At an Apple launch, even the smallest claim to bragging rights can spark fierce competition.

Lachlan Collyer learned that firsthand after spending hours outside Sydney’s flagship Apple store, only for a rival to jump the queue and rush ahead in the race for the doors. With a phone raised overhead, the man proclaimed himself the world’s first owner of the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

Collyer, 20, had arrived hours earlier to secure the front position outside Apple’s George Street flagship. The Sydney store opened at 8 a.m. Friday, ahead of every other Apple Store worldwide.

As Collyer displayed his new iPhone 18 Pro in the eye-catching Glacier ice blue finish, the customer who had cut in front of him sprinted toward waiting cameras. Holding up his own device, he insisted he was the first person in the world to own one — underscoring just how seriously some launch-day buyers take the title.

“I’m the first! I’m the first! All the f—king news lies!” the man screamed as he left the store.

Collyer remained unfazed, telling reporters he was thrilled to be among the first buyers to get hold of Apple’s latest release.

“To have the first ever [John] Ternus product is incredibly exciting and, on a technological level, the first ever and last ever 2 nanometer architecture chip set in existence. The first ever iteration came out today – that is incredibly exciting,” he said.

“It says a lot about the direction of Apple and what they’re doing with their product line-ups, and I can’t wait to see for the next 15 years where it’s going to go.”

Despite the launch-day confrontation, people in the queue and Apple staff still widely viewed Collyer as the legitimate first customer through the doors. He was far from the only shopper willing to make an early start.

Mehak Dhiman, 26, and Shav Chandra, 24, had been waiting outside since 6 a.m., sharing breakfast ahead of the 8 a.m. opening. Their biggest decision was choosing between the returning Glacier blue option and burgundy, a new color introduced on Friday.

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The two Apple fans said they were “excited” to be among the first group in the world to line up for the newest launch.

“We’re very excited. Excited to see it in person,” Dhiman said.

“We came here specifically early to figure out which color we want to get … the red one’s bold, it’s new, it’s unique, but the glacier is a nice pastel. We just want to see it in person to see how it looks,” Chandra said.

Customers inside the store were also given a first look at Apple’s most anticipated device yet, the iPhone Duo, as the tech giant’s first-ever foldable phone on preview ahead of its official release on October 23.

“Excited to see it and play with the Duo as well; we’re not getting it, but we definitely want to have a look at it, interact with it, and see what the hype’s about,” Chandra said.

Invited to the launch were a group of Sydney influencers and content creators, including Brad Canning, whose exclusive first look video on the Pro and Pro Max a week before its public launch reached 2.8 million views on TikTok, as well as Jeremy Franco, internet personality Seva Mozhaev, Andrea Hobbs, and filmmaker Matt Lambley, showing off the new products on social media.

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max release comes at the helm of Apple’s newest CEO, John Ternus, who took the reins of the $4.5tn tech giant from Tim Cook and his predecessor, Steve Jobs, and it features Apple’s biggest camera overhaul in years.

The 18 Pro and Pro Max come with a 48-megapixel camera with variable aperture, alongside the new A20 Pro chip and what Apple says is the largest battery life improvement ever seen on an iPhone with up to 34 hours of video playback for the Pro and up to 43 hours on the Pro Max.

The devices also debut a rebuilt version of Siri, powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence under iOS 27, and a smaller dynamic island.

Also launched Friday were the newest in the Apple Watch series, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and AirPods 5, with nationwide launches of the new Mac mini and Mac Studio to follow from September 22.

New satellite images indicate Iran has reinforced defenses around tunnel entrances at Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried nuclear-linked facility that President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned could be targeted. The developments emerged as Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-backed Security Council resolution intended to maintain international oversight of sanctions against Tehran.

In a report issued Thursday, the Institute for Science and International Security said imagery captured Sept. 11 showed earthen roadblocks still blocking routes to the western tunnel portals at Pickaxe Mountain, near Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex. The continued limits on access support the institute’s view that the site is not being used for routine operations, though it assessed that important equipment or materials may still be stored inside.

