Ending months of industry anticipation, Apple has officially unveiled its first foldable smartphone, the “iPhone Duo,” alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup at its Cupertino headquarters in California. Broadcast live from the Steve Jobs Theater, the flagship launch marked the first product keynote led by John Ternus as Apple’s Chief Executive Officer.
Critiquing existing foldable smartphones on the market as clunky, Ternus presented the passport-sized iPhone Duo as an engineered hybrid designed to offer an iPad-like experience in a pocketable form factor. Equipped with Apple’s 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip, a custom vapor-chamber cooling architecture, a titanium chassis, and Apple’s in-house C2 cellular modem, the iPhone Duo folds out into a 7.6-inch seamless screen. Running iOS 27.1, the device introduces advanced multitasking capabilities, including Split View, dual-window execution, and enhanced AI-driven Siri workflows.
Starting at $1,999 in the United States, pre-orders for the iPhone Duo open on October 16, with retail availability across more than 70 countries beginning October 23, 2026. Simultaneously, Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max—starting at $1,199 and $1,299 respectively—powered by the same A20 Pro chip and featuring the new ‘Apple Reference Image’ authentication standard to combat AI-generated media. Wearable upgrades included the AirPods 5 with entry-level Noise Cancellation, Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple Watch Ultra 4.
Market analysts at IDC project Apple could capture nearly 40 percent of the global foldable smartphone market by late 2027, posing direct competition to established players like Samsung and Huawei.
The integration of the proprietary C2 cellular modem and dedicated A20 Pro vapor cooling underscores Apple’s strategic push to reduce reliance on third-party suppliers (e.g., Qualcomm) while maximizing on-device Apple Intelligence processing power.
