Apple event 2025 – iPhone 17, Apple Watch, AirPods Pro and everything to expect at Tuesday's launch

Which phone is going to generate the most excitement? That's easy. Our US Mobiles Editor Phil Berne says it's going to be the iPhone 17 Air, hands-down.

That's because the iPhone 17 Air, if the rumors are true, is going to make a lot of sacrifices in order to be thin. If it's going to out-thin the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, it's going to need to sacrifice even more than Samsung's phone, which could mean quite a few different cuts.

A smaller battery is an obvious necessity. The iPhone 17 Air will also likely have fewer cameras, only one or two lenses. Will it get the Pro-level processor? Probably not, because that would drain the battery faster. So would a screen with a faster refresh rate.

We don't even know if the iPhone 17 Air is really real, but all rumors and leaks point to yes, and if so Apple is going to have to sell the dickens out of this phone. It's going to have to generate its own heat, because the vapor chamber is going to keep things cool inside.

Finally, unconfirmed rumors of an Apple Watch SE 3 persist. Every couple of years, Apple takes some of the Apple Watch's older components, slaps them inside a cheaper case and repackages them as an affordable, accessible Apple Watch capable of running current-gen software. This is the SE series.

It's been three years since the launch of the Apple Watch SE 2, so the time is ripe for an update. Expect the SE 3 to pack a more powerful chipset and new metallic colors, and it might even share the Apple Watch Series 10's new larger, wraparound screen, in order to future-proof the SE series as much as possible.

What to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is up next. As there was only a new Titanium Black colorway last year, it's very likely we'll get a new Apple Watch Ultra 3 this year, with a similar design and protruding Action Button as its predecessor, the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

A new chipset and sensor array is likely, and perhaps we'll get satellite connectivity for emergency communication, like the Google Pixel Watch 4. 5G connectivity is also very likely. All this is in addition to a new chipset, possible blood pressure detection, a brighter screen, and new AI smarts thanks to watchOS 26.

That same report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also says we'll be getting a brighter screen. With many other watches matching or exceeding Apple, offering up to 3,000 nits of brightness, expect Apple to stay competitive here.

Unfortunately, if this is true, it's unlikely we'll be getting a battery life increase, which is something I personally want this go-round. I still think 18 hours is too short, even with fast charging.

Apple Watch Series 11 and the blood pressure question

Matt Evans here, Senior Fitness and Wearables Editor, here to give you a lowdown on what we expect from the latest Apple Watch update as we head towards Tuesday's event!

First up, the mainline Apple Watch Series 11. Last year, the Apple Watch Series 10 got a big wraparound screen and a slimmer metallic body. For Apple, that's positively revolutionary, so don't expect many exterior design changes here.

Hardware-wise, it's likely to get a new chipset, to future-proof it against even more AI software advances, and blood pressure estimations. Blood pressure without using an inflated cuff is the holy grail most smartwatches have yet to crack with LEDs: at the moment, the standard way to do it is take your measurement with a cuff, then the watch will estimate via your metrics whether it's going up or down.

If Apple has cracked true cuffless measurement, we'll be very surprised. A new report claims it might not be ready in time.

We're gonna switch things up for a bit and hand over commentary to our esteemed Senior Fitness & Wearables Editor Matt Evans, who, naturally, knows a thing or two about wearables.

A better base

I know everyone is excited about the anticipated iPhone 17 Air and even a better iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, but let's not forget the iconic base model: the iPhone 17.

Frequent TechRadar contributor wrote an in-depth look at all the anticipated changes coming to what will likely be the cheapest handset of the lineup, and they're all pretty impactful. We've got:

• A fast display
• A bigger display
• A better selfie camera
• Faster charging
• Even better wiFi 7

A pretty good list, and if the iPhone 17 costs no more than the iPhone 16 that preceded it, that's a big win.

You can read Paul's full piece here.

Apple iPhone 17 Air could be the star, but may not be the highlight

Rumors have been swirling around an ultra-thin iPhone (the iPhone 17 Air) for almost a year, but in that time, Samsung released the 5.8mm thick Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and then the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which, unfolded, is just 4.2mm thick!

Of these two phones, the Z Fold is unquestionably thinner but also a much more interesting phone. The S25 Edge is just a thin Galaxy that is otherwise, well, a bit boring (read our review for evidence).

