Apple has unveiled its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, alongside a refreshed iPhone 18 Pro lineup and updated Apple Watch models, at an event styled “Surprise and Shine”. The Duo starts at $1,999 (R32,364) for 256GB, rising to $2,199 (R35,594) for 512GB, $2,599 (R42,078) for 1TB and $3,199 (R51,791) for the top 2TB tier. It comes in Star White and Night Sky, with preorders opening on 16 October at 5am Pacific time and general availability from 23 October in the United States and more than 70 other markets.
The device pairs a 7.6-inch inner Super Retina XDR display with a 5.4-inch outer screen, both running ProMotion with always-on capability and 3,000 nits of peak brightness. It is powered by the A20 Pro, Apple’s first chip built on a 2-nanometre process and shared with the standard iPhone 18 Pro, and is offered in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB storage tiers. The rear camera system uses a dual 48-megapixel setup with an optical-quality 2x telephoto and an ultra-wide lens, while the inner display houses an under-screen FaceTime camera capable of 1080p video. Battery life is rated at up to 31 hours of video playback using the inner screen or 44 hours on the outer display, with 50% charge reached in roughly 20 minutes on a 60W wired charger or 30 minutes wirelessly via MagSafe or Qi2.
The launch positions Apple directly against Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, which starts at $2,099.99 (R33,999). Apple’s pricing undercuts Samsung by around $100 (R1,619) at the entry tier and offers faster charging and a higher IP68 water-resistance rating against Samsung’s IP48. Samsung, for its part, still offers a dedicated hardware telephoto lens, where Apple relies on software-based cropping it describes as optical-quality rather than a true second telephoto sensor.
| iPhone Duo | Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $1,999 (R32,364) | $2,099.99 (R33,999) |
| Chip | A20 Pro (2nm) | — |
| Water resistance | IP68 | IP48 |
| Telephoto | Software crop | Dedicated lens |
| Fast charging | ~20 min to 50% | — |
Apple shares wobbled through the announcement before settling largely unchanged. The stock had been down about 1% by midday on a broadly weak market, then recovered to trade flat near $316 (R5,116) within an hour of the event concluding, erasing the morning’s losses even as the wider Nasdaq stayed in negative territory.
Wall Street’s reaction has been mixed. Citi, maintaining a buy rating and $365 (R5,909) price target, described the Duo as Apple’s most significant new hardware category since the Apple Watch and AirPods. Goldman Sachs took a similarly constructive view of the split iPhone 18 launch, pointing to a roughly $100 (R1,619) price increase on the standard Pro model as a lever for higher average selling prices across the range. Oppenheimer was more measured, expecting the Duo to sell well but flagging that annual supply looks capped at 8 to 10 million units, a meaningful constraint on how much it can move Apple’s overall numbers. Needham analyst Laura Martin was the most sceptical, arguing that a larger folding screen does not address Apple’s more fundamental challenges, and voicing concern that a budget iPhone will not arrive until spring and that the company’s AI features remain underdeveloped relative to rivals. Samsung has responded to the launch with a pointed “Welcome to Foldables” marketing campaign, underscoring its position as the long-time leader in the category Apple is only now entering.