMA used incompatible cellular technologies. This meant that carriers like Verizon, which used CDMA, didn’t get the iPhone until early 2011, when Apple released a CDMA version of the iPhone 4. Later that year, the iPhone 4S included support for both GSM and CDMA in the same device.
Date announced: September 27, 2011
Event held: October 04, 2011
Location: Town Hall, Apple’s Infinite Loop campus, Cupertino
We’ve finally moved out of the summertime iPhone announcements, but we’ve overshot September a little. The iPhone 4S event took place in October. We’ll get the calendar sorted next year.
This was Tim Cook’s first keynote after becoming permanent CEO, and looking back, I imagine it was quite a somber one behind the scenes. The following day, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
At this event, Apple unveiled its second S-type iPhone: the iPhone 4S. This time, the S stood for Siri, the new voice assistant introduced alongside the phone, which at the time did not have the soured reputation that Siri has today. We also got release dates for iOS 5 and iCloud, both arriving on October 12. The iPhone 4S looked much like the iPhone 4, but its dual-core A5 processor, 8MP rear camera, and 1080p video recording made it a substantial internal upgrade. A new 64GB option joined the 16GB and 32GB models. It was available in white from the start.
Other Event Tidbits:
iPod touch: A white finish joined black, with the starting price reduced to $199.
iPod nano: Apple introduced a revised interface, improved fitness functions, and 16 new clock faces, with prices starting at $129. This is the precursor to the Apple Watch released 4 years later.
Date announced: September 04, 2012
Event held: September 12, 2012
Location: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
We’ve finally made it to the September iPhone event, a tradition that has held steady ever since, with the exception of 2020, when, for some reason I can’t quite recall at the moment, Apple pushed the event into October.
At its first September iPhone event, Apple introduced the iPhone 5, increasing the display size for the first time, from 3.5 inches to 4. I have one of those flashbulb memories of holding the iPhone 5 for the first time and being aghast at how monstrously large a four-inch phone felt. I now use a Pro Max, which is about 32% taller, 33% wider, and roughly twice the overall volume of the iPhone 5. So clearly, I adjusted.
Along with a new aluminum enclosure, the iPhone 5 brought the A6 chip, the iPhone’s first taste of LTE, and the debut of the Lightning connector.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple EarPods were announced (if you thought I was talking about AirPods, I envy your youth).
Fifth-generation iPod touch announced: A 4-inch Retina display, A5 chip, 5MP camera, 1080p recording, Siri, and a colourful aluminum body. A small retractable attachment point supported the included wrist loop.
Seventh-generation iPod nano: A 2.5-inch Multi-Touch screen, Bluetooth audio, FM radio, a physical Home button, and Lightning.
Date announced: September 03, 2013
Event held: September 10, 2013
Location: Town Hall, Apple’s Infinite Loop campus, Cupertino
Previously, choosing a new iPhone largely meant picking a storage capacity and a colour. This time, Apple gave us two different takes on the iPhone: the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c.
The iPhone 5s retained the iPhone 5’s aluminum design while adding a new gold finish, the 64-bit A7 chip, and Touch ID, bringing fingerprint authentication to the iPhone for the first time.
The iPhone 5c, meanwhile, was in many ways an iPhone 5 repackaged in an “unapologetically plastic” polycarbonate shell, available in five colours: pink, blue, green, yellow, and white.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple also introduced the infamous polka-dot iPhone 5c cases at this event.
Unlike the 3GS, where the S stood for “speed,” and the 4S, where it stood for “Siri,” my understanding is that Apple never officially explained what the S and C stood for in the 5s and 5c. Some have speculated that the S stood for “security” and the C for “colour,” but I haven’t found any direct confirmation of either.
Date announced: August 28, 2014
Event held: September 09, 2014
Location: Flint Center for the Performing Arts, Cupertino
This was a dramatic year for the iPhone. For the first time, the lineup split into two size classes, moving from a 4-inch display to the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Both featured the A8 chip and rounded aluminum bodies, a departure from the sharp, chamfered edges of the iPhone 5 and 5s. They also brought improved cameras that, very controversially, now protruded from the otherwise flat back.
Let’s pause to appreciate that a camera smaller than the flash on a modern iPhone, sticking out less than a volume button, was enough to destabilize the Apple community. Even Apple seemed shy about it, obliquely hiding the camera “bump” in press photos of the new devices.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple also announced Apple Pay for the iPhone, though Walmart would take more than a decade to finally cave and begin accepting it in U.S. stores.
The Apple Watch made its debut, giving us our first look at Apple’s next major product.
Apple announced that U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, would be free for every iTunes user. The controversy deserves an entry of its own, because automatically adding an album to people’s libraries without asking didn’t exactly go over well.
The iPhone 6 & 6 Plus also gave us a new “gate”: Bendgate, as both were susceptible to bending.
Date announced: August 27, 2015
Event held: September 09, 2015
Location: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
A year later, and another s-year iPhone refresh. The 6s & 6s Plus brought the A9 chip, 4K video, 3D-touch (a pressure sensing display), a new rose gold colour (it was very pink), and, for the first time, always-on “Hey Siri” (presumably what the event invitation was hinting at). These iPhones also got stronger 7000-series aluminum to address concerns about just how malleable the 6 & 6 Plus had been.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple also debuted the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and Smart Keyboard.
An updated Apple TV.
Apple Watch updates, including the Hermès partnership (which continues into 2026… didn’t expect that).
Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program was announced (recently discontinued)
Date announced: August 29, 2016
Event held: September 07, 2016
Location: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
Obviously, the hint in this invite worked on two levels: the event was held on the 7th, and it was also where Apple debuted the iPhone 7 & 7 Plus.
The iPhones got an absolutely slick, polished Jet Black finish (and other colours too…), a solid-state home button (the click was simulated by the Taptic Engine), the A10 Fusion chip, water resistance, and, for the first time, a second camera on the Plus: a 2x telephoto. This created a much clearer feature divide between the regular and Plus models, something Apple has dipped in and out of ever since (currently, the iPhone 18 Pro & Pro Max are back to feature parity).