Which brings me to the iPhone 17 Air, which should be the star of Apple's big iPhone 17 launch event, but I worry it could be underwhelming. That is, unless Apple makes it thinner than 4.2mm and adds some extra, unexpected feature. But what could Apple do? You can't fit a decent sixed battery, so battery life won't match the iPhone 17 Pro. It won't have a big telephoto camera because you can't fit that periscope in the itsybitsy space.

What the iPhone 17 Air will have going for it is a super thin and light body and a very big (Plus-sized screen. Oh, and did I mention that it'll probably be as expensive (if not more so) than the iPhone 17 Pro?

This might be the moment to save the Vision Pro with a Vision Lite tease

There will be a lot of new products next week, including, if the rumors are accurate, new AirPods, new Apple Watches, and new iPhones, but no one really expects anything new on the Spatial Computing front.

It's been three years since Apple unveiled its Vision Pro mixed reality headset (which took another six months or so to gestate and then publicly release), and in that time, the $3499 headset hasn't made much of a dent in public consciousness. Even if Apple has gently steered a chunk of the Vision Pro conversation to enterprise customers, it's still anxious to convince consumers that they want to compute and enjoy a world inside one of its headsets.

What's needed, obviously, is a more affordable model, one that's been rumored as the Vision Pro 2, Vision Lite, and various other names. Apple could announce it at the iPhone 17 launch event and then, as it did before, take 6-to-9 months to complete and release it.

If they do it, it better cost no more than $1,500, or no one will buy this Vision, either.

I want Apple to tease the Fold

Hey all, Lance Ulanoff here, picking up the baton from Roland. Let's start with flexi-phones, shall we?

Everyone knows, or at least thinks they know, that Apple is working on one or two foldable phones. There's talk of a flip-style, similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 7, and the possibility of a tablet-sized foldable that bends into a roughly iPhone 16 Plus size.

Apple has never confirmed this, and most rumors put these phones arriving one or two years out (2026 to 2028). That's fine. It's normal for Apple to wait out the market before it dives in and ostensibly makes it better. Still, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 breaking new ground on the thinness front (4.2mm thick), it's reasonable to assume Apple designers and developers might be getting a little antsy. Perhaps they want to remind Apple and iPhone fans they can innovate with the best of them.

One way to prove that is for Apple to tease one or more of its folding phones at the big iPhone 17 launch event.

I don't expect a full launch or any hands-on time in the demo room, but what if Apple CEO Tim Cook held one above his head, and then outside the keynote space, we were treated to a behind-glass viewing of the iPhone Fold?

It's not an unprecedented move. When Apple unveiled its trashcan-shaped Mac Pro at WWDC 2013, I recall hustling to the lobby just so I could capture images of its unique triangular component design... behind glass.

Handing over to our long-standing Apple and IPhone expert

Right, that's the end of insights and thought from Graham, so I (Roland Moore-Colyer), will be handing this article over to Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff.

A long-standing name in the tech media world, Lance has been covering iPhones and Apple for years, so he's got the experience and intellect to bring you nuanced analysis on what to expect from the Apple event on September 9 and what iPhone rumors could hold weight versus the ones that feel like smoke in the wind.

So over to Mr Ulanoff....

One more thing

Will there be a' One More Thing' at Apple's iPhone launch on Tuesday? I'm trying to think what I'd like to see most, and I think for me it's an upgrade to AirPods Pro 3 that might include some new health sensors.

But what I'd really like to see is it include some sort of AI. I want my AirPods Pros to talk back to me more than they already do!

Will Apple shake things up?

Apple events are some of the best staged in the business. You only need to watch 10 minutes of the slightly shambolic Made by Google Showcase to realize how slick Apple's events are in comparison.

Personally I'm finding they're getting a bit repetitive though. They all seem to feature Apple's spaceship-looking HQ and a camera that flies through the various rooms and corridors, which are made almost entirely of glass before settling on an Apple employee who gives you a talk about how excited they are to present some new fitness videos, or something equally bland.

I miss the Steve Jobs era, when the unexpected or 'insanely great' could happen at any moment. These days Apple feels very safe and corporate, I just wish it would shake things up a little.

Heart of Glass

Apple calls the new design esthetic across the new software on all its devices Liquid Glass.

"This translucent material reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content, delivering a new level of vitality across controls, navigation, app icons, widgets, and more," says Apple.

For those of us old enough to remember Windows Vista, it looks incredibly familiar. But will it be as delightful and elegant as Apple tell us it will be? I am open to being convinced, but I also imagine that the first thing a lot of new iPhone 17 owners will do is turn off Liquid Glass and try and return iOS to the way it used to look.

