ZDNET’s reader contest centred on the Apple September 2026 event is entering its final stretch, with submissions closing at 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, 1 September, and the stakes have grown considerably since the competition launched.
Apple has officially confirmed the event for 9 September 2026 at 10 a.m. PT at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, Cupertino, under the tagline ‘Surprise and shine,’ according to CNET. The invitation artwork features the Apple logo rendered in a glowing neon effect, which Mashable notes evokes the visual identity of the Siri AI beta unveiled at WWDC 2026.
CNET expects the keynote to be headlined by a foldable iPhone (referred to by the outlet as the iPhone Fold), the iPhone 18 lineup, a new Apple Watch, and updated AirPods.
What the Apple September 2026 Event Could Unveil
The foldable iPhone has attracted the most analyst attention ahead of the Apple September 2026 event. JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee predicted the device would carry a price of $1,999 and could create a $65 billion revenue opportunity for Apple, with projected sales of low-teens million units in fiscal 2027 rising to mid-40s million by fiscal 2029, per CNBC. Chatterjee described the form factor as book-style, similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series, and forecast high-single-digit earnings accretion in the medium term.
TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo independently forecast a foldable iPhone for 2026 at premium pricing, corroborating Chatterjee’s timeline, also per CNBC.
Apple’s existing iPhone business is entering the event from a position of strength. iPhone generated $54.3 billion in revenue for the June quarter of fiscal 2026, up 22% year over year, Yahoo Finance reports. Apple also guided for mid-teens year-over-year iPhone revenue growth in the September quarter despite supply and foreign-exchange headwinds. Total net sales for the June quarter reached $109,417 million, with Products revenue of $78,678 million and Services revenue of $30,739 million, each setting June quarter records, according to Apple’s SEC-filed Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings release.
On the Mac side, Apple has already moved quickly in 2026. The company launched the MacBook Air with M5 on 3 March 2026, doubling starting storage to 512GB with configurations up to 4TB. The same day it unveiled the MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max, offering up to four times the AI performance of its predecessor and 1TB of starting storage. A touchscreen MacBook Pro could follow: Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported it would arrive ‘this fall, as early as October,’ with a possible slip to November, as Mashable noted.
How the ZDNET Contest Works, and Where Readers Stand
The ZDNET Big Guessing Game is now in its third and final round. Readers who missed earlier rounds can still enter: each correct answer earns one entry into a drawing for a new Apple Watch.
Round 2 results are already in. A slim majority, 55% of participants, said a foldable iPhone will not arrive in 2026. Meanwhile, 28% predicted Apple will announce a touchscreen MacBook. Entries close at 11:59 pm ET on 1 September, and ZDNET will score responses against what Apple actually announces at the September event.
No purchase is necessary to enter. The contest is open to legal US residents aged 18 and over in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Full terms are available at the official contest rules page. The sponsor is Ziff Davis, LLC. Apple is not a sponsor of, affiliated with, or an endorser of the sweepstakes.
With the 9 September keynote now dated and analysts pencilling in a $1,999 foldable as the headline product, readers who backed a touchscreen MacBook as the bigger news may find the scoring cuts both ways.