Apple has officially made its first move into foldables with the iPhone Duo, unveiled globally at the company’s ‘Surprise and Shine’ event on Wednesday. The new model takes a passport-style approach, opening up to reveal a tablet-like screen while keeping a smaller display on the outside.
The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 (roughly Rs. 1,90,000) for 256GB, while the Indian price begins at Rs. 2,99,900. It will be available with up to 2TB of storage, with the 512GB, 1TB and 2TB models priced at Rs. 3,24,900, Rs. 3,74,900 and Rs. 4,49,900, respectively. Apple is offering the phone in Star White and Night Sky.
Pre-orders are scheduled to begin on October 16, with sales starting October 23.
The foldable measures up with a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display when opened, giving users 80 percent more screen area than the 6.3-inch panel on the iPhone 18 Pro. On the outside, there is a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR display for regular phone use.
Apple has used a custom Nano Texture finish on the inner screen to cut reflections and make the crease less noticeable. The panel itself combines a custom polymer with high-strength glass, while Ceramic Shield protection covers the outer display and rear panel.
There is no physical SIM slot on the global version either. Apple has gone with eSIM-only connectivity, saying the space saved by removing the SIM tray has been used for the battery.
The foldable also gets a version of iOS 27 tailored around its larger screen. It can run apps side by side in split view, pair apps for quick switching and work in a partially folded position. StandBy can also be used without the iPhone being connected to a charger.
A20 Pro Powers The Foldable
The same A20 Pro chip powering the iPhone 18 Pro series sits inside the iPhone Duo. It is made using TSMC’s 2nm process and combines a six-core CPU with two new Super Cores and four efficiency cores. Apple claims the Super Cores alone offer a 20 per cent performance boost.
A seven-core GPU is said to deliver 40 per cent faster graphics performance, while the new Neural Accelerators offer twice the FP8 performance. The chip also has two Neural Engines with 32 cores in total, along with support for 8-bit floating-point processing.
Apple claims the A20 Pro delivers 50 per cent higher memory bandwidth than the previous generation, while overall performance is said to be 40 per cent higher than the A19 Pro and twice that of the A18 Pro.
The iPhone Duo also uses Apple’s C2 modem, which is claimed to offer a 50 per cent performance improvement over the C1x.
Dual Rear Cameras And Under-Display Camera
Around the back, the iPhone Duo gets two cameras, led by a 48-megapixel Fusion main sensor and an ultrawide sensor. It is joined by a 12-megapixel Centre Stage camera. Video recording goes up to 4K at 120fps.
Apple has also fitted cameras on both sides of the foldable, while the larger inner display houses an under-display FaceTime camera.
Battery life is another area Apple is highlighting. The company claims up to 31 hours of video playback using the inner display, 44 hours with the outer screen and 22 hours when using both screens. A five-minute charge is said to provide up to five hours of video playback.
MagSafe wireless charging is supported as well.