The bigger picture

Sticking with Graham, we're moving away from AI to discuss his wider thoughts on what could and may not happen at the Apple event.

Will we get new Apple Intelligence features with the iPhone 17?

We've already seen some of the things that Apple Intelligence can do in iOS 26, such as pick out details from a screenshot using Visual Intelligence, and use those to update your calendar.

On the whole though I get the feeling that Apple will focus more on the hardware of the iPhone 17 on Tuesday and dry to move on pretty quickly from Apple Intelligence features.

I think it's too soon for Apple to bring us anything truly revolutionary on that front, like a more intelligent Siri.

Will Apple use Google Gemini to upgrade Siri?

Could Apple switch to using Gemini for the iPhone 17? I think it would be unlikely, given that Apple is already in cahoots with OpenAI and has ChatGPT integration up and running, but there have certainly been rumors that Apple has been in talks with Google to make a Gemini-powered Siri.

There are reasons why this would make sense. Gemini can already read your email, so that would add a major feature to Apple Intelligence, and a Siri that could talk back as well as Gemini is exactly what Apple users want.

I just can't see Apple jumping into bed with its biggest rival in the smartphone OS business though, but let's wait and see what happens.

Let's talk AI and Apple

Ok that's enough from Madame Scarrott for now, so I am going to tap Senior Editor and AI lead Graham Barlow up for his thoughts on what Apple will do on the AI side next week.

A seasoned technology journalist, Graham leads TechRadar's AI channel and is a deft hand at getting good stuff from the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

Here for AirPods Pro 3? OK but don't sleep on Beats' just-teased buds

So if you're into Apple earbuds you're probably here for AirPods Pro 3, but there's a set of Made by Apple wireless in-ears that probably won't make an appearance, but that you should still know about – the unreleased Beats Powerbeats Fit.

We're pretty sure Apple's own-brand ice-white earbuds will take center stage on September 9, but look, if anyone near you mentions an unreleased Beats set of buds (not long after the Powerbeats Pro 2 for the more sporty music-lover, you can now nod sagely and go 'The Powerbeats Fit? Yeah we won't see them here I think… hopefully they'll also have heart-rate monitoring though'.

AirPods Max 2? Don't hold your breath

I think it'd be remiss of me not to mention that if you were hoping for a fresh set of Apple over-ears a mere five years after the originals launched in December 2020, don't cancel your plans…

The AirPods Max 2 are one of the most requested products among Apple's devoted fanbase, but despite adding USB-C Lossless audio to the OG set in March 2025 (which I adore) Apple isn't rushing a second-gen. set.

Why? Well, according to a recent Bloomberg report the issue is simple: AirPods Max are "too popular for Apple to stop selling them, and not popular enough for the company to invest a ton of time and money into creating a new version" – and after all, there's the AirPods Pro 3 to focus on, this coming Tuesday…

Disappointed? I think given the length of time between iterations – which is, let me be clear, an awfully long time in audio tech terms – you've every right to be.

What not to expect from the AirPods Pro 3

What should we not expect? Live translation, which is a biggie. And dare I say it, that might leave the tech giant looking a little second-best (hello Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 FE with real-time translation) against its biggest rival.

Also reportedly off the menu is the rumored IR camera feature. While that was never expected in this set (it's more of a long-term goal for Apple and one I truly cannot wait for) it does leave me wondering if AirPods Pro 3 will still wow viewers if and when they do indeed make their big reveal…

If AirPods Pro 3 arrive without the one thing we all want, is it still good news?

Becky Scarrott, your friendly Audio Editor here, and I've got thoughts on Apple's impending 'Awe Inspiring' event as far as the Cupertino's ice-white earbuds output goes.

The case has been leaked (see above) and most noted tipsters agree: AirPods Pro 3 are a dead cert for Apple's big shindig – but there's a catch.

While the latest leak claims two oft-requested perks will arrive with the new Pro-suffixed AirPods iteration – namely heart-rate monitoring to match the Beats PowerBeats Pro 2 and also a temperature sensor – two will not.

Time to talk AirPods Pro 3 and other Apple audio

I'm going to hit pause on the iPhone 17 updates for now and draw upon the thought of Audio Editor Becky Scarrott for what we can expect from the AirPods Pro 3 and other audio products from Apple.

With 'golden ears' Becky Scarrott is a pro at all things audio. And she's well versed Apple's audio suite too.

What do you want to see from the iPhone 17?

So let me throw this out to you: I want to know what upgrades you'd like to see from the iPhone 17, specifically that standard model.

