Apple's First Foldable iPhone Is Official: Meet iPhone Duo

Several years in the making, Apple's first foldable iPhone is finally official. The company announced the device during its "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The foldable handset's commercial name is iPhone Duo, a moniker mentioned in several last-minute reports preceding the company's press conference and contradicted earlier "iPhone Ultra" name leaks.

Official name aside, the iPhone Duo is a passport-style foldable device similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 handset that Samsung unveiled in late July. Also, the device looks a lot like the various concepts and "iPhone Ultra" mockups that appeared online in the previous months. For example, many case vendors have started showing off iPhone Duo accessories several days before Apple's keynote.

The handset features a 5.4-inch outer display that's wider and shorter than the most Fold-type handsets launched in previous years. Unfolded, the iPhone Duo becomes almost as big as an iPad mini, thanks to its 7.6-inch foldable screen. The foldable display has a more rectangular aspect ratio. By comparison, most foldable handsets have a square appearance when unfolded. Apple has updated iOS 27 to take advantage of the new display sizes and the larger inner screen. Both panels will also support Apple Pencil in the future.

Apple entered the foldable phone space seven years after Samsung introduced the first Galaxy Fold model. While foldable phone design and durability have improved significantly over that period, foldable devices remain more fragile than their candybar equivalents. That's why the iPhone Duo's build quality was a big focus for Apple during the launch event.

The company highlighted the nearly creaseless display experience the handset offers when opened. The almost flat-screen experience is possible thanks to a hinge made of 100 components and internal support ribs that add rigidity to the screen. The frame is made of titanium, and the hinge has a 3D-printed cover. The antenna lines feature ceramic fiber inserts for improved rigidity. The foldable display features an external scratch-resistant nano-textured cover layer. Below it, the screen has two ultra-thin glass layers surrounding the OLED panel. The screen layers feature a custom adhesive that allows the screen layers to move to reduce stress. The entire display assembly sits on a titanium plate.

The outer screen features a Ceramic Shield 2 cover, and, unlike traditional iPhones, doesn't have Face ID components inside the Dynamic Island cutout. Instead, the iPhone Duo has a Touch ID fingerprint sensor embedded into the Power button on the side. The foldable handset lacks an Action button, while the volume buttons sit at the top of the phone instead of the left side. The Camera Control button is present on the iPhone Duo, sitting under the Power button.

When it comes to dimensions, the handset measures 5.2 mm when unfolded and 11.3 mm when folded. Finally, the device features four cameras, including two 48-megapixel sensors on the back (wide and ultrawide), and an external 12-megapixel Center Stage camera and an internal under-display FaceTime camera.

The iPhone Duo shares many internal components with the iPhone 18 Pro models. The handset features the same premium A20 Pro chip built on TSMC's 2 nm process. The processor features a 6-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and 32-core Neural Engine. The chip is likely paired with 12 GB of RAM, a detail that Apple didn't mention on stage. Storage starts at 256 GB and goes up to 2 TB. Battery life estimates are up to 44 hours (video playback on the cover screen) and up to 31 hours (video playback on the inner screen.). The handset supports MagSafe wireless charging and 60 W wired charging speeds.

The iPhone Duo runs iOS 27 out of the box, complete with the new Apple Intelligence features the company developed for the operating system, including the Siri chatbot. However, the new AI software tools may not be available worldwide. The EU and China are two significant markets where Apple is still facing specific regulatory hurdles.

The iPhone Duo will be available to preorder on October 16, with prices starting at $1,999 for the 256 GB version and jumping all the way to $3,199 for 2 TB of storage. Apple set the handset's release date for October 23 for over 70 markets, including the U.S.