This was also the Apple event where Apple courageously removed the headphone jack, leaving anyone with traditional 3.5mm wired headphones needing a Lightning dongle. At least Apple included one in the box, with extras sold separately for $9 US.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple announced the AirPods with a release date later the same year.
Apple Watch Series 2 was announced with GPS and swim-proofing.
The bokeh effect on the event invite could hint at the iPhone 8 Plus’s Portrait mode, which digitally blurred backgrounds to mimic the shallow depth of field produced by a wide camera aperture.
Date announced: March 10, 2016
Event held: March 21, 2016
Location: Town Hall, Apple’s Infinite Loop campus, Cupertino
Apple has developed the occasional pattern of releasing smaller iPhone updates outside of their September event window, including updates like the iPhone SE, occasional spring colour options to their iPhones, and most recently, the iPhone e-lineup.
Introduced in March 2016, the original iPhone SE revisited the iPhone 5s design, bringing over the A9 chip and 12-megapixel rear camera from the iPhone 6s while retaining the compact four-inch display. The lineup also gained a new Rose Gold finish, with prices starting at $399.
Other Event Tidbits:
iPad Pro (9.7-inch): A smaller version of the iPad Pro was announced with a A9X chip, four-speaker audio, Pencil support, and Smart Keyboard compatibility. This iPad also introduced True Tone, which adjusted the display’s white balance to surrounding light. Its 12MP camera could record 4K video.
Apple refreshed Watch bands with woven nylon options and lowered the starting Watch price to $299.
Date announced: August 31, 2017
Event held: September 12, 2017
Location: Steve Jobs Theater, Apple Park, Cupertino
This was the first event held at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park, making “Let’s meet at our place” a playful nod to Apple welcoming guests to its new home. The campus had opened to employees in April 2017, just a few months earlier.
At the event, Apple unveiled the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and the star of the show, the iPhone X (pronounced “Ten”).
The iPhone 8 lineup offered a fairly modest upgrade, with welcome additions like wireless charging, the A11 Bionic chip and improved cameras.
But the real darling was the iPhone X. It featured a 5.8-inch OLED display, introduced Face ID facial recognition and authentication, and replaced the Home button with new gestures for navigating iOS. It was a premium offering at the time, and the first iPhone to start at $1,000… err, $999 USD.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 3, which added optional cellular connectivity.
The Apple TV 4K also made its debut, bringing support for 4K resolution and HDR.
Apple previewed AirPower, a wireless charging mat designed to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously, without requiring precise placement. Originally slated for release in 2018, it never reached customers and was ultimately cancelled in 2019.
Oh, this is also the event where Apple introduced Animoji and got to see John Ive make scowling chicken faces.
Date announced: August 30, 2018
Event held: September 12, 2018
Location: Steve Jobs Theater, Apple Park, Cupertino
This event gave us the final “S” year of iPhone, with the debut of the iPhone XS and XS Max, alongside the new iPhone XR.
The iPhone XS got the new A12 Bionic chip, improved 12MP cameras, more storage (up to 512GB) and a few new photographic upgrades, like Smart HDR and adjustable background blur. And alongside the 5.8-inch XS, Apple introduced the XS Max, which bumped the OLED display up to a much roomier 6.5 inches.
Apple also introduced the iPhone XR, an iPhone very much in the style of the X and XS, but with a 6.1-inch LCD display, an aluminium frame instead of stainless steel and a single rear camera at a lower $749 USD starting price.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple also introduced the Apple Watch Series 4, with a redesigned housing, larger 40 & 44mm cases, S4 chip, fall detection and ECG functionality.
I have no idea what the “R” in iPhone XR stood for, or why Apple kept flip-flopping between lowercase and uppercase letters: 4S, 5s/5c, 6s, XS/XR…
Date announced: August 29, 2019
Event held: September 10, 2019
Location: Steve Jobs Theater, Apple Park, Cupertino
This event introduced the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, bringing the “Pro” name to the iPhone for the first time. The iPhone 11 picked up where the XR left off, retaining its 6.1-inch LCD display while adding a second rear camera for ultra-wide photos.
The Pro models, meanwhile, got not one, not two, but three rear cameras, combining wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto lenses on an iPhone for the first time. They also gained brighter Super Retina XDR displays, and matte glass backs. All three phones featured the A13 Bionic chip and introduced Night mode for better low-light photography.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple Watch Series 5 introduced an always-on display.
This was the Apple event where Apple added slow motion to the front facing camera, introducing an advertising the phrase “slofies” as a feature of the latest iPhones. I can't speak for you, but I have never, and probably will never, take a slofie.
Date announced: October 06, 2020
Event held: October 13, 2020
Location: Virtual Event from Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G, 5G…
That’s how many times “5G” was said during this event. Apple leaned heavily on the iPhone 12 lineup’s first-time support for 5G, playing into the event’s “Hi, Speed” name.
This was also the first flagship iPhone launch event since 2011 that didn’t take place in September. I’m guessing the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on supply chains and industries around the world had something to do with that.
But this was also the event where Apple introduced another new iPhone model: the mini. Alongside the standard iPhone 12 and two Pro models, the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, Apple added the smaller iPhone 12 mini, featuring a 5.4-inch display. For the first time, the entire new lineup featured OLED displays, with all four models also gaining 5G, Ceramic Shield, and a refreshed design with flat edges.
The Pro models paired their telephoto cameras with a new LiDAR scanner, supporting depth measurement, augmented reality, and faster low-light autofocus. The Pro Max went further with a larger main-camera sensor, sensor-shift stabilization, and a longer telephoto lens. Apple also announced ProRAW photography, which arrived later through a software update.
Other Event Tidbits:
In addition to wireless charging, this event saw the debut of MagSafe, an more precise way of attaching wireless charging that boosted charge speeds and allowed Apple to add additional accessories (like wallets) to their product arsenal.
