Pre-orders for Apple’s (AAPL) $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo sold out within minutes of opening Friday, with delivery dates moving from October 23 to the end of January.
Apple’s most ambitious iPhone yet, the passport-sized Duo features a 5.4-inch front display and a 7.6-inch foldable interior display, with a nano-textured finish that helps prevent glare while making the center panel crease almost invisible.
The book-style foldable is a first for Apple, which has stayed out of the foldable phone market for years, letting rivals Samsung (005930.KS) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) take market share and iterate on their designs.
But Apple is notorious for letting other companies do the work of developing a new market, only to swoop in and grab its own piece of the pie. That’s exactly what the iPhone maker did with the AirPods and Apple Watch, which became best-selling devices in their respective categories.
The iPhone Duo brings a number of new features to Apple’s all-important product lineup, including the ability to run two apps side-by-side or two windows of the same app simultaneously.
Apps move seamlessly from the front screen to the main screen and vice versa. You can also take advantage of the Duo’s foldable design by positioning it like an open laptop on your desk and viewing content at the top of the screen while navigating on the bottom half.
In standing mode, you can position the Duo like a tent on a flat surface to watch shows and movies or use the phone as a powerful clock for your nightstand.
Apple also added some extras to the camera. When you unfold the phone and open the camera app, the front screen will provide your subject with a preview of your photo. The idea is to spare friends, couples, and everyone else the terrible experience of having someone’s photo taken, only to immediately look at the result and demand a reshoot.
The Duo has ultra-wide and wide-angle rear cameras, but no telephoto option. On the front, the phone has Apple’s Center Stage camera, which helps keep the user in view even if they move from side to side.
There is also a FaceTime camera hidden under the main screen.
Foldable phones still constitute a relatively specialized market segment. According to market research firm IDCmanufacturers are expected to ship 1.25 billion units in 2025. Foldables are expected to account for just 20.6 million of those.
But the company said it expects foldable smartphones to account for about 10% of the market by 2029. It hit a major cumulative milestone in 2026, with total unit lifetimes expected to exceed 100 million by the end of the year, according to the latest foldable smartphone market forecast from Counterpoint Research.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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