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on Wednesday officially unveiled its long-awaited foldable iPhone, introducing the $1,999 iPhone Duo as the centerpiece of its annual September product event and pushing its flagship smartphone lineup further upmarket.
The passport-style device, Apple’s first foldable smartphone, features a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.4-inch outer screen. Pre-orders begin Oct. 16, with availability starting Oct. 23 in more than 70 countries and regions.
The iPhone Duo is powered by Apple’s A20 Pro chip, which the company says offers up to 35% better sustained performance than the iPhone 17 Pro. It includes a dual-battery architecture, 48-megapixel main and ultra-wide cameras, and runs iOS 27, which introduces foldable-specific features including side-by-side Split View multitasking.
Apple is positioning the Duo near the top of the smartphone market, with prices starting at $1,999 for 256GB of storage and configurations available up to 2TB, marking the company’s most expensive iPhone ever.
“iPhone Duo is the most transformational change to iPhone since the original,” CEO John Ternus said.
The event marked Ternus’ first iPhone launch as Apple chief executive after succeeding Tim Cook on Sept. 1.
Apple also refreshed the rest of its premium hardware portfolio, unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro starting at $1,199 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299. Orders for the Pro models begin Sept. 12, with availability starting Sept. 18.
Notably, Apple did not introduce a standard iPhone 18, effectively shifting this year’s lineup further toward higher-priced premium devices.
The company also launched AirPods 5, priced from $129, alongside Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, which retain starting prices of $399 and $799, respectively.
Apple shares fell as much as 2% during the presentation but quickly turned positive after the event ended, gaining over 0.5%.
Reacting to the event, Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said: "Combined with the performance upgrades in the iPhone 18 Pro models, we think the lineup should support continued iPhone momentum, while also driving incremental upgrades, particularly among users on 3+ year-old devices.
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The interesting part isn’t simply that $AAPL.US launched a foldable iPhone, it’s how long they waited.
After years of $SAMSUNG , Google and others experimenting with the form factor, Apple appears to be following a familiar playbook: let the category mature, learn from the market’s mistakes, then enter with a more refined experience.
A few takeaways from today’s Apple event:
→ Apple doesn’t need to be first to shape a category.
Being late can become an advantage when the product is ready.
→ Foldables are moving from “gimmick” to premium computing device.
The book-style form factor effectively gives users a phone that can transform into a much larger screen.
→ The $2,000+ price point is significant.
Apple is positioning the foldable as an ultra-premium product rather than trying to make foldables mainstream overnight.
→ The bigger story may be the ecosystem.
Apple’s real advantage isn’t the hinge or display. It’s what happens when iOS, apps, AI, hardware and services are designed around a new form factor.
→ This could be bigger for the foldable market than for Apple alone.
Apple entering the category gives foldables a level of mainstream validation they haven’t had before.
The key question now isn’t “Can Apple make a foldable?”
It’s:
Can Apple make people feel like they need one?
That’s where the real battle begins.
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