Apple also introduced the HomePod mini for $99 at this event, a product that as of this writing (September 28, 2026) has still not been updated.
Date announced: September 07, 2021
Event held: September 14, 2021
Location: Virtual Event from Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
This event features Apple staff scattered across all parts of California in another virtual only event that featured updates to the iPhone 13 family. The 13 and 13 mini retained their 6.1- and 5.4-inch OLED displays while adding A15 Bionic, larger camera sensors, sensor-shift stabilization, and longer battery life. Base storage doubled to 128GB.
The 13 Pro and Pro Max added ProMotion, adapting the display refresh rate up to 120Hz. Their camera systems gained macro photography and 3× telephoto lenses, while storage reached 1TB.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple Watch Series 7: Larger 41mm and 45mm cases, thinner display borders, a screen keyboard, and faster charging.
Sixth-generation iPad mini: An 8.3-inch display, A15 chip, USB-C, optional 5G, and support for the second-generation Pencil.
Ninth-generation iPad: A13 Bionic, a 10.2-inch True Tone display, and a 12MP front camera with Center Stage automatic framing.
Date announced: March 02, 2022
Event held: March 08, 2022
Location: Virtual Event from Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino.
The third-generation iPhone SE retained the familiar iPhone 8 design, including its 4.7-inch LCD display and Touch ID home button, while adding the A15 Bionic chip and 5G. Visually, little had changed from the previous SE, which resembled the iPhone 6-8 generation, with most of the updates happening under the hood. It remained Apple’s smaller, more affordable entry into the lineup, though its starting price increased from $399 to $429.
Other Event Tidbits:
Fifth-generation iPad Air: The M1 chip came to the 10.9-inch Air, joined by optional 5G and a Center Stage front camera.
Mac Studio: A new desktop machine offered M1 Max or M1 Ultra processors and would ultimately dethrone the Mac Pro as Apple’s most powerful Mac.
M1 Ultra: Apple connected two M1 Max dies, producing configurations with a 20-core CPU, up to a 64-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified memory.
Studio Display: Nearly 11 years after the Thunderbolt Display debuted in 2011, Apple returned with a more mainstream standalone monitor.
Date announced: August 24, 2022
Event held: September 07, 2022
Location: Virtual Event from Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
First, Apple killed the iPhone mini at this event, which is a travesty. And not a minute later, did it turn around and release the iPhone 14 Plus, a 6.7-inch model that feature matched the iPhone 14 (OLED display, A15 Bionic, improved cameras, Action mode video stabilization, Crash Detection, and Emergency SOS via satellite), offering a Pro Max-sized screen without the Pro Max price. But the Plus also never seemed to sell well either, and it to was discontinued several years later.
Meanwhile, the The 14 Pro and Pro Max gained A16 Bionic, a 48MP main camera, always-on displays, and the Dynamic Island.
Other Event Tidbits:
Apple Watch Series 8: Temperature sensing and Crash Detection.
Second-generation Watch SE: A more affordable watch with updated processing and Crash Detection.
Apple Watch Ultra: A 49mm titanium case, Action button, precision dual-frequency GPS, and up to 36 hours of normal-use battery life.
Second-generation AirPods Pro: H2 processing, improved noise cancellation, volume adjustment on the stems, and up to six hours of listening with noise cancellation enabled.
Date announced: August 29, 2023
Event held: September 12, 2023
Location: Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus brought Dynamic Island, A16 Bionic, and a 48MP main camera to the standard lineup, offering a telephoto-like 2× option by cropping the centre of the main camera’s sensor.
This was also the year the iPhone finally ditched Lightning for USB-C, although only the Pro models got the faster transfer speeds.
The 15 Pro and Pro Max introduced titanium frames, A17 Pro, and a customizable Action button (with the most overkill customization UI ever designed). The Pro retained a 3× telephoto camera, while the Pro Max gained a new 5× tetraprism telephoto camera.
Other Event Tidbits:
Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2: gained the S9 chip, on-device Siri capabilities, and the double-tap gesture.
AirPods Pro 2 received USB-C charging, added dust resistance, and support for lossless audio with Apple Vision Pro.
Date announced: August 26, 2024
Event held: September 09, 2024
Location: Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
The 16 and 16 Plus were announced with the A18, retained their 6.1- and 6.7-inch screens, and gained both the Action button and Camera Control. Their camera system paired a 48MP main camera with an autofocus ultra-wide camera, bringing macro photography to the standard models.
This was also the iPhone lineup that brought us the first generation of Apple Intelligence, you know, the terrible one...
The 16 Pro and Pro Max grew to 6.3 and 6.9-inches, used A18 Pro, and bumped up the ultra-wide camera to a 48MP sensor. Both Pro sizes now had a 5× telephoto lens, eliminating the differentiation in the previous generation.
Other Event Tidbits:
Watch Series 10: introduced thinner 42mm and 46mm designs, a wide-angle OLED display, faster charging, and water-depth and temperature sensing.
Ultra 2 got a new colour… now in black titanium. It also got a new Milanese Loop that was impossible to find for months after release.
AirPods 4 came in standard and active-noise-canceling versions, both using H2. AirPods Max gained USB-C and new colors.
Apple also announced hearing-health software for existing AirPods Pro 2 hardware.
Date announced: February 13, 2025
Event held: September 19, 2025
Location: Online Press Release
No event this time, the iPhone 16e, a successor to the iPhone SE line, was teased by Tim Cook in a tweet on February 13, 2026 before the phone was unveiled a week later.
The iPhone 16e replaced the SE 3 with an LCD and Home button in favour of a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, USB-C, and an Action button. It used A18, supported Apple Intelligence, and introduced C1, Apple’s first internally designed cellular modem.
But with a price point of $599 the iPhone 16e was considerably more expensive than previous SE models and it's lack of features (like MagSafe) made it a disappointing update for some.
