CALIFORNIA (The Thursday Times) — Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo on Wednesday, its first-ever foldable iPhone and the most significant change to the device’s design since it launched in 2007, featuring what the company calls the largest and most immersive iPhone screen ever, a 7.6-inch internal display.
Apple has unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first-ever foldable iPhone, featuring the largest iPhone display ever at 7.6 inches when unfolded.
Starts at $1,999, pre orders open October 16. pic.twitter.com/n7knDt9Wvt— The Thursday Times (@thursday_times) September 9, 2026
The Duo opens like a book into a wide, continuous screen with the same aspect ratio across both halves of the folding display, closer in size to a small tablet than a phone once unfolded, with a smaller external screen for regular use. Apple built the frame from machined and polished titanium, with Ceramic Shield on the back and the newer Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, and gave the device an IP68 water-resistance rating. The company says it is the thinnest iPhone it has ever made, packaging its internal components into the camera plateau to achieve the slim profile. A custom hinge, built from more than 100 precision components, keeps the display flat when open and controls the folding motion. It comes in two colours, Star White and Night Sky.
The launch marked the first product event presided over by John Ternus, who became Apple’s chief executive on September 1 after Tim Cook’s departure, having previously led the company’s hardware engineering division. Ternus drew a direct contrast with existing foldable phones on the market. “Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together,” he said at the event, held at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. He called the iPhone Duo “the most transformational change to iPhone since the original,” adding that it “shows what’s possible when hardware and software are engineered together.”
Touch ID is built into the device’s side button, with an Apple Watch also able to unlock it. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model, rising to $3,199 for a 2TB version. Preorders open on October 16, with availability beginning October 23. Apple said a handful of third-party apps, including Netflix, Zoom, and Slack, have already been adapted to take advantage of the folding display’s larger screen space.
The launch arrives exactly seven years to the day after Samsung shipped its first foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, in September 2019. Samsung has led the foldable phone category since, shipping an estimated 19.6 million foldable units in 2025 alone. Apple has a track record of entering established product categories later than its competitors and subsequently capturing significant market share, as it did with wireless earbuds and smartwatches, though whether the same pattern repeats with foldables remains to be seen rather than something that can be assumed from past performance alone.
Apple used the same event to introduce the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, updated AirPods 5, the Apple Watch Series 13 and Watch Ultra 4, and iOS 27, which brings a redesigned version of Siri built using Google’s Gemini technology. Despite the scale of Wednesday’s announcements, Apple’s shares fell roughly 1.9% in afternoon trading, a reaction reports attributed to the foldable iPhone having been widely anticipated and already priced in by investors ahead of the event.
