CNET has launched the third and final round of its Big Guessing Game: Apple Edition, offering readers a chance to win the latest Apple Watch by predicting what Apple will reveal at its biggest event of the year. The contest opened today and will accept entries until 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 1. This round focuses entirely on Apple’s early-September launch event for the next iPhone, an event that is expected to feature new CEO John Ternus and potentially debut a foldable iPhone nicknamed the iPhone Ultra.
The third round’s questions center on unknowns surrounding that event, according to CNET. Participants are asked to guess whether outgoing CEO Tim Cook will appear on stage alongside Ternus, and what price Apple might set for its first foldable phone if it is announced. The contest is open to US readers, and the prize remains the latest Apple Watch, with no additional details provided on the specific model or configuration.
The first two rounds of the contest provided some notable results, CNET reported. In Round 1, which covered Apple’s midyear WWDC conference, 96% of guessers predicted that Ternus would speak, but he did not, leaving the stage to Tim Cook. A standout outlier was that only one person correctly predicted the next macOS update would be named Golden Gate.
Round 2 focused on predictions for Apple’s annual September event, and the results showed strong expectations for new hardware. More than three quarters of readers, or 77%, predicted that Apple would debut its first foldable phone at the event, a figure that aligns with widespread rumors. Just over half, or 51%, think Apple will announce its first pair of smart glasses, though CNET noted that rumor activity on that front has been quieter.
The final round now asks participants to weigh in on other open questions, such as how many iPhone models will be revealed, whether an Apple Watch 4 will appear at the event, and if Ternus will end his first major presentation with a “One More Thing” segment, and what that might be. Correct guesses could earn the entrant the Apple Watch prize.
CNET described the earlier guessing game rounds as fun, with the second round being a wild success, setting the stage for this concluding contest. The event itself is highly anticipated, marking Ternus’s first big outing as CEO and potentially introducing a product category new to Apple’s lineup. The contest closes before the actual event, so participants must submit their predictions by the Sept. 1 deadline.
