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Mac's Edge Light Feature Rumored to Expand to iPhone
Confirmed
In Short: Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max with improved battery life and new features, while rumors suggest the iPhone Duo may be on the horizon.
Apple has unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, its latest flagship models, which come with enhanced battery life and new features. According to reports, the iPhone Duo, a foldable device, is rumored to be in the works, potentially offering a fresh take on the foldable design market, which has been dominated by Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series.
Apple has been transitioning its products to in-house cellular modems, with the iPhone 16e marking the beginning of this transition in early 2025. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models feature the C2 modem and Qualcomm's modem, respectively, with the Pro Max model showing a significant battery life improvement over its predecessor.
Additionally, Apple is incorporating features from its Android competitors, such as Google's 'Now Playing' and 'Live Rewind,' into its newest Apple Watches. The Audio Intelligence feature on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 can now instantly detect and display music playing around the user, a feature previously available on Google Pixels.
Rumors suggest that Apple may introduce a foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, which could be a significant departure from its current product lineup. This device is expected to be the most capable iPhone ever, though it remains to be seen how it will compete with Samsung's existing foldable offerings.
What's confirmed
- Apple has unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, its latest flagship models, which come with enhanced battery life and new features. According to reports, the iPhone Duo, a foldable device, is rumored to be in the works, potentially offering a fresh take on the foldable design market, which has been dominated by Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series.
- Apple has been transitioning its products to in-house cellular modems, with the iPhone 16e marking the beginning of this transition in early 2025. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models feature the C2 modem and Qualcomm's modem, respectively, with the Pro Max model showing a significant battery life improvement over its predecessor.
- Additionally, Apple is incorporating features from its Android competitors, such as Google's 'Now Playing' and 'Live Rewind,' into its newest Apple Watches. The Audio Intelligence feature on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 can now instantly detect and display music playing around the user, a feature previously available on Google Pixels.
- Rumors suggest that Apple may introduce a foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, which could be a significant departure from its current product lineup. This device is expected to be the most capable iPhone ever, though it remains to be seen how it will compete with Samsung's existing foldable offerings.
What's still developing
- Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: Introduced in 2007 by Steve Jobs, iPhone is Appl… Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more.
- First it offered a C1 modem, then the C1X followed in the iPhone Air last fall.
- Per Apple’s technical specs page, C2 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s Qualcomm modem offer comparable specs.
- Here’s an overview of quoted battery life for this year’s models vs last year’s: As you can see, iPhone 18 Pro Max gains six hours of video playback while iPhone 18 Pro only adds three.
- While Apple’s Pro Max models have always been battery champions, with iPhone 18 Pro Max that advantage is even greater than usual.
- Audio Intelligence also includes features like Live Rewind, which can show a text snippet of what was said around you in the preceding 15 seconds.
- Apple notes that Live Rewind is coming later in 2026, but doesn’t place a similar release timeline for the Shazam ambient music recognition feature, so presumably, it will be available on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at launch.
- These new smartwatches come with Audio Intelligence, and within the feature, Apple notes that Shazam will now “instantly detect the music playing around the user and automatically display the song title and artist’s name on the Music Recognition widget in the Smart Stack, easily glanceable on the wrist.” Until now, identifying music on an Apple Watch required active user participation.