Date announced: August 26, 2025
Event held: September 09, 2025
Location: Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
Apple nixed the Plus from the new lineup but really doted on the iPhone 17. The standard model finally gained ProMotion with a larger 6.3-inch display, alongside A19, 48MP main and ultra-wide cameras, and a new 18MP Center Stage front camera. Base storage also doubled to 256GB.
Apple also welcomed a new iPhone to the family: the iPhone Air. Its 5.6mm titanium design featured a 6.5-inch ProMotion display, A19 Pro, and their C1X cellular modem. But outside of an Apple Store, I don’t think I’ve seen more than two or three out in the wild, which is a shame, given how impressive the device is in its thinness, performance, and build quality.
The 17 Pro and Pro Max traded titanium for an aluminum unibody with vapor-chamber cooling, and all three rear cameras were now 48MP. Apple also introduced support for ProRes RAW and Apple Log 2, further expanding the iPhone’s capabilities as a professional video camera.
This was also the year of Cosmic Orange, perhaps the most distinctive and well-received colour I’ve seen Apple release. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a particular iPhone colour out in the wild as much as this one. Apple: Cosmic Orange needs to make a comeback!
Other Event Tidbits:
Watch Series 11: Up to 24 hours of battery life, 5G cellular capability, and hypertension notifications in supported markets.
Watch SE 3: S10, an always-on display, fast charging, and expanded health features.
Watch Ultra 3: Satellite communications and up to 42 hours of battery life.
AirPods Pro 3: A controversial fit (using more foam vs. silicon for the seal), stronger noise cancellation, and heart-rate sensing during workouts.
Date announced: August 26, 2026
Event held: September 09, 2026
Location: Apple Park/Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino
For the first time, Apple’s September iPhone launch skipped an update to the standard model, focusing instead on the Pro lineup. The standard iPhone, Air, and e models are reportedly expected to see updates in spring 2027.
The 18 Pro and Pro Max retained their 6.3- and 6.9-inch OLED displays and introduced the A20 Pro, built using a 2-nanometer process. The chip combined a six-core CPU, seven-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engine.
The headline camera change was a variable-aperture 48MP main camera. Rather than relying on a fixed lens opening and computational processing alone, a mechanical assembly could now adjust the aperture to control light and depth of field. How much of a difference most people will actually notice in their photos, especially when viewed on a phone screen, remains to be seen.
Other additions included a larger vapour chamber, a smaller Dynamic Island, storage options reaching 2TB, and Apple’s C2 cellular modem, except in US Pro Max models. Apple also touted its longest iPhone battery life yet, claiming up to 36 hours of video playback on the Pro and 45 hours on the Pro Max for the eSIM-only versions.
But… one more thing…
Apple also debuted the long-rumoured iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone, with a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display. It featured A20 Pro with vapour-chamber cooling, 48MP main and ultra-wide cameras, and Touch ID built into the side button. Just as the iPhone X required Apple to rethink navigation around gestures, the Duo brought a reworked iOS experience built around its folding display, side-by-side apps, and the transition between its inner and outer screens.
Other Event Tidbits:
This was the first Apple event hosted by new CEO John Ternus, following Tim Cook stepping down from the role and becoming a board member at Apple.
Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: introduced the S11 chip and a revised Health Sensing System, with more frequent heart-rate and heart-rate-variability measurements supporting a readiness score
Apple reintroduced the Ceramic Apple Watch Series 12 after a 7-year gap.
AirPods 5: brought active noise cancellation to both versions of Apple’s open-ear range. The $149 wireless-charging version added longer battery life and volume adjustment on the stems above the $129 entry model.
2026-09-29 11:09:36
An archive of the detailed 3D Apple Store models in Apple Maps.
Apple Maps launched in 2012 and has continued to improve year after year. In 2021, Apple began adding detailed 3D models of iconic landmarks. That growing collection now includes the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the hotels, racetracks, stadiums, and attractions along the Las Vegas Strip. Apple also snuck a few of its own stores into the collection, and they’re worth a closer look.
This entry was inspired by Andreas Storm’s social post. I took the idea and ran with it, turning his post into this archive. I left out buildings like the Oculus, home to Apple World Trade Center, and Battersea Power Station, home to Apple Battersea because those models represent larger complexes rather than the Apple Stores themselves. Enjoy!
1.0: As of September 2026, the archive includes 15 Apple Store models.
Location: 1255 Rue Ste-Catherine O, Montréal QC H3G 1P3
Apple Sainte-Catherine first opened in Montréal on July 25, 2008. It moved to a larger location nearby on January 16, 2026.
Location: 114 Avenue des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris
Apple Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, opened on November 18, 2018. The store occupies a historic Haussmann-era apartment building on the famous French avenue.
Location: Piazza del Liberty 1, 20121 Milan
Apple Piazza Liberty in Milan, Italy, opened on July 26, 2018. Its glass fountain marks the entrance, with water cascading down the sides. The store itself sits underground, reached by stairs leading down from the piazza. Above ground, there’s a public square and a large outdoor amphitheatre.
Location: Via del Corso 181-188, 00186 Rome
Apple Via del Corso occupies Palazzo Marignoli, a 19th-century palace that was once the home of Marquis Filippo Marignoli. The building also housed Caffè Aragno, a gathering place for artists, writers, and actors.
Location: 2 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018972
Apple Marina Bay Sands in Singapore opened on September 10, 2020. The store sits inside a glass sphere that appears to float on the bay, with panoramic views of the skyline.
Location: No. 1-7 The Piazza, London WC2E 8HB
Apple Covent Garden in London opened on August 7, 2010.
Apple Regent Street in London opened on November 20, 2004. It was Apple’s first retail store in Europe.
Location: 235 Regent Street, London W1S
Location: 801 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., opened on May 11, 2019. The building originally opened in 1903 as a public library funded by Andrew Carnegie. Apple restored its marble façade and turned the former circulation desk area into a bright atrium for Today at Apple sessions.
Location: 227 Nichols Rd, Kansas City, MO 64112
Apple Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, first opened on September 25, 2004. It moved to its current location at 227 Nichols Road on August 20, 2016.
