Apple has unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable phone, which opens into a 7.6-inch tablet. The device has a titanium body and the new A20 Pro chip, and it goes on sale October 23.
Foldables have been on the market for seven years, and Apple is the last major manufacturer to enter the category. CEO John Ternus called the iPhone Duo the most transformational change to the lineup since the original iPhone.
The outer screen measures 5.4 inches and the inner one 7.6. The smaller display covers about 90 percent of the area of the iPhone 18 Pro screen. The larger one is 50 percent bigger than the panel on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, making it the biggest display Apple has ever put in a phone. Both are Super Retina XDR panels with the same aspect ratio, 1:1.4 closed and 1.4:1 open.
Peak outdoor brightness reaches 3,000 nits, and both screens support ProMotion and Always-On. Apple gave the inner panel a matte nano-texture coating that cuts glare and helps hide the crease down the middle. The FaceTime camera sits under the inner display and only shows up while it is in use. The external Center Stage camera sits in the top right corner.
Follow Mediasat on Google News: the latest in TV, telecom and tech
The hinge is built from more than 100 parts. It also props up the middle of the screen when the phone is open, while a set of magnets keeps the two halves shut. The frame is grade 5 titanium, the back is covered in Ceramic Shield and the outer screen is in Ceramic Shield 2. The phone carries an IP68 rating for dust and water.
The thin body forced some trade-offs. There was no room for the Face ID module, so face unlock is gone entirely. Instead the phone uses Touch ID in the side button, or an Apple Watch on your wrist. There is no physical SIM tray either—the iPhone Duo is eSIM only.
Apple also reworked the interface for the folding form factor. In iOS 27 the Dock, system elements and in-app navigation move to the side edge to free up vertical space, and the Dynamic Island turns vertical. Split View finally arrives on iPhone, letting you run two apps side by side, or two windows of the same app, and save the pair. Half-folded, the phone becomes a clock, photo frame or widget panel in StandBy mode, and it does not need to be plugged in. Apple Pencil support with USB-C is coming to both displays later this year.
The A20 Pro is built on a 2nm process. It has a six-core CPU, a seven-core GPU and two 16-core Neural Engine blocks for AI workloads. A vapor chamber handles cooling. Wireless duties go to Apple’s own N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, while the C2 modem handles cellular.
The battery is split in two, with one cell in each half of the body. Apple claims up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner screen and up to 44 hours on the outer one, or roughly a day of mixed use. A 50 percent charge takes about 20 minutes over cable, or 30 minutes on MagSafe or Qi2.
There are two rear cameras, both 48MP. The Fusion Main module offers 2x optical-quality zoom, and the ultra-wide handles macro. There is no dedicated telephoto. The main camera records 4K video at up to 120 fps in Dolby Vision, and the outer screen can show subjects their own framing while you shoot.
The iPhone Duo comes in Star White and Night Sky, with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB of storage. It starts at $1,999, or $83.29 a month over two years, the highest starting price of any Apple phone. Pre-orders open October 16, with sales starting October 23 in more than 70 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, China, India, Brazil and the UAE. Ukraine is not on the list.
