Apple spent years letting Samsung own this category. That ended today with the iPhone Duo, announced alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, and landing almost exactly seven years after Samsung shipped the original Galaxy Fold.
It opens to 7.6 inches and closes to something pocketable
The inner folding screen measures 7.6 inches and the cover display 5.4 inches, both Super Retina XDR with ProMotion and 3,000 nits of peak brightness. Apple reckons the closed display gives you 90 percent of the screen area of an iPhone 18 Pro, so the outside screen isn’t a compromise you have to suffer through. Folded flat it’s 5.2mm thick, 11.3mm shut, and weighs 254 grams, which Apple is calling the thinnest iPhone it has built.
Face ID didn’t make the cut
You unlock it with Touch ID built into the side button, or with your Apple Watch. There’s no Face ID at all. That’s the sort of thing Apple usually avoids admitting, and it comes down to the physics of fitting the sensor array into a folding chassis. The inner screen does get an under-display FaceTime camera, an iPhone first, though Apple hasn’t published its specs yet.
Two rear cameras, and neither one zooms
The iPhone Duo carries a 48MP main camera and a 48MP ultrawide, with a 2x mode cropped from the main sensor rather than a real telephoto lens. For a $1,999 phone that stings a bit, since the cheaper 18 Pro has proper optical zoom. The cover display holds a 12MP Center Stage camera.
The A20 Pro chip is the same one in the 18 Pro
Built on a 2nm process with a 6-core CPU, 7-core GPU and dual 16-core Neural Engine. Against the A19 Pro that’s 20 percent more CPU speed and up to 40 percent more GPU, plus double the Neural Engine throughput. Apple’s C2 modem handles mmWave 5G in the US, the N1 chip does Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and the phone is eSIM only everywhere.
Battery runs 24 hours if you use both screens evenly
Apple quotes 31 hours of video on the inner screen, 44 hours on the outer one, and 24 hours of mixed use. Wired charging hits 50 percent in 20 minutes, wireless does the same in 30 with MagSafe or Qi2.
iOS 27 was rebuilt around the hinge
The interface reorients as you fold and flip. Controls have shifted sideways to leave more vertical space, the status bar is now a circular element tucked into a corner, and the Dynamic Island runs down the side of both screens. Unfolded, the home screen shows two pages at once, and Split View lets you save app pairs. Netflix, Zoom and Slack have already updated their apps for it.
Pre-orders open 16 October, phones ship 23 October
Storage runs $1,999 for 256GB, $2,199 for 512GB, $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for 2TB, in Star White and Night Sky. Apple’s own case costs $79, the folio with a kickstand $129. Apple Pencil support arrives later this year.
