Apple's September 9 event looms over the entire premium smartphone market

Apple's next major product event takes place tomorrow, September 9, making the company the unavoidable backdrop to today's mobile-hardware news. The event will be the first major iPhone launch under new CEO John Ternus after Tim Cook moved into the executive-chairman role. Apple is expected to refresh its premium iPhone lineup, while speculation around the company's first foldable phone has intensified after Huawei and Xiaomi launched new folding hardware immediately beforehand. Timing matters.

Samsung remains the worldwide foldable leader, Huawei dominates the Chinese folding market and Xiaomi has just introduced its XRing-powered 18 Fold. Apple therefore enters a category that competitors have spent years refining. The company has historically preferred to arrive late and attempt to make an existing technology easier for mainstream consumers to understand. Whether that strategy works for foldables will depend on price, durability and software.

Tomorrow's event could reshape the premium smartphone market more dramatically than a conventional annual iPhone update.