Apple raised the curtain on its much-anticipated foldable iPhone at a streaming video event Wednesday.
The new iPhone Duo, which will start at US$1,999 and ship October 23, is about the size of a passport — 5.4 inches diagonally — when closed, but still offers about 90% of the screen real estate of an iPhone 18 Pro, which was also announced at the event, along with the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
When open, the Duo sports a 7.6-inch Super Retina display that's 80% larger than that of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
The iPhone Duo unfolds from its compact, passport-size form into a full-size foldable display. (Video Credit: Apple)
To create an uninterrupted experience when transitioning between the interior and exterior screens, both displays maintain a consistent aspect ratio.
Software controls are located on the side of the screens to maximize content display and are within easy reach of a thumb.
Unlike other iPhone models that are secured with Face ID, the Duo uses Touch ID.
Apple is touting the Duo as the thinnest iPhone ever when opened.
The iPhone Duo shown in its closed and fully opened configurations. (Image Credit: Apple)
Like the other iPhones announced at the event, the Duo runs on the new A20 Pro chip, which has a six-core CPU, seven-core GPU, and two neural engines with a combined 32 cores.
Built for durability with a titanium frame, the Duo also has spatial audio speakers at the top and bottom of the unit, which will be offered in star white and night sky.
"They exceeded the expectations that a lot of people had," declared Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst with SmartTech Research , a technology advisory firm in Las Vegas. "I think they're going to have a blowout holiday season with this new foldable phone — even though the price point is high."
"They did an incredible job of showing the usage models," he told TechNewsWorld. "That's an area that, frankly, Samsung has struggled with, but Apple really knocked it out of the park."
Vena predicted Apple's developers will warm up to the form factor immediately. "Wait until the developers get their hands on the APIs," he said. "Apple did some stunning things with running apps on each screen and dragging material left and right."
The iPhone Duo uses its unfolded display to run different views side by side. (Image Credit: Apple)
He also praised the Duo's battery life. "My God, it was like 45 hours," he noted.
One thread Apple wove throughout the event was the use of Apple Intelligence across its devices. With the new Siri, Apple noted, personal context can be found across applications like email and messaging.
"If you give Apple Intelligence access to your text messages, there's some really incredible value that you can extract from that," Vena observed.
"The question is, are people going to feel comfortable giving Apple access to their text messages?" he asked. "Because when you really think about it, your entire life is on your text message stream."
The expansion of real estate on the Duo's display could give a boost to agentic AI, maintained Ranjit Atwal, a senior director analyst at Gartner , a global research and advisory company based in Stamford, Conn.
"The extra real estate allows you to divide the phone up and be able to see what the agent is doing," he told TechNewsWorld. "You can interact with the agent on one part of the screen and run apps on the other part of the screen."
"This is the first iteration of their foldable, but moving forward users will intera…