Apple also signs up for foldable mobiles

The iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone, took center stage at this Wednesday's presentation in Cupertino (California), and not because it represents any technological leap: Huawei, Motorola, Xiaomi, and especially Samsung have been exploring this format for years with increasingly refined models. What makes the Duo relevant is what it says about Apple's reaction to the threat from the aforementioned rivals. Just before the presentation, Samsung itself boasted that one in six buyers of its Z Fold8 were former iPhone users who wanted a foldable that Apple did not yet offer them. With the Duo, Apple makes it clear that it is not willing to give up without a fight a segment of buyers, those who barely look at the price, which it had held almost exclusively for years.

The Duo is the size of a passport like Samsung's Z Fold, but with more rounded corners. The foldable inner screen is 7.6 inches and the outer one is 5.4 inches, both with the same aspect ratio. Unfolded, Apple presents it as the thinnest iPhone it has ever made. The chassis is made of titanium and has IP68 certification (resistance up to 6 meters deep for 30 minutes). It does not have facial recognition: authentication is tactile, integrated into the side button, and it can also be unlocked with the Apple Watch. It mounts the same A20 Pro chip as the iPhone 18 Pro, with a proprietary thermal management system and two batteries, one on each side, that function as a single unit. The main camera is 48 MP with an integrated 2x optical telephoto lens, and it shares the ultra-wide-angle sensor with the Pro models. It is, furthermore, the first iPhone worldwide that works only with eSIM. It offers four capacities between 256 GB and 2 TB.

With the price of the Duo, Apple also loses its shame: it bets that there will be enough consumers willing to pay for it. In Spain, it starts at 2,339 euros (256 GB) and goes up to 3,839 euros for the 2 TB version, passing through 2,589 euros (512 GB) and 3,089 euros (1 TB). To soften the blow, Apple offers the Upgrade program in the US, which essentially turns the purchase into a monthly subscription with the right to renew the device every year instead of paying for it all at once. And here we were, a few years ago, scandalized by phones costing more than 1,000 euros...

The first keynote by Ternus

This has also been the first presentation of new iPhones with John Ternus as CEO of Apple, a position he has held since September 1st after replacing Tim Cook. The latter has kept a low profile at the event (he was there, in the audience, but did not appear in the presentation videos), but remains very present at the company, as demonstrated by his new role as executive chairman. According to Bloomberg, his base salary will be reduced compared to what he earned as CEO –a salary that now passes to Ternus–, but he will receive 45 million dollars in restricted stock next year for 2027, only 10 million below the 55 million assigned to Ternus.

On a Wednesday, and only half a catalog

Beyond the new foldable and apart from the date (Apple usually presents on a Tuesday, and this time it has chosen a Wednesday), the other highlight of the event is that the renewal of the conventional iPhone catalog has been partial. Only the two highest-end models have been renewed, the iPhone 18 Pro and the Pro Max, which incorporate the new A20 Pro chip – manufactured with 2-nanometer nodes and with a new memory packaging that, according to Apple, contributes to extending battery life –, more battery, a mechanical shutter on the main camera, and a smaller Dynamic Island, but capable of showing three activities simultaneously, instead of two. In fact, today Apple has only presented models that share this processor: the Duo, the 18 Pro, and the Pro Max. In Spain, the starting price (256 GB) rises to 1,469 euros for the iPhone 18 Pro and 1,619 euros for the iPhone 18 Pro Max, 150 euros above the 1,319 euros and 1,469 euros that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max they replace cost, respectively. The rest of the range (the iPhone 18, the 18 Plus, the Air 2, and the basic 18e) will have to wait a few months for their replacement, probably in the spring of 2027.

Siri, with AI and without Catalan

The new devices arrive with iOS 27, the first operating system with a renewed Siri boosted by artificial intelligence. Apple will pay Google a small fortune to use its Gemini as the engine for Apple Intelligence and Siri in iOS 27, although users will also be able to choose other third-party AI services, such as ChatGPT or Claude. Apple's decision not to develop its own AI model seems increasingly correct, leaving the massive investments in computing infrastructure and model training to third parties. Siri AI will continue not to assist us in Catalan, despite the fact that most of the AI models it integrates –especially Google's Gemini, which already incorporated it in 2025– do understand it.

A stagnant market and chips that are becoming more expensive

All this is happening with the global smartphone market stagnant and prices on the rise due to the shortage of memory chips, which has led Apple to raise the price of the iPhone Pro for the first time, after having kept it intact in June when raising the price of Mac and iPad. According to IDC data, the global mobile market will drop by 16.7% this year, while the memory shortage will push average selling prices up by 27.6%. Apple, thanks to its negotiating weight and a range oriented towards the high end, has come out relatively well.

At the event, the Apple Watch Series 12 was also presented, with a new system of health sensors and the S11 chip that allow for measuring heart rate every five seconds throughout the day, a new daily "readiness" index, and a function dubbed Live Rewind that, with a double press of the digital crown, transcribes the last 15 seconds of a conversation into text. The watch also debuts a ceramic finish in addition to the usual aluminum and titanium ones. Apple has added the Ultra 4, the largest version with the most battery, in natural and black titanium. As for the headphones, the new AirPods 5 incorporate the most powerful noise cancellation in the category in an open design, the Live Translation simultaneous translation function, and hands-free access to Siri AI, for a starting price of €149 (€169 with the wireless charging case), significantly below that of other models with ambient noise cancellation in the range.

Nikkei Asia points out that the initial production of the iPhone Duo still does not exceed a few hundred units per day, but, with a delay, Apple has finally entered the club of foldables, while debuting, without much fanfare, the era of John Ternus.