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This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: New Apple CEO John Ternus steps into his role with a wealth of hardware experience and a supremely promising product pipeline. And he’ll lead his first Apple event next week.

What will he hit us with during the Surprise and Shine event? And how will he change Apple going forward? There’s lots to ponder.

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• Will the iPhone 18 Pro upgrades be big enough to lure us into upgrading? It looks increasingly unlikely.
• Rumors indicate the first folding iPhone won’t get a certain accessory that practically nobody wanted, but will get a feature that almost everybody loves. So that’s a win.
• What to expect from the next Apple Watch models, which should arrive next week as well.

Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.

After years of rumors, Apple finally appears ready to launch the first folding iPhone. It’ll be the most significant shakeup to the basic design of an iOS device since… well, ever.

There’s no official confirmation of a foldable iPhone, of course. But the rumors are unusually detailed, covering everything from the screen size and hinge design to the processor, cameras and even the phone’s possible name.

Here’s what to expect, when and at what cost.

Apple’s September product launch event kicks off on Wednesday, and there is so much to look forward to. It’ll be a milestone for the company in multiple ways.

First off, the “Surprise and Shine” event be the first with John Ternus welcoming everyone, not Tim Cook. He became Apple CEO just days ago, and will surely be acting as ringmaster for all the announcments.

That will keep him busy, with plenty of new products on the agenda. The first folding iPhone is expected to be the star of the show, joined by the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, with potentially even more products in store.

Here’s everything expected to take the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park on September 9.

BERLIN — Ugreen is best known for chargers, cables and other accessories. But at its IFA 2026 launch event here, the company showed something far more ambitious: a smart home hub called HomeAgent that uses local AI as its brain.

The HomeAgent series is expensive and unproven. But it rethinks what a smart-home hub can be. It also raises the question: By the time Apple enters the smart home market, will local AI already be the norm?

Apple stopped development on a cutting-edge MacBook with a foldable screen, according to a market-analysts firm. The computer would have been larger than any current notebook offered by the company, and apparently take advantage of the support for touchscreens coming to macOS.

Rumors about the device circulated for years, but some of these mentioned that Apple was struggling with the design. It supposedly has now given up.

Got an M4 or newer Mac and a gaming PC? Nvidia’s new PAIR just gave them a reason to talk. The free, open-source tool pairs Apple Silicon Macs with RTX-equipped PCs into a private AI cluster.

It’s a quick fix for a problem Mac users relying on local AI are starting to hit. AI agents currently split a task into smaller ones, but all of them compete for the same GPU. Nvidia PAIR fixes that by spreading those requests across paired machines instead of your Mac choking on the pileup.

Apple seems to be laying the groundwork for real HomePod surround sound. Hidden code spotted in the latest audioOS 27 beta points to a four-speaker setup that splits audio across front and rear channels.

HomePod owners have waited years for more than just a basic stereo pair. If this ships, it could finally give Apple’s smart speakers a true home theater option. That would put HomePod in more direct competition with dedicated surround setups.

Chargers with displays have become increasingly common, displaying real-time information like the power output and temperature. Pexar is bringing the same concept to its PexarBolt Ultra Thunderbolt 5 dock.

It pairs a 5-inch touchscreen with 22 ports, up to 140W laptop charging and an integrated NVMe SSD slot.

Ugreen’s latest MagFlow lineup promises to solve two of the biggest problems with fast wireless charging and power banks: excess heat and thermal throttling. Its new charging accessories feature an advanced cooling system designed to keep your iPhone cool while delivering fast wired or wireless charging.

The lineup includes the world’s first Qi2 25W magnetic power bank with a micro-pump liquid cooling system.

Ahead of the iPhone 18 Pro’s rumored launch in a dark cherry color, Baseus unveiled its new Apple-friendly accessories at IFA 2026 in the same shade.

Its new Dark Cherry lineup includes a compact 100W wall charger, a magnetic power bank, open-ear earbuds and a USB-C cable.

Popular iPhone accessory maker Ugreen is entering the smart home segment, but with a twist. Instead of relying on the cloud, it’s launching a HomeAgent that will run AI models locally to keep your data private.

The lineup consists of the HomeAgent and the SynCare series of smart cameras.

When will you be able to add your driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet on your iPhone? In the United States, it varies by where you live. It’s not up to Apple: Each state and territory maintains a completely independent registry of drivers and identification cards, so each one must independently pass legislation and implement digital IDs.

If you live in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico or West Virginia, you can do it today. (Our guide will show you how to add your driver’s license to Apple Wallet.) Otherwise, check our map and lists below to see how likely your state is to let you add your ID to Apple Wallet, and when it might happen.

Apple just made it easier to be a Mac developer: This week, the company told Mac App Store developers that they can build applications for Apple silicon only — they can drop Intel Mac support in their software. The change applies to all macOS apps that require macOS 13 or later.

