Apple's First Foldable iPhone Is in Stores, Starting at $1,999
iPhone Duo went on sale October 23 with a 7.6-inch folding screen, a 5.4-inch outer display and Touch ID in the side button. Supply is tight, and early reviews love the hinge but question the small cover screen.
Samsung has been folding phones since 2019. On Friday, October 23, Apple finally joined the club: the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable iPhone, went on sale in Apple Stores and online. And if you were hoping to just stroll in and grab one, well… good luck.
What it actually is
- Two screens. Closed, it’s a phone with a 5.4-inch outer display, about the size of a passport. Open, it’s a 7.6-inch screen that Apple says is 50% larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
- Touch ID is back. There’s no Face ID. Apple put a fingerprint sensor in the side button so it works the same whether the phone is open or closed (or you can unlock it with an Apple Watch).
- Under the hood: Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, a titanium body, a dual-battery design, a 48MP main camera and a nano-texture (matte) inner screen to cut glare and hide the crease. It weighs 254 grams.
- Colors: Star White and Night Sky.
What it costs
| Storage | Price |
|---|---|
| 256GB | $1,999 |
| 512GB | $2,199 |
| 1TB | $2,599 |
| 2TB | $3,199 |
Yes, the top model costs more than a lot of used cars I’ve appraised.
Good luck finding one
Pre-orders opened October 16, and according to MacRumors, delivery estimates for new online orders slipped to late January within about 30 minutes. Apple called demand “nothing short of extraordinary.” For launch day, stores got limited walk-in stock, U.S. buyers were capped at two per customer, and Apple’s U.S. site told shoppers to check back Saturday, October 24 for in-store pickup slots. Reuters reported shorter lines than old-school iPhone launches, mostly because sales were rationed.
What reviewers are saying
Early reviews are genuinely mixed:
- The good: the hinge is sturdy and the crease is barely visible, which has been the classic weak spot of foldables.
- The not-so-good: The Verge says most owners will find the cover screen too small to use all the time, and plenty of third-party apps still aren’t reworked for the big inner display. Reviewers also flagged camera compromises.
- John Gruber called it “an extraordinarily polished prototype,” and Marques Brownlee said that for a regular person who mostly texts and browses, “it is probably a no,” but a “really fun phone” if $2,000 doesn’t faze you.
Why it matters
When Apple enters a category late, it usually means one of two things: the category is about to go mainstream, or Apple’s first try is a pricey preview of version two. The Verge compared the Duo to the very first MacBook Air, which didn’t take off until a redesign. Whatever happens next, Samsung, Google and Huawei now have a much bigger rival in the folding-phone game.
So be honest: would you pay $2,000 for an iPhone that folds into a tablet, or is your regular slab phone doing just fine?
Sources: Apple Newsroom, “Apple unveils iPhone Duo” (Sept 9, 2026); Apple iPhone Duo tech specs; MacRumors (Oct 23, 2026); MacRumors, pickup update (Oct 23, 2026); USA TODAY (Oct 23, 2026); Reuters via Investing.com (Oct 23, 2026); The Verge review. Video images: Apple press images.