Location: 1430 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
Apple Downtown Detroit opened on September 19, 2025, coinciding with the launch of the iPhone 17.
Location: 767 5th Ave, New York, NY 10153
Apple Fifth Avenue in New York City first opened on May 19, 2006, and reopened after a major redesign on September 20, 2019. Its famous glass cube marks the entrance to the store beneath the plaza. Oh, and in the city that never sleeps, it’s also open 24 hours a day.
Location: 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Apple Michigan Avenue in Chicago opened at its riverfront location on October 20, 2017. The store features massive glass walls and a thin carbon-fiber roof, with views of the Chicago Rive.
Location: 103 Prince St, New York, NY 10012
Apple SoHo in New York City opened on July 18, 2002 inside a former post office. It was Apple’s first store in the city.
Location: 802 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014
Apple Tower Theatre in downtown Los Angeles opened on June 24, 2021. The building originally opened as a movie theatre in 1927 and was among the first in the city equipped for films with sound.
Location: 300 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94108
Apple Union Square in San Francisco, California, opened on May 21, 2016. The store features massive 42-foot-tall glass doors that slide open toward Union Square. Inside, you’ll find Apple products, indoor trees, and a huge video wall. There’s also an outdoor plaza with seating, a wall covered in greenery, and a fountain by San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa.
Location: 10600 N Tantau Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014
The Apple Park Visitor Center in Cupertino, California, opened on November 17, 2017. Its rooftop terrace offers a view of Apple’s ring-shaped headquarters, and there’s a café where you can grab a coffee. Oh, and there’s an Apple Store, too. It carries exclusive Apple merch, including shirts, totes, sweaters, cups, and more.
2026-09-05 10:02:57
Apple’s annual September event is here! A foldable iPhone, the possibility of a ceramic Apple Watch, and new home devices could make this a big one.
On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Apple announced their September event, which for more than a decade has meant new iPhones & new Apple Watches are set to debut. This will also be the inaugural Apple Event with new Apple CEO John Ternus at the helm.
This year, all eyes on on whether Apple will announce the long-rumoured foldable iPhone, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and a new generation of Apple Watches. There’s even the possibility that a ceramic Apple Watch case could return after a seven-year hiatus. But there’s still plenty we don’t know about the event, including whether Apple will finally unveil its long-rumoured Home accessories.
This Bingo Board represents my picks for what Apple will showcase during the event: a mix of rumours, dark-horse candidates, stagecraft predictions, and things I simply want to be true despite having absolutely zero evidence to support them.
Follow along, have fun, and enjoy the Surprise & Shine event!
Winning in Bingo means completing a specific pattern on your card, in this case, a row, column, diagonal, or the entire card. The "Good Morning Free Space" in the centre is already marked and can be part of any winning pattern.
The Bingo Board is available to download as a PNG or PDF, and I've added a more printer-friendly PDF so you don't end up using all your toner printing this card (but if you're at work during the event, you have my permission to print the full-colour PDF).
The predictions for this board were collected between August 30 and September 03rd and finalized on September 04, 2026.
Apple has a pretty good track record of releasing new AirPods alongside the iPhone. In 2022, the second-generation AirPods Pro debuted alongside the iPhone 14, followed by the USB-C refresh a year later at the iPhone 15 event. AirPods 4 arrived alongside the iPhone 16 in 2024, and last year, the AirPods Pro 3 were also announced at the September iPhone event.
If Apple does decide to release AirPods 5 at this event, they could come with updated chips, perhaps that heart rate sensor the Beats and Pro 3s got, and a handful of improvements to things like noise cancellation, audio quality, and battery life.
Each year, I try to predict the runtime of Apple’s iPhone event. Over the last nine events, the average has landed around 91 minutes, with the online years generally coming in shorter than the in-person shows.
This year feels like it could be a packed one. Between the foldable iPhone, the iPhone Pros, new Apple Watches, and the possibility that Apple’s long-rumoured home accessories finally make an appearance, I’m putting my money on the event running just shy of 90 minutes.
September iPhone Event History:
2025 Apple Event was 72 minutes
2024 Apple Event was 99 minutes
2023 Apple Event was 83 minutes
2022 Apple Event was 95 minutes
2021 Apple Event was 79 minutes
2020 Apple Event was 71 minutes
2019 Apple Event was 102 minutes
2018 Apple Event was 107 minutes
2017 Apple Event was 116 minutes
Apple has been slowly rolling out its own cellular modem across more of its devices. The C1 chip first debuted in the iPhone 16e in 2025, before being followed by the C1X later that year, which has since appeared in the M5 iPad Pro, iPhone 17e, and M4 iPad Air. Apple’s modem efforts have been received favourably so far, particularly for their lower power consumption and the battery life improvements that come with it. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is the event where Apple finally brings its own cellular modem to the Pro iPhones as well.
Note: It’ll be interesting to see whether Apple debuts the C2 chip in markets outside the US while continuing to use Qualcomm modems stateside, as Apple’s cellular chips still don’t support the mmWave 5G bands used in the United States.
There are rumours that Apple could introduce a mechanical aperture with this year’s iPhone 18 Pro lineup, bringing a feature to the camera system that Apple has mimicked through software since introducing Portrait mode with the iPhone 7 Plus.
A mechanical aperture would allow the camera to physically control how much light enters the lens, while also giving photos a more natural and customizable depth of field than what can typically be recreated digitally.
I had wondered if this might end up being a Pro Max exclusive feature, but a MacRumors article from earlier this year suggests it will land in both Pro models.
By the time the September keynote rolls around, the HomePod mini will have gone 2,156 days without an update. Similarly, the HomePod itself will have gone more than 1,300 days without a refresh.
With Apple rumoured to have held back several of its home devices while it worked on rebuilding Siri AI, it makes sense that, if the company does announce a broader smart home initiative at this event, devices like the HomePod mini could finally get a long-overdue update too.
