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- Apple announced the iPhone Duo on Wednesday, its long-awaited flippable smartphone.
- It gets a wider screen and selfie-taking upgrades.
- The Duo is a big risk for the famously meticulous, iterative design tech company.
The foldable iPhone is here. It still faces a big question: Will shoppers pay $1,999 (and as much as $3,199) for one?
Apple unveiled the long-awaited iPhone Duo on Wednesday during its "Surprise and Shine" event. The book-style foldable opens to a 7.6-inch inner display and has a 5.4-inch outer screen, letting users run two apps side by side. It starts at $1,999 — $800 more than the (also new) iPhone 18 Pro.
That makes the Duo a big break from the iPhone Apple has sold since 2007: a single-screen rectangle that has become one of the world's most popular consumer products.
"iPhone Duo is the most transformational change to iPhone since the original," CEO John Ternus said in a press release.
Apple is betting that a supposedly pocketable phone that doubles as a small tablet will persuade buyers to spend more. The company says it's better at taking selfies, and the wide screen offers improved movie-watching.
Apple isn't the first company to build a phone that closes. Samsung has sold its Galaxy Fold line since 2019, while Huawei, Google, Motorola, and several Chinese phone makers have also chased the market.
Modern foldable phones have remained pricey. The closest US competitors, Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold, both start around $1,900.
Those phones have yet to capture much of the overall smartphone market. Tech analysis firm IDC expects global foldable-phone shipments to reach 22.9 million units in 2026, up 12.6% from last year. That would represent just over 2% of the global smartphone market.
Still, Apple's enormous base of iPhone users could change that equation. Nabila Popal, a senior research director at IDC, said Apple's entry could "fundamentally alter the market's trajectory."
"Without Apple, foldable shipments would have declined at a double-digit rate year over year," she said. "We forecast Apple will ship more than 17 million foldable iPhones by 2027, capturing roughly 40% of the global foldables market."
Will the iPhone Duo become a status symbol? Its unique shape, high price point, and famously loyal customer base could quickly make it into a marker of wealth.
Or, it could be the next iPhone Air, which saw sales fizzle after early adopters rushed to get the latest tech.
Only time will tell.