In a move that represents one of the biggest transformations in the history of its most prominent product, Apple unveiled the first foldable iPhone under the name “iPhone Duo”priced starting at $1,999, during an event held at the Steve Jobs Theater at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The “iPhone Duo” comes with a design with circular edges and a size similar to a passport, and opens to a wide horizontal screen that can also be used vertically, in addition to a smaller screen in the interface when the device is folded. Apple said it was the thinnest iPhone ever when opened.
The phone’s price starts at $1,999, with storage capacities ranging from 256 GB to 2 TB. It includes a 7.6-inch “Super Retina XDR” screen, which is 50% larger than the “iPhone 18 Pro Max” screen.
The launch of the foldable phone represents the first event of its kind under the leadership of new CEO John Ternos, and the most prominent restructuring of the iPhone since the removal of the physical home button with the “iPhone
The transfer of leadership from Tim Cook to Ternos came via a video clip that opened the show, and ended with Cook saying: “It’s not me… it’s your new man,” referring to Ternos.
Ternos placed artificial intelligence and privacy at the heart of the new phase, presenting the iPhone as a center for personal artificial intelligence, and stressing that “Apple Intelligence” technology works on the device itself whenever possible to maintain the user’s control over his data.
In this context, Lilian Rincon, responsible for artificial intelligence products at Apple, announced that the updated version of Siri will be compatible with 300,000 applications upon its launch.
The company also revealed the “iPhone 18 Pro” and “18 Pro Max,” with prices starting at $1,199 and $1,299, respectively, an increase of $100 from the opening price of the previous generation. The “iPhone 18 Pro” includes the new “A20 Pro” chip designed to support running advanced artificial intelligence models directly on the phone.
Apple also introduced the “Apple Reference Image” standard to prove the authenticity of photos taken with the “iPhone 18 Pro” cameras, and announced support for the “SynthID” standard to identify images created or modified with artificial intelligence, provided that the “Apple Reference Image” feature is not available in the European Union or China.
The ads extended to new “AirPods” headphones starting at $129 with noise cancellation, and another version at $149, in addition to the “Apple Watch Series 12” and “Apple Watch Ultra 4” watches, which focus on developing health and fitness tracking capabilities.
Apple shares fell by about 1% during the presentation, while the iPhone remains the company’s most important product, having achieved revenues amounting to $209.6 billion, or slightly more than half of Apple’s sales in its most recent financial years.