Some upgrades have been tipped while others are wishful thinking. From my point of view, I'm after 120Hz display and perhaps a better main camera in terms of the photos it outputs rather than a big dose of extra megapixels.

So take a look at the poll below and get voting!

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro release date

So putting the price aside, when might you be able to get your hands on the new iPhones?

Well James Rogerson predicts pre-orders will go live on September 12, with a full release happening a on September 19.

This is based on rumors and past form from Apple. And I tend to agree. Apple usually works on a two week cycle post its new phone announcements.

For more check out Rogerson's When can we expect the iPhone 17 to be released? Here are my expert predictions article.

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro pricing

The rumors on iPhone 17 prices have been a bit scatty recently, with some expecting no change over the iPhone 16 prices, while a more recent iPhone 17 price tip has a hike in price on the cards.

I tend to think the former, with the prices will likely start at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 for the standard iPhones, and $999 / £999 / AU$1,849 for the Pro models.

But I do think there's scope for a price jump for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. I just hope that doesn't come to pass.

iPhone 17 camera upgrade

On the standard iPhone 17 side there's not a lot pointing to a major camera upgrade.

The sensor may get changed to a better one, but not on that goes beyond 48 megapixels.

I suspect the camera improvements will come more on the software side and an improvement in image signal processing via an upgraded A-series chip.

iPhone 17 Pro telephoto camera upgrade

A lot of rumors are pointing towards a big telephoto camera upgrade for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The idea is that the telephoto camera will not only get a boost ot 48-megapixels, up from 12MP, but also have a system of moving components that could allow for continuous optical zoom between an as-yet unknown range of focal lengths. Mixed reports have the camera system able to move between 5x and 8x optical zoom without sensor cropping.

I don't know if I fully buy into that, as I can still see Apple opt for advanced sensors cropping techniques and camera fusion to bring in high-quality zoomed photos even when using a digital zoom.

Check out Jame Richards' thoughts on the iPhone 17 Pro telephoto camera upgrades.

iPhone 17 Pro could be super-charged for gaming

A spec rumor that's stood out to me is how the iPhone 17 Pro could come with a vapor chamber.

Let me first note that vapor chamber cooling works by using a liquid-filled metal chamber, where in the coolant changes into a gas as it absorbs heat. This vapor then condenses on a cooler metal side, thereby dissipating heat away from sensitive components like the chipset. It’s a way to better cool CPU and GPU components without taking up much space; you’ll find vapor chamber cooling in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

For the iPhone series this should mean improved cooling that enables the chipset to run art peak performance for longer, And that should be a boon for gaming, especially for some of the more demanding console-quality games you can now get on iOS.

Read my full thoughts here.

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro specs

I'll be keeping things focused on the iPhone 17 series for a while, so let's talk specs.

I don't expect there to be dramatic changes for the iPhone 17 lineup as a whole, but the addition of new chips for both vanillar and Pro phones, should see more performance, more energy efficiency and snappier responses for AI workloads. The rumored 12GB for the Pro phones should also aid in getting quick results from Apple Intelligence.

Recent iPhones have never been slouches when it comes to performance, so I don't expect the iPhone 17 to be a vast upgrade in raw power over the iPhone 16, but there's potential for improved gaming performance.

Read more iPhone 17 specs here

iPhone 17 colors: big, bold pastels

Right then, straight off the bat let's talk iPhone 17 colors. Freelancer and iPhone expert James Rogerson has a rundown on all the colors will the iPhone 17 series be available in from his predictions and rumors.

it looks like pastel greens, blues, and pink will make a splash for the standard iPhone 17; my eye is on the green one, if the image above is legit.

And the iPhone 17 Pro models look ot have a more muted selection of hues, in grey and blue variants. But there's a bright orange models to mix things up; not to my taste but pretty bold.

Get ready for the big Apple event

Roland has been covering Apple products for years so is well versed to take you through the run-up to the Apple event on September 9.

Well hello there, I'm Managing Editor of Mobile Computing, Roland Moore-Colyer here to take you through the run-up to the Apple event on September 9;.

I've been covering Apple and iPhones for years, alongside the occasional flirt with iPads, Apple Watches and Airpods, so I'm well versed in the way of Cupertino.

Of course, nothing is official here as Apple keeps very tight-lipped over its upcoming products. But there are enough rumors and leaks to chew over and give us a good idea of what to expect.

Hello and welcome to our Apple iPhone 17 event coverage.