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  • ADCB

Ellington Properties and ADCB Roll Out Pre-Approved Home Financing in Dubai

Pre-approved home financing in Dubai picked up a new route this month for anyone eyeing an Ellington Properties home. The boutique developer

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What Apple's Foldable iPhone
  • Apple Inc.

The foldable iPhone cost that shoppers have wondered about for two years finally has a figure behind it. Citi’s Atif Malik put the starting price above $2,000 in a note to investors. That would make Apple’s first folding phone the most expensive it has sold. Malik expects the device at the company’s September 9 keynote, next to a new set of Pro models.

A price shaped by the chip shortage

Malik’s estimate rests on more than a premium badge. The foldable iPhone cost reflects a tight supply of memory chips, the same parts AI data centers are buying in bulk. Prices for that memory have climbed hard through 2026. Apple feels the strain. The company gave cautious revenue guidance in late July because it could not source enough memory to meet demand. Suppliers such as SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron have sold much of their premium AI memory through 2026, as Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta race to build data centers.

Tim Cook, who ran Apple for 15 years before moving to executive chairman on September 1, described the squeeze plainly. He called the memory market “a 100-year flood” on his final earnings call as chief executive, pointing to memory prices rising at an exponential pace. Higher chip bills reach the price tag, and the foldable sits at the top of the range.

What Apple shows on September 9

Apple attached the tagline “Surprise and shine” to its September 9 event at the Steve Jobs Theater. It will be the first product launch led by John Ternus, the hardware engineer who took over as chief executive this month. Widely expected to carry the name iPhone Ultra, the foldable headlines the event, with new Apple Watches and refreshed AI software beside it.

The iPhone Ultra release date sits at the center of the chatter, though Apple rarely ships a device the moment it reveals one. Reports point to thin early supply, with production of only a few hundred units a day at the start. Buyers hoping to fold a new iPhone in September may wait weeks past the reveal.

Where the foldable iPhone cost lands against rivals

The foldable iPhone cost would put Apple a step above the field it is entering. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 sells near $1,899, and Google’s folding Pixel sits below that. Set against those, the iPhone Ultra price carries a modest premium, one Apple will ask buyers to pay for a first-generation product.

Shoppers eyeing the standard lineup face higher numbers too. The iPhone 18 Pro price is expected to climb about $200 over last year’s model, pushed by the same memory costs. Bigger storage would push the number higher still, matching the pattern of Apple’s current Pro tiers. Anyone weighing the foldable iPhone price against a conventional Pro will find a wide gap, one that could give buyers pause before they commit.

The numbers behind the launch

Citi does not expect heavy volume at the start. Malik estimates Apple will sell about 5 million foldables in the second half of 2026, then 2.3 million more in the first quarter of 2027. Those figures are projections, and other Citi notes have carried different splits, so the early sales picture stays open.

For Apple, the release reads as a test. A foldable iPhone costing this high reaches a narrow slice of buyers, at least in the first year. The larger question is whether Ternus can protect Apple’s margins while memory stays dear, a problem Cook expects to run well into next year.

  • 3 min read
Tawakkalna monthly transactions
  • Saudi Arabia

Tawakkalna monthly transactions averaged more than 4.4 billion over the past six months, a figure that shows how deeply the platform now sits in daily life across Saudi Arabia. Alongside that count, the app drew 13.3 million active users each month. Dr. Esam Alwagait, director of the National Information Center at SDAIA, shared the data during a panel at the LEAP 26 conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. He said the volume points to how much people rely on the platform and how mature the Kingdom’s data systems have become.

What the numbers say about everyday use

Behind every count of Tawakkalna monthly transactions is a person renewing a document, checking a permit, or handling something that once meant a trip to a government office. The Tawakkalna app began as a health tool and grew into a single door for a wide set of Saudi digital government services. Eng. Ahmed Alsuwaiyan, governor of the Digital Government Authority, joined the same discussion. He said services from 62 government entities now run inside the app, a sign of how far Tawakkalna government integration has come. The panel looked at how bringing those services together changes the experience for the person on the other side of the screen.

Business Intelligence & News

  • Ellington Properties and ADCB have introduced pre-approved home financing in Dubai for both off-plan and ready properties.
  • Off-plan buyers can secure pre-approved financing for up to 50% of a property’s value, renewable annually until handover.
  • ADCB is offering rates from 3.49% per annum, fixed for three years, with processing and valuation fees waived for a limited time.
  • The partnership pairs Ellington’s residential portfolio with ADCB’s mortgage expertise through a single digital application and a dedicated relationship manager.
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Tawakkalna monthly transactions and the 2030 goal

Alwagait laid out where the work is headed. By 2030, the plan calls for zero duplication of information, zero paper, and close to 100 percent proactive services. In practice, that means a service reaches you when you need it, without asking you to resubmit data the government already holds. Your privacy stays protected through the process. He framed the current results as a move toward an integrated, beneficiary-centered system rather than a finished product.

Reaching full integration of government app services is a starting line, not a finish. Alwagait described a shift away from searching through more than 1,700 separate services toward something that anticipates need. Artificial intelligence sits at the center of that change. The pilot phase of a smart assistant called Shamel now points people to the right service and steps, based on what their situation calls for. For someone facing a life event like a new job, a move, or a birth, the aim is a path that already knows the next step.

Why integration matters to the person using it

Alsuwaiyan said the real gain runs deeper than gathering services in one place. The point, he explained, is a government experience that holds together around the person using it, saving time and effort while lifting the quality of each service. He credited clear governance, shared standards, and national digital tools for that result. Rising Tawakkalna active users track with this steady expansion, and the growth in Tawakkalna monthly transactions reflects trust as much as convenience.

That trust carries weight in global rankings too. Alsuwaiyan tied the work to stronger efficiency in government spending and a better standing for the Kingdom in worldwide digital government measures. For the millions who open the Tawakkalna app each month, the payoff is simpler. Fewer forms, less waiting, and a service that meets them where they stand.

  • 4 min read