Apple unveiled the $1,999 iPhone Duo, its first foldable, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro at CEO John Ternus’ first major product event. The pitch centered on Siri AI and on-device processing; Siri AI is in beta but initially unavailable in the EU and China.
The passport-shaped Duo opens to a 7.6-inch inner display and has a 5.4-inch outer screen, supports two apps side by side and uses Apple’s A20 Pro chip. Sales begin Oct. 23. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 at comparable base storage. IDC analyst Nabila Popal told Reuters foldables still accounted for a single-digit share of the overall smartphone market and estimated Apple’s foldable could generate more than $45 billion in revenue by the end of 2027; that was an analyst projection, not Apple guidance. Counterpoint said Samsung has advantages in foldable experience, manufacturing scale and global distribution.
Apple says Siri can use personal context, on-screen awareness and broader world knowledge, processing requests on-device whenever possible and turning to Private Cloud Compute when more cloud processing is required. Reuters reported the assistant would work with more than 300,000 apps at launch and take actions across Apple and third-party apps. Apple says Siri AI will not initially be available on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS in the EU; Siri AI and other new Apple Intelligence features are not currently available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements.
