Apple’s Foldable iPhone, Better Health, & A New CEO

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

You're listening to The AmberMac Show on SiriusXM Canada Talks.

Amber Mac (0:05)

Hello and welcome to The AmberMac Show. In this week's episode, Jeff and I do a deep dive on Apple's new product announcements including the long rumored foldable iPhone. Plus, in a time of increasing wildfire concerns, our guest today will explain how their company is using AI to help Canadians detect wildfire activity in their area before it's too late.

Jeff MacArthur (0:28)

That seems like a really important part of fighting wildfires, so I can't wait to hear more about that.

To close off the show, we've got a discussion about how Canada can do essential resource mineral extraction by working better with Canadian First Nations. There's a lot to talk about, so let's get started with our Apple event coverage.

SPEAKER_1 (0:46)

Talking tech.

Amber Mac (0:47)

If you pay any attention to the tech world at all, you'll know that Apple recently had its annual September iPhone event, which is always a big one. These events, which started under Apple's legendary CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, have become a staple of the back-to-school season, with exciting new hardware announcements and reliably featuring a shiny new crop of iPhones.

Jeff MacArthur (1:11)

And that's all great, but there's an important difference this year. The 2026 event is the first with Apple's new CEO, John Ternes, who replaced Tim Cook, who had held that position for 15 years, and has been steering the Apple ship through the post-Steve job years right up until now. So it's exciting to see him as part of the event, and I think he did a great job.

Amber Mac (1:34)

And although Apple has had a bit of a rocky road, which we've talked about when it comes to trying to catch up on the AI side of things, with products and software delayed because of an inability to get Siri and Apple intelligence up to speed quickly, it looks like the pieces are finally coming together on that front with Apple's new AI forward iOS 27, dropping on September 14th. And some exciting new products rumored to be waiting as well in the wings. But Jeff, you are the resident Apple geek, so I know my skills in this area, and they are not necessarily on all things Apple. So I'm going to throw it over to you.

What was announced at Apple's Surprise and Shine event, and where do you want to start?

Jeff MacArthur (2:17)

Well, although there were a few expected updates at the events, including the requisite iPhone 18 and the new Apple Watches and latest AirPods, let's start at the end of his presentation, where the new CEO John Ternes took a page from Steve Jobs' presentation genius to announce one more thing.

Amber Mac (2:38)

I have to say I'm really happy that we're starting here, because I didn't want to wait to talk about this, because I had people texting me all day after this announcement. I'm sure that you're talking about the new foldable iPhone Duo.

Why don't you give us a rundown on that, just to begin?

Jeff MacArthur (2:54)

Sure.

I, frankly, had totally forgotten that there was going to be one more thing. I figured that they had done everything. So it was exciting to see it happen. I think the iPhone Duo name is appropriate, and what it looks like if you're just trying to picture it and you're listening on the radio, it basically is about the size of your passport, and it folds open to look somewhat like an iPad mini kind of size. It's really interesting. So it has a 7.6-inch inner screen when it's folded out, or a 5.4-inch outer screen when you fold it in half, and when you fold it in half, it has screens on the front and the back. So that's very interesting, and it's got this new aspect ratio that's 1 to 1.4, and an interesting thing about this is they've made that aspect ratio the same for the outer screens and the inner screens, and I'm sure part of that is to make things a bit simpler for developers who are going to find themselves with yet another screen size to deal with.

But it's very cool so that you can have this sort of consistent interface no matter how you're using the iPhone Duo. And they've changed a few things. So the dock goes on the right hand side vertically. There's speakers on the top and the bottom. And it's just a really cool form factor. I know Samsung released something like this, but this, like when you see the hinges in action and the animation as you change from open to closed, it just absolutely reeks of awesome appledness because everything is done so smoothly. So we'll talk about a few of the different ways it can be used and stuff like that. But it has all the normal iPhone stuff, and this is an iPhone. It's not an iPad no matter what you think. So it's got the eSIM, it's all eSIM and stuff like that. But it's a really cool device. And what do you think about the form factor there? To me, it looks just so much more pocketable and something. I kind of feel like every rich mom in the world is going to have one of these in their purse.