Apple will take the stage on September 9 for what is expected to be its biggest product launch in years—and its first under new Chief Executive John Ternus, who succeeded Tim Cook last week.

The company is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone, alongside the full rollout of Siri AI and a broader push into smart-home devices. According to Josh Gilbert, Lead Market Analyst at etoro, the event will put both of Ternus’s immediate challenges—revitalising Apple’s hardware portfolio and strengthening its position in artificial intelligence—firmly in the spotlight.

“The foldable iPhone is the one to watch. Launching a foldable device at a premium price will test whether Apple can still convince consumers to pay more for a genuinely new iPhone. That matters because the iPhone continues to generate just over half of Apple’s revenue, accounting for USD 210 billion of the USD 416 billion the company recorded in its last financial year.

“Beyond the foldable, Apple’s future product pipeline is reported to include AirPods with cameras, smart glasses, a tabletop robot for the home and a touchscreen MacBook. If Cook’s decade was defined by services, Ternus’s tenure looks set to focus more heavily on devices.

“The strategy appears to be centred on bringing more Apple products into more rooms, which may explain why the board chose a hardware engineer to lead the company rather than an executive primarily associated with AI.”

Gilbert noted that the rollout of Siri AI will be the event’s other major focus, particularly as investors look for signs that Apple can close the gap with competing AI platforms.

“Apple is expected to deploy Siri AI at scale this month as a more direct competitor to leading chatbots. The longer-term ambition could be to charge for the service or generate revenue through third-party applications integrated into the platform.

“This will be closely watched by the market because Siri has spent the past decade developing a reputation for not always doing what users ask. One of the key questions is whether the upgraded assistant will launch with a subscription fee or remain free. If it is offered at no cost, Apple will initially have to absorb the significant expense of operating the service without a direct revenue stream.

“Investors have not been impressed by Apple’s limited progress in AI over recent years. However, the company has been written off for arriving late to major technology trends many times before, and those calls have usually proven premature.”

Apple’s share-price performance around previous product launches also provides a note of caution. In four of the last five September iPhone events, Apple shares declined during the two weeks leading up to the launch. In three of those cases, the shares continued to fall afterwards.

“This year feels slightly different, with a new CEO and the prospect of a genuinely new product rather than another incremental upgrade. However, Apple shares have already rallied 21% this year and are trading at approximately 35 times forward earnings, leaving little room for disappointment.

“Investors will be hoping the event delivers enough substance to avoid another case of buying the rumour and selling the news.”