The analysis also found new soil deposits over a western tunnel portal and a nearby group of entrances initially constructed in 2007. According to the institute, the added earth deepens protection around the entrances and further fortifies them against potential airstrikes.

The latest findings were released a week after Trump delivered his most recent warning about Pickaxe Mountain.

“We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe,” Trump told reporters last week. “I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard.”

Trump has repeatedly suggested the United States could attack the site. During a July 28 appearance on “Fox & Friends,” highlighted by the White House, Trump said the U.S. was closely watching Pickaxe and knew “exactly what’s going on.” He added that Washington could “take out Pickaxe” if diplomatic efforts failed.

Located about two kilometers from Natanz, Pickaxe Mountain has several tunnel entrances leading to a deeply buried underground complex. Work began in 2020 after sabotage damaged an advanced centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz. Iranian authorities later said they were building a replacement underground site for advanced centrifuge production. Analysts believe sections of the facility could be buried at least 100 meters below the mountain’s surface. Iran has maintained that no nuclear activity is taking place there.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, the senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told News Media that some analysts believe the window for a relatively straightforward strike on Pickaxe Mountain may already have closed.

“The window to strike Pickaxe Mountain, according to some, has already expired because the regime has dug an underground nuclear facility several times deeper than Fordow,” Ben Taleblu said. But he argued that Washington retains military options even if destroying the underground complex itself proves difficult.

“Washington can do what it’s traditionally been able to do with sites that are underground, hardened and fortified, and that’s to bury their entrances and raise the political cost to the Islamic Republic of being able to dig out,” he said.

“While there may not be the perfect munition just yet, Uncle Sam always has a bigger bomb,” Ben Taleblu added. “And in the meantime, what they can do is show that they mean business by burying the entrances.”

The Pickaxe findings came alongside signs of reconstruction at another sensitive Iranian facility.

In a separate report Thursday, the institute said Iran was “rapidly moving forward” with reconstruction of Taleghan 2 at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran. Vantor Technologies satellite imagery from Sept. 13 shows Iran erected a tarp over the destroyed hardened facility, obscuring work underneath from satellite or aerial observation, while dump trucks, bulldozers, concrete equipment and cranes were active around the site.

The institute said Iran also built new concrete reinforcement that could provide additional protection against aerial attack. Taleghan 2 was struck by Israel in October 2024 and again in March 2026 after Iran had rebuilt and hardened the facility. The institute said significant questions remain about Tehran’s plans for the site.

The military developments unfolded alongside a separate confrontation over Iran at the United Nations.

Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-authored Security Council resolution that would have extended for another year, until September 2027, the mandate of the Panel of Experts supporting the 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee. The measure received 11 votes in favor, while Pakistan and Somalia abstained.

The panel investigates alleged sanctions violations and reports on implementation. The dispute reflects a deeper split over whether UN sanctions suspended under the 2015 nuclear agreement were legally restored through the “snapback” mechanism. Most Council members maintain that the sanctions and related monitoring structures were revived, while Russia and China reject the legal and procedural validity of that position.

A day before the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told reporters in New York that Washington considers the sanctions legally restored.

“The snapback sanctions… occurred, the United States and this U.N. Security Council followed appropriate procedures for that to occur,” Waltz said Wednesday at a news conference attended by News Media. “Those sanctions are in place and we expect those who are a party to fully enforce those sanctions.”

Waltz said the expert panel is important because sanctioned companies and individuals can attempt to evade restrictions by changing names and corporate structures.

“The president has been clear, and the world community has been clear with resolution after resolution, that the Iranian regime cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Waltz said.

Thursday also brought fresh U.N. scrutiny of both Washington and Tehran. An independent U.N. fact-finding mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe two U.S. strikes on civilian sites in Iran in February constituted war crimes, while separately concluding that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on anti-government protests. The mission is investigative rather than judicial, and its findings do not themselves constitute criminal judgments.

News Media reached out to the Iran U.N. mission for comments but didn’t receive them in time for publication.