In a shift from Apple’s long-established release format, the company is expected to announce only the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, and possibly its long-rumoured foldable iPhone, at this event, saving the standard iPhone 18 for a separate launch in the spring of 2027.
Apple has long been rumoured to be moving toward a biannual iPhone release cycle, with its most premium models arriving in the fall and the rest of the lineup following sometime in the spring.
So for this event, we’re fully expecting a refresh to the Pro lineup, though no major changes to the overall form factor are anticipated. That redesign happened last year.
We saw the briefest appearance of Apple’s lil’ mascot at WWDC, so I’m swinging again on the hope that another Lil Finder Guy Easter egg gets snuck into this event somewhere.
At long last, we might finally see Apple’s first foldable device. Expected to start somewhere between $2,000–$2,500 USD, the device is rumoured to feature a book-like design with a 5.5-inch external display that opens into a nearly creaseless 7.8-inch inner display, resembling an iPad mini.
How Apple will handle software on the foldable remains to be seen, but at WWDC we saw Apple update iPhone Mirroring to allow dynamic window resizing, strongly hinting at Apple's upcoming foldable device.
The iPhone Fold, or iPhone Ultra as it’s often referred to, is expected to come in Silver and a darker colour, using a titanium/aluminium construction and a thin design similar to what Apple debuted with the iPhone Air last year.
In addition to the expected drone footage around Apple Park, at some point, we'll transition from one place to the next via a fancy corridor, a tricked-out golf cart, an escape hatch, a portal, or a secret underground tunnel accessed via the fountain inside the courtyard of Apple Park.
I really don’t want this one to be true, but with Apple expected to produce a relatively small number of these devices at launch, there are some whispers suggesting that the first wave of foldable iPhones could be exclusive to the US, with Apple expanding the device to other markets in the future.
Face ID has been an authentication method on Apple’s iPhones for nearly a decade, dating all the way back to the iPhone X. But with Apple’s upcoming foldable, the company is rumoured to be making a return to Touch ID. That could simply come down to keeping the device as thin as possible, but there’s also a more practical explanation: with both an external and internal display, Touch ID would give you a consistent way to unlock the phone regardless of how you’re using it.
Sorry, Cosmic Orange lovers, but it looks like your favourite colour may be on the way out. Sky Blue, and possibly a Merlot Red colourway, are expected to take its place in the new iPhone 18 Pro lineup.
Both colours have been rumoured for months, with Sky Blue looking all but confirmed after Apple released an event invite heavily adorned in the colour.
Although the name of the device isn’t currently known, my pick, and one that’s commonly floated online, is that Apple’s foldable will be called the iPhone Ultra.
RAMmaggedon has forced nearly everyone to dramatically raise their prices. Everything from memory sticks to decade-old consoles has gotten more expensive just to keep up, and Apple is no different. On June 26, Apple dramatically increased prices across nearly its entire product lineup, with two notable exceptions: the iPhone and Apple Watch. With nearly everything else Apple sells seeing double-digit percentage increases, except the Polishing Cloth, which somehow got cheaper, it's entirely expected that the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Apple Watch finally get their turn this year.
Apple has disguised price increases before by removing the lowest storage tier. For example, Apple could eliminate the 128GB option and make 256GB the new base model at the same price the 256GB model already sold for. Technically, the price of that configuration hasn’t increased, but by removing the cheaper model, Apple also eliminates the option with the smallest margins and requires everyone buying the base device to spend more. With the iPhone 17 Pro, though, 256GB is already the base storage tier at $1,099, and I have a hard time seeing Apple eliminate it entirely and jump straight to 512GB, which currently costs $1,299.
Current Prices (in USD)
iPhone 17 Pro:
256GB iPhone 17 Pro: $1,099 (Base)
512GB iPhone 17 Pro: $1,299 (+200 over base)
1TB iPhone 17 Pro: $1,499 (+400 over base)
iPhone 17 Pro Max:
256GB iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,199 (Base)
512GB iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,399 (+200 over base)
1TB iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,599 (+400 over base)
2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,999 (+800 over base)
Apple Watch Ultra & Series 11:
Apple Watch Ultra 3: $799
Apple Watch Series 11 42mm Aluminium: $399
Apple Watch Series 11 42mm Aluminium + Cellular: $499
Apple Watch Series 11 46mm Aluminium: $429
Apple Watch Series 11 46mm Aluminium + Cellular: $529
Apple Watch Series 11 42mm Titanium: $699
Apple Watch Series 11 46mm Titanium: $749
Apple Watch SE 3 (not rumoured to be updated):
Apple Watch SE 3 40mm: $249
Apple Watch SE 3 40mm + Cellular: $299
Apple Watch SE 3 44mm: $279
Apple Watch SE 3 40mm + Cellular: $329
Apparently, this thing has been sitting around waiting to debut for years. The hardware has reportedly been ready, but Apple’s stumbles in overhauling Siri have delayed the product time and time again. But now that Siri is now working incredibly well, and this event could be a golden opportunity for Apple to show off the beginnings of its growing home strategy with a Home Hub–like device.
The Home Hub is expected to be a seven-inch tablet that can either mount to a wall or attach to some sort of speaker docking station. It would display information and widgets from your devices, while also providing quick access to Siri, smart home controls, and other lightweight interactions throughout the home.
The Apple TV has now gone more than 1,400 days without an update, and to complement any broader home announcements, including the expansion of Siri AI to more products, Apple could use this event to refresh the Apple TV with updated chips updated Siri experience.
It’s pretty much a given that if Apple is releasing a new iPhone, it’s also going to debut a new chip. Last year we got the A19 and A19 Pro, and it only makes sense that this year the A20 Pro will arrive with the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and, if I were betting, Apple’s foldable device as well.
The A20 Pro is also expected to move to Apple’s two-nanometre chip architecture, similar to what we saw with the M6 in the new Mac mini.
Forget the foldable iPhone, forget the iPhone 18 Pro, and forget the new cheaper polishing cloth, because Apple is rumoured to be bringing back a ceramic case for the next Apple Watch!
