Overview
- Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo Wednesday as its first foldable iPhone, using a passport-style fold and a $1,999 base price that places the device at the high end of the market.
- New chief executive John Ternus led the keynote, making the Duo his first major product debut and positioning the device as a new growth pillar for Apple.
- Apple said the phone will include a reworked Siri that uses an in-house adaptation of Google’s Gemini models, but that functionality will be limited to English-language devices and blocked in China and on iPhone and iPad in the EU.
- The company warned that a global memory-chip shortage driven by AI demand is lifting component costs and will significantly constrain supply through the end of the year, which could limit Duo availability and affect pricing.
- Analysts predict Apple could take a sizable share of this year’s roughly 23 million foldable sales and expand the niche category even as Chinese rivals Huawei and Xiaomi roll out their own premium foldables.