Pre-orders for Apple’s $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo sold out within minutes of opening on Friday, and delivery dates jumped 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-texture finish that helps prevent reflection while making the central crease of the panel nearly invisible. The book-style foldable phone is a first for Apple, which has been out of the foldable phone market for years, leaving rivals Samsung (005930.KS) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) to corner market share and iterate on their designs. The iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable phone, is on display at one of the company’s product launch events. (Andrej Sokolow/Picture Alliance via Getty Images) · Picture Alliance via Getty Images But Apple is known for letting other companies do the legwork to develop 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 have become best-selling devices in their respective categories. The iPhone Duo brings a number of new features to Apple’s important product line, 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 placing it like an open laptop on your desk and viewing content at the top of the screen while browsing the bottom half. In standing mode, you can tent-like the Duo on a flat surface to watch shows and movies or use the phone as a high-powered clock for your nightstand. The new foldable iPhone Duo is displayed during an Apple event at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, on September 9, 2026. (Karl Mondon/AFP via Getty Images) · KARL MONDON via Getty Images Apple has also included some extras on the camera. When you unfold your phone and open the camera app, the front screen will provide your subject with a preview of your shot. The idea is to save friends, partners, and everyone else the horrible experience of having someone take your photo, only to immediately see the result and demand a redo. The Duo has wide-angle and ultra-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’s also a FaceTime camera hidden beneath the main folding screen. Foldable phones remain a relatively niche market segment. According to market research firm IDC, manufacturers were projected to ship 1.25 billion units in 2025. Foldables were expected to account for just 20.6 million of them. But the company said it anticipates foldable smartphones will account for about 10% of the market by 2029. It reached a major cumulative milestone in 2026, with total lifetime units topping 100 million by the end of the year, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest foldable smartphone market forecast. Subscribe to Yahoo Finance’s Week in Tech newsletter. · Yahoo Finance Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley. Click here for the latest tech news impacting the stock market. Read the latest financial and business news from