Apple last released a ceramic Apple Watch Edition with the Series 5, featuring a beautiful pearlescent white zirconia case that not only looked stunning, but was also incredibly durable and scratch-resistant. Having worn the ceramic Series 5 for more than half a decade, I can confidently say it was my favourite Apple Watch and absolutely one of my most prized Apple possessions during the time I owned it.
Ceramic Apple Watches were also positioned as premium offerings, with prices starting north of $1,300. It’s still unclear whether Apple plans to revive the old Edition branding or introduce a new premium tier that sits above its already expensive stainless steel models.
Samsung’s current flagship foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, starts at $1,899 for 256GB of storage and climbs to $2,499 for the 1TB model. Foldables are already incredibly expensive to manufacture, and with the price of memory and storage these days, that cost only gets pushed higher. Rumours suggest Apple’s first foldable could start somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500, so I’ve planted my guess right smack dab in the middle at $2,249.
If Apple is going to debut a foldable iPhone that opens up to roughly the size of two iPhone displays, there’s no way in hell they’re not going to offer some sort of split-screen multitasking on the device.
The Apple Watch has seen over a dozen different band styles over its decade-long history, everything from the Alpine Loop to the Woven Nylon band. But it's been a couple of years since we saw a new Watch band style debut, so why not new colours, which they'll undoubtedly do, but also a brand new style of band.
* for this pick, I'm not counting the Hermès bands.
If Apple is going to debut a foldable iPhone that opens up to roughly the size of two iPhone displays, there’s no way in hell they’re not going to offer some sort of split-screen multitasking on the device.
With rumours that the iPhone 18 Pro line could get a little bit thicker, see improvements to the vapour chamber, and adopt new chips like Apple’s C-series cellular modem, there’s a pretty good chance the updated iPhones will also see a noticeable bump in battery life.
Making the prediction that the rumoured production challenges and limited launch supply of the foldable iPhone could result in Apple giving the device a later release date than the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. We’ve seen Apple do this before with the iPhone X in 2017, when preorders didn’t begin until six weeks after iPhone 8 preorders opened.
With some of the products rumoured to launch at this event, there's a chance that we might hear the infamous "One more thing..." line used by John Ternus during the event.
2026-08-23 11:27:41
Introducing the Summit Series, a new series of wallpapers for your iPhone, Mac, and iPad that's sure to peak your interest!
The Summit Series (not to be confused with the 1972 Canada–USSR hockey tournament, which Canada won) is a collection of four abstract mountain wallpapers for your Apple devices. With a soft, Cubist-inspired style and plenty of colour, the Summit Series brings a simple mountain aesthetic to your devices.
Summit Series
CA$4.99
Summit Series, a new series of mountain-inspired wallpapers for your iPhone, Mac, and iPad that's sure to peak your interest!
The collection includes wallpapers for the Mac (6016×3900), iPad (2732×2732), and iPhone (1320×2868). Enjoy!
Thank you for your support.
The collection of Summit Series wallpapers is available below, free of charge and in full resolution, but if you can support the work I do, I am also making the collection available as a donation gift of $4.99.
The collection includes wallpapers for the Mac (6016×3900), iPad (2732×2732), and iPhone (1320×2868). Read more about my approach to making wallpapers available for purchase over at The WinRAR Approach.
You can also support through tips. Every bit is truly appreciated!
Once purchased, a download link will be emailed to you to download the .zip file (67.5 MB) containing all 12 versions for Mac (6016 × 3900), iPad (2732 × 2732), and iPhone (1320 × 2868). The digital download link will expire 24 hours after the first download. If your link expires and you need to redownload the files, please send me an email with your order number and I can send along a new link for you.
Of the four summits, two are inspired by peaks located inside in my own backyard of Canada: Rundle Mountain & Lake Louise.
Mount Rundle is the famous wedge-shaped mountain overlooking the town of Banff, Alberta, with a peak more than 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) above the valley below. Fact of the blog post: it’s believed that moisture hitting Rundle’s western slopes travels through a network of faults and cracks before eventually feeding the famous Banff Upper Hot Springs.
The next Canadian summit wallpaper is Lake Louise, perhaps best known for its milky turquoise water, which gets its colour from fine rock sediment carried into the lake by glacial meltwater. The lake is framed by Victoria Glacier and Mount Victoria, which sits right along the border between Alberta and British Columbia.
The third peak featured is Half Dome. Located in California’s Yosemite National Park, Half Dome rises roughly 1,450 metres (4,790 feet) above the floor of Yosemite Valley.
And the fourth wallpaper, well, that one’s not really based on anything. It was actually the first wallpaper I made for the series before pivoting to actual peaks, but I liked it enough that I decided to keep it in the collection too..
All four wallpapers are available for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Enjoy!
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🏔️ Tips2026-07-30 05:06:03
Mosaic is a fun and vibrant collection for your Apple devices.
Mosaic is a simple and vibrant gradient background collection for your Apple devices.
Mosaic
CA$3.99
Mosaic, a new collection of four vibrant wallpapers for your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. The collection includes wallpapers for the Mac (6016×3900), iPad (2732×2732), and iPhone (1320×2868). Enjoy!
Thank you for your support.
The collection of Mosaic wallpapers is available below, free of charge and in full resolution, but if you can support the work I do, I am also making the collection available as a donation gift of $3.99.
The collection includes wallpapers for the Mac (6016×3900), iPad (2732×2732), and iPhone (1320×2868). Read more about my approach to making wallpapers available for purchase over at The WinRAR Approach.
You can also support through tips. Every bit is truly appreciated!
Once purchased, a download link will be emailed to you to download the .zip file (67.5 MB) containing all 12 versions for Mac (6016 × 3900), iPad (2732 × 2732), and iPhone (1320 × 2868). The digital download link will expire 24 hours after the first download. If your link expires and you need to redownload the files, please send me an email with your order number and I can send along a new link for you.
