Apple Unveils iPhone Duo, Its First Foldable iPhone
Unveiled Wednesday at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, the iPhone Duo marks the company’s most significant iPhone design change in years. The device features a 5.4-inch outer display when folded and opens into a 7.6-inch inner Super Retina XDR display, providing a larger canvas for viewing content, gaming and multitasking.
Apple says the Duo is its thinnest iPhone when opened and has been engineered around a precision hinge designed to provide a smooth folding experience. Both displays feature ProMotion, Always-On functionality and up to 3,000 nits of outdoor brightness. A nano-texture finish on the inner display is designed to reduce glare and minimize the visibility of the fold.
The device is powered by Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, paired with an advanced thermal-management system and custom vapor chamber. Apple says the new processor delivers faster CPU and GPU performance, increased neural-engine capabilities for on-device artificial intelligence, and up to 35 percent better sustained performance than the iPhone 17 Pro.
The Duo also introduces a redesigned camera experience made possible by its folding form factor. It includes a 48MP Fusion Main camera and a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera, along with a new under-display FaceTime camera. Users can take selfies using the rear cameras while previewing the image on the outer display, while features such as Dual Capture and Duo FaceTime offer new ways to use the phone during video calls and photography.
Apple has also integrated new AI-powered camera features, including Smart Take, which can automatically capture a photo when subjects are properly positioned. The phone supports 4K video recording at 120 frames per second in Dolby Vision, as well as additional editing and photography tools powered by Apple Intelligence.
The iPhone Duo runs iOS 27.1, which Apple has reworked to take advantage of the foldable display. The phone supports multitasking across apps and will also gain Apple Pencil support later this year, allowing users to take notes, sketch and mark up documents directly on either display.
The device includes Apple’s new C2 cellular modem system and N1 wireless networking chip, supporting Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread. Apple says the C2 modem also brings AI-powered improvements to cellular reliability and supports mmWave in the United States.
The iPhone Duo is available in Star White and Night Sky and is constructed from grade 5 titanium. Apple says the device contains 35 percent recycled content overall, including recycled cobalt in the battery and recycled titanium in the hinge cover.
Pricing starts at $1,999 for 256GB, with configurations available up to 2TB. Pre-orders will open on Friday, October 16, with the iPhone Duo becoming available on Friday, October 23.
The launch represents Apple’s entry into a foldable-phone category that has already been developed by competitors including Samsung and Huawei. With the Duo, Apple is betting that its integration of hardware, software, cameras and artificial intelligence can bring the foldable format to a much broader audience.
The iPhone Duo was unveiled alongside the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, as well as updated Apple Watch and AirPods models, in CEO John Ternus’s first major Apple product presentation since succeeding Tim Cook.