If you’re still running an Intel Mac, that’s the clearest signal from Apple that your machine is in the final stretch. Developers can now flip a single build setting and stop updating Intel-compatible versions. This means fewer updates reaching Intel hardware from now on.

Apple Maps renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for users in the United States, giving in to pressure from President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order changing the name of the Great Lake last week.

The change puts Apple alongside Google Maps, which made the same switch several days earlier.

iOS 27 will let one phone number work across two iPhones. A new iPhone Handoff feature will soon allow you to swap your cellular line between a main and a companion device, with no SIM swap required.

The feature got the barest mention at WWDC 2026 in June, with zero explanation from Apple. Now, a leaked demo video finally shows how the setup could actually work.

Anker is bringing three unusually smart charging accessories to IFA 2026. Its new lineup combines active cooling, displays and device-specific charging profiles designed to protect battery health. The products cover everything from powering an iPhone on the move to charging a MacBook at home.

Popular Apple accessories maker Anker Innovations will open its first standalone store this week and pull its five category-based sub-brands under a single banner: Anker.

The idea is to simplify Anker’s product branding and take control of the company’s in-store marketing. It reminds me of what Apple did after Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997.

“Category brands made sense when categories were separate. They no longer are,” said Steven Yang, founder and CEO of Anker Innovations, in a press release Thursday. Instead, Anker will simply things into “one brand, one promise — Ultimate Innovation, now unified across everything we make.”

The first Anker store will open this week in Berlin, not coincidentally the city that hosts the annual IFA tech conference where Anker and others will showcase their latest wares.

The first folding iPhone will support MagSafe, according to a new report that may finally settle one of the last open questions about the rumored device.

Apple reportedly found some space for MagSafe’s magnetic array despite the thin design of the foldable, likely called the iPhone Ultra. New details also surfaced about pricing, launch timing and where Apple’s folding phone is expected to excel.

Oklahoma residents can finally leave their physical driver’s licenses at home — at least sometimes. The state is now rolling out support for adding driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch.

Oklahoma becomes the 16th U.S. state or territory to support Apple’s digital IDs.

Perplexity Hybrid Compute is now live on Mac. The feature splits a single AI task between the cloud and the local model, so all your sensitive files stay on the machine.

“In the newest release of the Perplexity for Mac app, users can now add a compact local model post-trained for Perplexity Computer and choose to run tasks on device on their Mac,” said Perplexity in a press release Tuesday.

Cloud models handle the research and heavy reasoning, while a compact, local AI model on your Mac handles any step that touches private data.

John Ternus officially took over as Apple’s CEO on Tuesday, and his key challenge will likely be the classic “innovator’s dilemma.” Should he focus on maintaining Apple’s dominant position or ruthlessly cannibalize the products he helped develop during his 25-year career at Apple?

Ternus, a certified hardware guy, replaced operations whiz Tim Cook, who served as Apple’s CEO for 15 years after taking over from Steve Jobs. Apple updated its website’s leadership page to reflect this gigantic change — and it reveals some of Ternus’ top priorities going forward.

Apple TV is giving subscribers another reason to stay in and watch a movie this month. The service just added 15 more popular Hollywood movies to its catalog, and they’re included with an Apple TV subscription at no additional charge.

This seems to be a new habit by the streamer: it offered a bunch of big-name Hollywood hits in August, too. Subscribers surely welcome Apple TV expanding beyond its usual lineup of original shows and movies.

Update: This article is now moot because Apple introduced AirPods 5 at its Rise and Shine product launch event on September 12. Get the official details:

• AirPods 5 mean it’s time to replace your old earbuds 

AirPods 4 could give way to AirPods 5 in the coming weeks, likely ushering in improved audio quality.

It’s a somewhat surprising development — a new version wasn’t really anticipated for another year — but there’s solid evidence that Apple is preparing to give its entry-level wireless earbuds a refresh. Perhaps as soon as this month.

Here’s what we can look forward to.

Apple added three more MacBook models to its official obsolete device list. That means the laptops no longer qualify for standard hardware service, so owners hoping for an easy trip to the Genius Bar will mostly be out of luck.

The three laptops had spent the last few years on Apple’s vintage list, and now they’ve crossed into obsolete territory for good. Apple confirmed the change in an updated support document published on Monday.

Tim Cook isn’t the only high-level Apple executive changing roles: Phil Schiller, one of the most recognizable faces in Apple’s modern history, is reportedly stepping away from his remaining major responsibilities at the company.

The 66-year-old Apple veteran is giving up oversight of the App Store and Apple’s product events, according to a report published Monday.

But Schiller isn’t completely walking away from Apple. He will supposedly remain an Apple Fellow and work on unspecified projects.