I wanted a new wallpaper and something a bit brighter for my devices and designed this pack of four variations in Sketch. The colours and gradient idea were loosely based on an image Apple teased of the Apple 川崎 (Kawasaki) retail store, which opened in December of 2019. But as I played with it more, I deviated from the angular look in favour of a variation that had more flowing shapes and lines.
Four versions are available for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Enjoy!
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
☕️ Tips2026-07-25 04:37:44
Lil Finder Guy. Born: 2026.04.11. Height: One Apple Tall.
It’s been several months since Apple launched the MacBook Neo and the ad campaign that gave birth to “Lil’ Finder Guy,” the adorable Finder-faced mascot that stole my heart and quickly took over parts of the internet.
Since their debut, we’ve learned a little more about the mascot through posts shared by Apple employees, including a look at the campaign’s appearance at the Cannes Lions festival and, most recently, some of the early sketches and design details that helped bring Lil’ Finder Guy to life.
And so, in an follow-up to my previous post about Lil’ Finder Guy, I wanted to collect all this updated bit of information and compile it into a single entry.
Apple’s Neo submission at Cannes Lions. Photo originally by Rachel Karten but the image has been adjusted.
I learned about Apple’s submission of its MacBook Neo campaign to Cannes Lions, an annual festival in France celebrating creativity in advertising, marketing, and design, during Episode 610 of Connected. The gang shared a link to a post by Joe Burger, an Associate Creative Director at Apple, who had posted about the campaign’s submission to the festival. The poster reads:
“When was the last time you noticed the launch of a budget laptop? People don't. Their phones are for "social." Their tablets are for "me-time." Their computers? "Work."
Enter MacBook Neo. Real performance, gorgeous colors, full macOS, at a price that, for Apple, is kind of radical.
A product Apple had never made before. For people Apple had never really talked to. Launched somewhere Apple had never really hung out: TikTok.
The campaign rolled out in four acts. We introduced the product through a birth announcement then a TL;DR explainer for the specs, and a chill unboxing. A Live Matcha Break at Apple Park turned the announcement into a hangout. Next, twelve videos highlighting Neo's palette: Blush, Indigo, Citrus. And our Can-Dos served up Mac explainers with the help of a new friend.
The videos incorporated new sounds, trending audio, ASMR, and we even remixed decades of familiar Mac sounds.
Our favorite comment of the whole run: "This is so un-Apple-like, but also done in a way that feels very Apple and I don't know how to explain it."
The results were anything but boring. The unboxing alone pulled 8M views, 1.2M likes, and 120K shares in two days, with no paid media. And then things really took off.
176M views on TikTok. 14.3M engagements. 11M likes. 603K saves. 98K comments. 1.9M shares — of an ad. 65K live viewers. 1M+ new followers since launch. It's the most searched new Mac in history.
The top eight trending Neo hashtags pulled another 680M views on TikTok before you count the spillover onto X, Reddit, Linkedin, and Instagram. TL;DR became the #1 citation in TikTok's Al search summary. And one brand-new internet icon in 'Lil' Finder Guy.'“
Lil Finder Guy Pin. Source: Tyler Stalman
Lil’ Finder Guy made their next appearance at WWDC, when attendees began posting photos of Lil’ Finder Guy pins included as part of their swag for attending the event. The pins were very limited, and unfortunately, incredibly elusive to find resellers online, with the few listings that have appeared asking anywhere from hundreds to more than a thousand dollars.
Rare listings for the Lil Finder Pin are unhinged.
The pin also gave us our first proper look at a flatter, two-dimensional version of Lil’ Finder Guy. Up until this point, most of the images we’d seen depicted them as a more three-dimensional character.
Lil Finder Guy based on the enamel pin gifted to attendees at WWDC.
But that wasn’t their only appearance at WWDC. Lil’ Finder Guy also made an incredibly quick and understated cameo behind Stacey Ford, VP of OS Program Management, during the opening moments of the WWDC keynote, tucked away behind one of the laptops on screen.
Look behind the MacBook to the left of Stacey at the 06:28 mark and you’ll see a little Finder Guy peeking out. Source: Apple
The decapitated head and body of Lil Finder Guy, posted by Sofia Coelho on LinkedIn (post since removed).
Our next drop of information came through another LinkedIn post in late July, this time in the form of a “BELATED BIRTHDAY ANNOUNCEMENT” from Apple art director Sofia Coelho, who wrote:
"BELATED BIRTHDAY ANNOUNCEMENT: On March 4th at 11:00 a.m., measuring exactly one apple tall, a mascot, charmingly coined by the internet as Lil' Finder Guy, was born!
Getting to lead the visual design and concept for this character and then watching it take off as a full-blown ‘internet icon’ (internet's words, not mine!) was a dream design project.
This lil fella is part of the larger MacBook Neo launch on TikTok, which I had the pleasure of working on with an insanely talented team. Thank you to everyone who brought this project to life.
You can check it all out on Apple's TikTok profile!”
Can we all just appreciate for a moment how adorable it is that Lil' Finder Guy is measured in units of apples?
In addition to the announcement, the post also shared a model of Lil' Finder Guy (albeit decapitated), and a few sketches showing the early prototyping phase of its creation.
Early sketches of Lil Finder Guy, posted by Sofia Coelho on LinkedIn (post since removed)
Thankfully, Apple’s tiny Finder-faced mascot hasn’t disappeared just yet. Since their debut, we’ve gotten a few more glimpses behind the scenes, including Apple’s Cannes Lions submission, an incredibly elusive WWDC pin, a tiny keynote cameo, and even some early sketches showing how Lil’ Finder Guy came to life. I hope we continue to see more of Apple’s adorable mascot in the days to come.
If you can’t get enough of this little mascot, I have made a small collection of merch including stickers, an enamel pin (note: shipping may be higher because tariffs, customs, and fuel surcharges), shirts & hoodies (version 1 | version 2), beanies, and hats (version 1 | version 2)
