Apple has announced the iPhone Duo, the first foldable iPhone, at a launch event in Cupertino on 9 September. It starts at $1,999, with pre-orders opening on 16 October and sales beginning on 23 October.
Apple calls it the most significant change to the iPhone since the original.
Two displays
Opened flat, the inner screen measures 7.6 inches — half again as large as the display on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the biggest Apple has put on a phone. Closed, the 5.4-inch outer screen still carries about 90 percent of the screen area of an iPhone 18 Pro, so the folded device works as an ordinary phone rather than a compromise.
Both panels share an aspect ratio, so content scales between them rather than reflowing when the device opens. Apple’s own footnotes give the measurements as 7.58 and 5.36 inches when treated as plain rectangles.
The inner display has a nano-texture matte finish that cuts glare and, more usefully, makes the fold crease less visible. Both screens support ProMotion, Always On and 3000 nits peak outdoor brightness.
Build and hinge
The frame is grade 5 titanium, mirror-polished, with a 3D-printed hinge cover. The hinge is assembled from more than a hundred components and holds the inner display flat when open.
Ceramic Shield 2 on the front offers three times the scratch resistance of the previous generation, Ceramic Shield protects the back, and the rating is IP68. Touch ID has moved into the side button so it works open or shut.
Performance and battery
Inside, it houses the A20 Pro—the same 2-nanometer chip found in the iPhone 18 Pro—equipped with a custom vapor chamber for thermal management. Apple claims it delivers sustained performance up to 35% higher than the iPhone 17 Pro, a CPU up to 20% faster than the A19 Pro, a GPU up to 40% faster, and a dual 16-core Neural Engine with double the processing capacity.
It features two batteries—one on each side—that function as a single unit. Apple estimates a battery life of up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner screen, 44 hours on the outer screen, and 24 hours of mixed use. Wired charging to 50% takes about 20 minutes.
Cameras and software
The rear system pairs a 48MP Fusion Main camera carrying an integrated 2x telephoto with a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, and a FaceTime camera sits hidden under the inner display. The fold enables modes an ordinary phone cannot, including previewing a shot on the outer screen while the rear cameras take it.
On software, iOS 27 brings Split View to the iPhone for the first time, letting two apps run side by side on the inner display.
No SIM slot, and why that matters here
The iPhone Duo is eSIM-only worldwide. There is no physical SIM tray on any model in any market.
This is the most important detail to verify before anyone in Bangladesh considers importing one. eSIM compatibility is not universal—it depends on the carrier and the plan—and a phone without a SIM card tray is unusable on a network that does not support eSIM activation. Confirm this with your carrier before the device arrives, not after.
Furthermore, Bangladesh is not among the countries where Apple will initially launch the product. Announced markets include India, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, with another 28 countries to follow starting October 30. Apple has no official commercial presence in the country, so any units sold locally come from unofficial importers; this results in a price well above $1,999—after factoring in tariffs and profit margins—and the lack of Apple’s standard warranty coverage.
Storage runs from 256GB to 2TB, in two colours — star white and night sky. The case is $79 and the folio with kickstand $129.
