Apple prices its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, at $1,999

Apple on Wednesday put a price on its first foldable iPhone. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256 GB, $100 above Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 and $100 below the Z Fold 8 Ultra. The 512 GB model is $2,199. The 2 TB model is $3,199. Pre-orders open on 16 October. The phone goes on sale on 23 October in a first wave of more than 70 countries that includes India, where the starting price has been listed near Rs 2,99,900.

The device is a book-style foldable, not a flip. Closed, it has a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR cover screen with a 1:1.4 aspect ratio that Apple kept on the inner panel as well. Open, the inner display is 7.6 inches. Both panels run 120 Hz ProMotion, stay on in standby, and are rated at up to 3,000 nits outdoors. Apple says a multi-layer lamination and a custom nano-texture finish are meant to keep the crease from growing with use. The FaceTime camera sits under the inner glass.

Thickness figures published with the launch put the open device at about 4.5 to 5.2 millimetres, depending on the outlet's measurement point, and the closed stack near 9.2 to 11.3 millimetres. Weight is listed at 254 grams. The frame uses an amorphous alloy. The hinge is titanium. Ceramic Shield covers the closed faces. The phone is eSIM-only worldwide, rated IP68, and supports Wi-Fi 7 and Apple Pay. Colours are Night Sky and Star White.

Inside is the same A20 Pro chip that Apple put in the new iPhone 18 Pro line, with a display engine that drives both screens at once and a custom vapour chamber to handle the heat of a foldable chassis. A new C2 modem adds millimetre-wave in the United States. Storage steps are 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. Independent listings put RAM at 12 GB. Apple did not confirm that number on stage.

Power is split across two batteries, one on each side of the hinge, treated as a single pack. Apple rates video playback at 31 hours on the inner display, 44 hours on the outer display alone, and 24 hours if use is split evenly. Wired charging is 20 W. Rear cameras are a 48-megapixel Fusion main and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide. The outer front camera is listed as 12-megapixel Center Stage in Apple's own notes and as 24-megapixel in some spec sheets. Video goes to 4K at 120 frames a second.

Apple Pencil support is coming, but not on day one. USB-C Pencil compatibility is promised in a software update later this year. Accessories at launch include a Folio with a kickstand and a two-part case that covers each half. Standby mode has been rewritten for the cover screen.

The price is the point of the launch as much as the hinge. Samsung and Google have sold book-style foldables for years. Apple waited until it could match their open-and-shut size and land within $100 of the volume Fold. It will not move a base iPhone 17 owner to a $2,000 slab on design alone. It can pull buyers who already live in that price band and want the software and service lock-in they already pay for.

John Ternus, Apple's chief executive, held the Duo on stage at Apple Park on 9 September at an event billed Surprise and Shine. The company is selling a passport-shaped phone that costs as much as a used car in some markets and still undercuts Samsung's square Ultra. The crease, the battery split, and the missing day-one Pencil are the items reviewers will measure in October. The $1,999 sticker is the item finance desks will measure now.