And Apple at last has entered the foldable phone market this week, and it feels like a well-times one. Sitting on stage at Apple Park for his first product event for new CEO John Ternus, he launched the iPhone Duo, the firm’s head-turning first foldable phone right together with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. After years of observing competitors playing with bendable displays, Apple has finally landed with a sleek, high-end implementation that might appear less an experiment in science, more a logical progression of the iPhone. The Duo starts with a 7.6-inch inner screenthe largest Apple has ever used on a phone, a major step in bringing foldables to the mainstream. The 5.
4-inch outer screen displays just about the main features you need on a foldable when its closed, without needing to open it up, and with it closed, Apple touts it as its thinnest-ever iPhone. Both displays are protected with Ceramic Shield and IP68-rated water resistance, and the titanium frame maintains the same impressive strength to carry it around all day every day, even when folded up. A20 Pro chip is used to power the experience, and it is the same iteration found in the latest Pro models, fabricated on a 2-nanometer process for improved performance and efficiency, and developed to power dual-display multitasking and on-device artificial intelligence.
Battery life seems simple. You get up to 31 hours of video when using the inner display and up to 44 when the outer display is mainly in use, a result of dual batteries, thinner components, and advanced heat dissipation. Camera specs are the same dual 48-megapixel setup with optical-quality 2x zoom and macro on the exterior back and a camera on the cover and an inside camera beneath the display on the interior cover.
Later this year, the Duo will also get Apple Pencil compatibility, making the large inner display more like a border-to border mini sketchpadand a portable one, at that. Pricing begins at $1,999 for 256GB, going up to $3,199 for 2TB model. Pre-order begins 16th October, while release will be October 23.
The pricing is comparable to that of the major Samsung and Google foldables, but Apple is obviously betting that its software updates, focus on reliability and integration will outweigh the cost for a lot of potential customers. Though, Ternus showed off not just the Duo, but also the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max as well. Having the same old camera, battery and processing power upgrades, featuring the A20 Pro chip, the standard flagships have appeared somewhat closer to the start of the pre-order period and are released in the middle of September.
The choice to offer only Pro models as part of the standard releases this fall is reflective of the strategy Apple is playing at this point. Ternus already has a different attitude. An endurance hardware engineer who has been in Apple most of his working life, he brought the devices across with a quiet confidence rather than performances. He described how the Duo adapts your everyday applications for the larger canvas and how the increased screen estate opens new dimensions for work, entertainment and creativity without requiring you to lug around a separate tablet. The message was obvious: this remains an iPhone, only it can grow.
