Apple has entered a new product category with the launch of its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo.
iPhone Duo features a 12-megapixel selfie camera on the outer display
Photo Credit: Apple
Apple launched its first foldable phone globally on Wednesday during the ‘Surprise and Shine' event. Named iPhone Duo, the foldable is set to go on sale soon in two distinct colour options. The iPhone Duo is powered by Apple's latest mobile platform, the A20 Pro chipset, which is built on TSMC's 2nm process. The chipset also powers the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple's first foldable is equipped with a dual rear camera unit, featuring two 48-megapixel shooters. The phone also features cameras on the inner foldable screen and the cover display. The passport-like foldable also ships with support for MagSafe wireless charging.
iPhone Duo price starts at $1,999 (roughly Rs. 1,90,000) for the base variant with 256GB of storage. The foldable will be available in storage options up to 2TB. The new smartphone will be available for pre-order starting October 16, and is scheduled to go on sale on October 23.
In India, the price of the iPhone Duo starts at Rs. 2,99,900 for the base 256GB option. Meanwhile, the 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations are priced at Rs. 3,24,900, Rs. 3,74,900, and 4,49,900, respectively. The iPhone Duo is offered in Star White and Night Sky colour options.
The iPhone Duo globally ships with eSIM support only. The company says that physical SIM support was removed to create more space for the phone's battery. It sports a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR foldable display on the inside, which is 80 percent larger than the 6.3-inch screen of the iPhone 18 Pro. It features a custom Nano Texture finish for a minimal visible crease in the middle and reduced reflection. Moreover, the inner screen is made from a custom polymer with a high-strength glass on top.
The iPhone Duo features a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR cover display. The phone gets Ceramic Shield protection on the outer screen and the rear panel. It will ship with iOS 27, which has been customised for the iPhone Duo. iOS 27 on the foldable offers split view for better multitasking, the ability to pair apps and easily switch between them by swiping, partial-folded use, and the ability to enter Standby even when the phone is not on charge.
The iPhone Duo is powered by the new A20 Pro chipset, built on a 2nm process and featuring a six-core CPU with two new "Super Cores" that deliver 20 percent faster performance, along with four new efficiency cores. The SoC also features a seven-core GPU, delivering 40 percent faster graphics performance and increased bandwidth. It also gets new Neural Accelerators with 2x faster FP8 performance.
On top of this, the A20 Pro chipset also features a dual Neural Engine setup, with a total of 32 cores, which is claimed to offer more efficiency and 8-bit floating-point support. Overall, the A20 Pro SoC is claimed to deliver 50 percent increased memory bandwidth. The chip is 40 percent more powerful than the A19 Pro SoC and 2x more powerful than the A18 Pro chipset. The smartphone also features the Apple C2 Modem, which is claimed to offer 50 percent enhanced performance over the C1x chip.
For optics, the iPhone Duo carries a dual rear camera setup, headlined by a 48-megapixel Fusion Camera. The main shooter has been paired with a 12-megapixel telephoto camera, offering 2x optical zoom. The phone is capable of recording videos at up to 4K/120 fps. On the front, the handset features a Centre Stage camera, and the foldable screen gets an under-display FaceTime camera.
The iPhone Duo is claimed to deliver “all-day battery life”, providing 31 hours of video playback with inner screen usage, 44 hours of battery playback with outer screen usage, or 22 hours of battery backup with combined display usage on a single charge. Apple says that 5 minutes of charge will deliver 5 hours of video playback.
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.