iPhone Duo: Apple’s first foldable iPhone starts at $2,000, ships October.
Apple Introduces Multitasking Features in New iPhone Design
Apple’s latest iPhone features a short and wide form factor, similar to the Z Fold 8, which enhances video viewing and encourages users to utilize the unfolded panel for more than just reading. Notably, Apple has introduced side-by-side app functionality and iPad-style multitasking on the inner display, marking a significant first for the iPhone.
Apple iPhone Duo price: $2,000 for the 256GB variant and goes up to $3000
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on the eve of the Surprise and Shine event that the device will be called the iPhone Duo, that the iPhone Duo price starts at $2,000 for 256GB of storage, and that it will go on sale as early as October in white and dark blue. The event begins at 10am Pacific Time on September 9, or 10:30pm IST, and it is also John Ternus’s first keynote as Apple CEO after he took over from Tim Cook on September 1. Two thousand dollars converts to roughly Rs 1.76 lakh, and the iPhone Duo price in India will sit higher once import duty and local margins are added. The rest is passed to buyers who upgrade storage, which is why the climb to $3,000 is so steep. There are two 48-megapixel rear cameras and a 12-megapixel front camera built around video calling. Specification Detail Name iPhone Duo Starting price $2,000, roughly Rs 1.76 lakh at direct conversion Base storage 256GB Top configuration Around $3,000, believed to be 2TB Colours White, dark blue Chipset Apple A20 Pro Modem Apple C2 Rear cameras Dual 48MP Front camera 12MP, video-call oriented Hinge Magnetic hinge system Stylus Apple Pencil support Software Side-by-side apps, iPad-style multitasking Inner display 7.8-inch, 4:3 aspect ratio Cover display 5.5-inch Biometrics Touch ID side button, no Face ID RAM 12GB Battery (leaked) 5,400 to 5,800mAh Launch date On sale as early as October
Apple’s first foldable iPhone has a name, a price and a launch window, and all three leaked roughly 12 hours before Apple was due to announce them. Apple blew past its internal cost targets because of the memory shortage running through the industry, and it is absorbing part of that hit to keep the foldable within reach of $2,000, according to Bloomberg. Almost every foldable iPhone leak over the past year pointed to iPhone Ultra, and Gurman has previously reported that people inside Apple used that name internally.
The name is the real surprise. Duo puts the emphasis on the two displays rather than the premium positioning, and it lands Apple on a name Microsoft already used up on the Surface Duo. The price is the other headline. None of this is official yet. Apple confirms it tonight. Apple is paying for that gap itself. The iPhone Duo specifications in Gurman’s report are unusually specific. The foldable runs Apple’s A20 Pro chip alongside the in-house C2 modem.
The hinge is a magnetic system, and the phone supports the Apple Pencil, reversing earlier reporting that a shorter Pencil had been tested and shelved.