Apple's foldable iPhone is the centerpiece of a product event eight days after John Ternus became chief executive, and Mark Gurman said he continues to hear it will be priced above $2,000 in the United States.
A first day usually comes with room to settle in. Gurman's point is that Ternus has almost none: he inherits an executive team he was a peer of a week ago, and his first public appearance as chief executive is a launch he did not have time to shape.
"It's going to be pretty, and it's going to cost a pretty penny. I continue to hear that it's going to be priced north of $2,000 US."
Gurman is Bloomberg's managing editor for Apple and consumer technology, and he reported two and a half years ago that Ternus was the likely successor when nobody else had him in the running.
I listened to the full segment so you can skip it.
Here are the 4 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Mark Gurman, Bloomberg's managing editor for Apple and consumer tech, who named Ternus as Cook's likely successor two and a half years before it happened
🎙️ Host: Ed Ludlow, who anchors Bloomberg Tech from San Francisco
📰 Published: 1 September 2026 on YouTube (Bloomberg Tech)
🔴 YouTube | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | ⏱️ 5 min
Key Takeaways
Ternus has to manage an executive team he was a peer of, which Cook never had to do Cook had already been interim chief executive and before that chief operating officer
Apple's longtime marketing chief is on his way out, and Gurman says another departure is coming
The foldable iPhone is expected above $2,000, and Gurman calls it the main event of the show Two screens and a folding mechanism are what he says the price pays for
The Apple Watch gets continuous heart-rate monitoring instead of readings at random intervals
1. A Peer Becomes the Boss
Ludlow put Gurman's own reporting to him: that Ternus is a product and hardware person rather than a finance, sales or legal one, and asked how he manages a veteran team.
Gurman said the succession has been discussed so long that the day itself feels anticlimactic, and then said why it still matters. "This is a big deal for Ternus. This is a big deal for Apple."
The structural difficulty is that Ternus was one of them last week. He described a situation in which someone who was a peer of the rest of Apple's executive team has risen to be their boss
Cook's own promotion did not carry that problem. "And that's different than when Tim Cook took over because Tim Cook wasn't necessarily a peer when he took over the company." "He had already been serving as Apple's interim CEO before. Two or three times before then, he had been the COO, so he was in a different stratosphere to everyone else, and he was a shoo-in for the role."
Ternus was not the expected answer until Gurman reported it. "Ternus, until my reporting on this about two and a half years ago, was a bit out of left field, dark horse surprise"
What the board is buying is product judgment. Gurman said the appointment rests on Ternus's product chops, and on the hope held by the board, by Ternus, by employees and by customers that he leads Apple into new innovative products
2. The Old Guard Steps Back
Ludlow asked about a senior retirement Gurman had reported in the previous 24 hours.
Gurman named Apple's longtime head of marketing, Phil Schiller, and said he is not the only one moving. After stepping down from the marketing role in 2020 he became an Apple fellow running the App Store and Apple events, which put him in charge of the stores across the company's products as well as its product launch events
The move is a step back rather than an exit, for now. "He's stepping back for unspecified projects, so he'll remain at the company for now, but he is en route to retirement."
A second departure is already reported but not yet public. "And so that's another big change in the guard for Apple as well. And there'll be one more that we can talk about later."
3. The $2,000 Foldable
Ludlow set the date — Wednesday 9 September — and asked what Gurman has reported about the event.
The price is the headline, and Gurman kept it as something he is hearing rather than something confirmed. "It's going to be pretty, and it's going to cost a pretty penny. I continue to hear that it's going to be priced north of $2,000 US."
The cost sits in the display and the hinge. "Obviously, this is expensive technology with that expansive display, as well as that folding mechanism." Gurman noted the device carries two screens, an inner one and an outer one, and called it the main event of the showcase
The rest of the iPhone line is an incremental year. The 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are expected, with new colors including a sky blue and a wine burgundy red on the Pro models "The Pro Max will now get a mechanical aperture, so you can use a manual setting to let in as much light as you want into the photos." Gurman said that means better photography in the dark or at night
The wearables are a health update rather than a redesign. New Apple Watches are expected and AirPods 5 is likely to arrive. "Not major changes on the Apple Watches, but you'll see improvements to health tracking, including a continuous heart rate monitor." He said the watch currently reads at random intervals and during workouts, and will now produce more data all day
4. Still a Recorded Event
With about 15 seconds left, Ludlow asked whether Apple is going back to live events.
The format does not change, but the opening does. "John Ternus will come on stage, talk for a few minutes, introducing himself as CEO. Then they'll play the video."
Only the Cupertino audience sees that in person. Gurman said the live portion is for attendees at the Steve Jobs Theater. "And then everyone else can watch that same video live online through the Apple TV, through the Apple website, YouTube, other social sites."
Bonus Insights
Gurman opened by noting he and Ludlow have been discussing the succession for two and a half years, so the first day felt repetitive rather than new
Ludlow read a separate executive change in the travel sector. Airbnb has replaced its chief business officer with a former TripAdvisor and Booking executive, Pepin Rivas, who succeeds Dave Stevenson across short-term rentals, enterprise operations and the company's growing hotels offering He said the appointment follows a spate of executive changes at Airbnb over the past year as several tenured leaders stepped down or retired
Gurman's bottom line is that Ternus takes over with an executive bench that is changing under him and a launch he has to front within days, and that the product decision the market will price is a folding phone costing more than $2,000.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Apple (Ternus's first day as chief executive, eight days before a product event he did not have time to shape)
iPhone (The foldable is the centerpiece, expected north of $2,000, alongside the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max with a mechanical aperture on the Pro Max)
Apple Watch and AirPods (New models expected; the watch gains continuous heart-rate monitoring rather than readings at intervals)
App Store (Run by Schiller as an Apple fellow after he left the marketing role in 2020, along with Apple's launch events)
Apple TV (One of the places the recorded launch video streams, alongside Apple's website and YouTube)
Airbnb (Replaced its chief business officer with an executive from TripAdvisor and Booking, after a year of senior departures)
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