Apple ended today’s hardware event with one of its classic “One more thing” reveals. Some smartphone makers have been offering foldable phones for the better part of a decade, but Apple has now joined the fray with the iPhone Duo after years of speculation.
This device is undeniably the most capable iPhone ever, as well as the most expensive. It’s not as spendy as many expected, though, starting at $1,999. That’s in the same range as foldables from Google and Samsung.
An iPad in your pocket
The iPhone Duo would have looked like a totally fresh take on the foldable design a few months ago, but Samsung has made waves with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Like that phone, the iPhone Duo has a wider, shorter chassis. Apple prefaced its reveal with a denunciation of foldables that open into a square aspect ratio. While that shape can accommodate two portrait apps side by side pretty well, it’s bad at almost everything else, stretching single apps awkwardly and leaving videos with gargantuan black bars.
So the iPhone Duo adopts a passport-like shape when closed. Apple says the device has a 1:1.4 aspect ratio when open and closed. The 5.4-inch outer screen has a quirky asymmetric design, with pointy corners on the hinge side and rounded ones on the other. Apple suggests this “invites you to open” the phone.
Inside, you get the 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR foldable panel, which is slightly wider than a classic 4:3 monitor. Apple also had a thing or two to say about the structural issues with past foldables. The Duo’s screen contains multiple layers of flexible glass and a titanium base, similar to Samsung’s latest foldable screen tech. The top layer is a custom polymer that is stiffer than other materials, featuring a nano-texture finish for added readability.
The result, allegedly, is a foldable screen that looks better in bright light and has no (or very little) visible crease down the middle. Samsung and other OEMs have only recently gotten to the point where display creases are less noticeable, but they’re still there. Apple also claims the multi-layer lamination process used in its display ensures the display won’t develop a crease over time.
Apple promises the phone, which has the same A20 Pro chip as the new flat phones, will still offer solid battery life. The inner display can play video for 31 hours, and the outer screen can do it for 44 hours. With mixed use of both screens, you can expect the iPhone Duo to last about 24 hours on a charge.
An unfolding experience
The device has a titanium frame, something Apple briefly experimented with for its flat flagship phones, but this time it has added internal ceramic fibers for even more resilience. The added strength helps with the durability of a device you’re going to be opening and closing all day, but it will also probably make the device pretty heavy. Apple also notes that it has reinforced the antenna lines in the frame to reduce the possibility of failure.
The titanium hinge contains more than 100 components to provide what Apple assures us is a smooth and reliable opening experience with “custom variable torque.” There are also magnets in the frame so the two halves snap together in a satisfying fashion when closed. The device is also IP68 rated for water and dust-resistance.
Interestingly, the iPhone Duo will have a few features that Samsung supported and then abandoned in its foldables. There’s a selfie camera under the foldable screen, which is only visible when in use. Apple also says that the inner and outer screen will support the Apple Pencil later this year. Samsung dropped both those features starting in its 2025 foldable lineup.
The version of iOS on the Duo has also gotten a few enhancements with the foldable form factor in mind. Apple has made it easier to split-screen apps and manage them as a single multitasking unit. The UI and features can also adapt to the hinge position, for example, activating a split keyboard layout when you bend the phone slightly.
Apple has also smartly repositioned some important system elements to take advantage of the wider screens. The home screen app dock and the status bar have moved to the right edge of the screen. Likewise, apps can reposition buttons and controls to the right when you open the phone. This makes these elements easier to reach while preserving the phone’s limited vertical space for content.
Apple crows that the Duo is the thinnest iPhone ever when open, but that’s only true if you ignore the sizable camera plateau on the back. You won’t get the same camera experience as cheaper iPhones, though. In standard foldable fashion, Apple had to downgrade the cameras a bit. There are only two rear-facing sensors, a 48MP primary that lacks the adjustable aperture of the new iPhone 18 Pro, as well as a 12MP with 2x telephoto zoom. There’s a 12MP selfie camera in the outer display in addition to the under-display camera inside.
Expensive by anyone else’s standard
A $2,000 phone is objectively very expensive, but Apple doesn’t just do expensive—it does lavishly, obscenely expensive. Remember the $3,500 Vision Pro, which cost several times more than competing VR headsets? Yet the iPhone Duo is smack in the middle of high-end foldable pricing.
At $1,999 for the 256GB model, that’s $100 more than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 or Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold and $100 less than Samsung’s square-shaped Z Fold 8 Ultra. Of course, the Duo’s price skyrockets as you start looking at more storage. The 512 model jumps to $2,199, and the 2TB tops out at $3,199.
Apple’s probably not going to get a lot of people to upgrade from their base iPhone 17 to a $2,000 foldable, but matching the price of other tablet-style foldables could put the Duo in a strong position to steal away foldable fans. It’s all rather un-Apple-like.
The iPhone Duo will be available for preorder on October 16 and will ship on October 23.
