Seven years after rivals demonstrated that a phone could fold, Apple has finally answered with the iPhone Duo — a device priced at Rs 2,99,900 in India that asks whether patience, engineering refinement, and the weight of the Apple name can justify arriving late to a market others built. The Duo is not merely a folding phone but a philosophical statement about when a technology is truly ready, trading Face ID for Touch ID, telephoto lenses for social camera tricks, and the familiar iPhone form for a 7.6-inch canvas that reimagines what a personal screen can be. It arrives in a moment when the
Apple launches iPhone Duo foldable at ₹2.99L, ditches Face ID for Touch ID
The phone that costs nearly three lakh rupees
Mark
So Apple is finally making a foldable. Why did it take them seven years?
Mimi
They were watching. Samsung and others proved the market existed and worked out the engineering problems. Apple waited until they could do it their way—with their own durability standards and a design philosophy that didn't just stretch the iPhone across two screens.
Luke
But the price is striking. Nearly three lakh rupees for a phone with the same chip as the iPhone 18 Pro, which costs half that. What are you actually paying for?
Mimi
The folding screen itself, the hinge engineering, the dual battery system, and the software built to use two displays. The camera is intentionally simpler—no telephoto, no Pro controls. This isn't positioned as a better iPhone. It's a different iPhone.
Mark
Touch ID instead of Face ID—is that a step backward?
Mimi
It's a trade-off. Face ID would have required a camera array on the outer screen, which complicates the fold. Touch ID in the side button is simpler mechanically and works fine. Some people prefer it anyway.
Luke
The durability claims are detailed—titanium frame, custom polymer, a hundred-part hinge. But this is generation one. We don't have long-term data on how these hinges actually age in real use.
Mimi
That's fair. Apple is offering AppleCare+ and emphasizing durability, but you're right that this is the first time they're making this bet. The hinge will be watched closely.
Mark
What about the software? Split View sounds significant.
Mimi
It is. Two apps side by side on an iPhone for the first time. Siri AI on the large inner screen. The interface reorients based on how you're holding it. It's not just a bigger screen—it's a different way to use a phone.
Luke
But Netflix, Zoom and Slack have adapted. What about the thousands of apps that haven't? How does Split View work with apps that weren't designed for it?
Mimi
Apple hasn't detailed that yet. It's a real question for the first six months of ownership.
El Pulso
- Apple enters the foldable market nearly a decade behind Samsung, immediately raising the question of whether its premium — almost double the iPhone 18 Pro's price — is justified by refinement or merely by the logo.
- The absence of Face ID, the Action button, and a physical SIM tray signals that Apple made hard engineering trade-offs to make folding work, departing from conventions its own users have come to expect.
- A hinge with over a hundred parts, a custom polymer 40 percent stiffer than industry standard, and an under-display FaceTime camera represent Apple's attempt to solve the durability problem that has haunted foldables since their debut.
- iOS 27.1 rebuilds the interface from scratch for two screens, introducing Split View multitasking to iPhone for the first time, with Netflix, Zoom, and Slack already adapted — signaling an ecosystem beginning to reorganize itself around the new form.
- Siri AI launches in beta days after the announcement, Apple Pencil support follows later in the year, and the 2TB storage ceiling suggests Apple is positioning the Duo not as a curiosity but as a platform it intends to grow.
Seven years after rivals demonstrated that a phone could fold, Apple has finally answered with the iPhone Duo — a device priced at Rs 2,99,900 in India that asks whether patience, engineering refinement, and the weight of the Apple name can justify arriving late to a market others built. The Duo is not merely a folding phone but a philosophical statement about when a technology is truly ready, trading Face ID for Touch ID, telephoto lenses for social camera tricks, and the familiar iPhone form for a 7.6-inch canvas that reimagines what a personal screen can be. It arrives in a moment when the foldable category has matured enough to receive Apple's interpretation, yet at a price that ensures only a narrow slice of humanity will be the first to hold it.
Apple announced the iPhone Duo on Wednesday, its first foldable smartphone, priced at Rs 2,99,900 in India — a figure that places it nearly double the cost of the iPhone 18 Pro. Pre-orders open October 16, with retail sales beginning October 23. The device unfolds to a 7.6-inch inner display and closes to a 5.4-inch outer screen, available in star white and night sky. Storage options run from 256GB to 2TB, with trade-in credits, installment plans, and card cashback softening the entry cost somewhat. The box includes only the phone and a USB-C cable; cases are sold separately.
The most striking departure from iPhone convention is the replacement of Face ID with Touch ID embedded in the side button, a change that simplifies the folding mechanism by removing the need for a front-facing sensor array. The phone is also eSIM-only globally, with no Action button — deliberate subtractions in service of the fold. Durability engineering is central to the design: the inner display uses ten ultra-thin OLED layers over a custom polymer, a titanium base plate, and a hinge comprising more than a hundred components. The frame uses grade 5 titanium, the front is protected by a new generation of Ceramic Shield, and the phone carries an IP68 rating.
Powering the Duo is the A20 Pro chip — the same processor in the iPhone 18 Pro — built on a 2-nanometer process with a 6-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and dual Neural Engines. Two batteries, one on each side of the fold, work as a single unit delivering up to 44 hours of video playback on the outer screen and 31 hours on the inner. The camera system, however, is a deliberate step below flagship: a 48-megapixel dual-lens setup with no telephoto and no Pro controls. In their place, folding-specific features like Duo Preview — which shows a live feed on the outer screen so subjects can frame themselves — and Smart Take, which fires the shutter when everyone is ready.
The software, iOS 27.1, was rebuilt rather than adapted. Navigation shifts to the sides to preserve vertical space, and Split View brings two apps side by side to an iPhone for the first time, with the ability to save and reopen app pairs. Siri AI, Apple's rebuilt assistant capable of drawing context from personal data and acting within apps, launches in beta on September 14. Apple Pencil support for both screens arrives later in the year — signals that the Duo is conceived as a platform Apple intends to deepen, not simply a product it needed to ship.
Apple has entered the foldable phone market seven years after Samsung and others proved the concept could work. On Wednesday, the company announced the iPhone Duo at Rs 2,99,900 in India—a device that folds open to reveal a 7.6-inch screen and closes to a 5.4-inch display, marking what Apple calls the most significant transformation to the iPhone since the original. The phone arrives in two colors, star white and night sky, with pre-orders beginning October 16 and retail availability on October 23, a month after the iPhone 18 Pro launches.
The price positions the Duo at nearly double what a standard iPhone 18 Pro costs. The base model starts at Rs 2,99,900 for 256GB storage, climbing to Rs 4,49,900 for the 2TB variant. Apple is offering the familiar incentives: trade-in credits ranging from Rs 4,500 to Rs 81,500 depending on what device you hand over, interest-free installments up to six months, and cashback up to Rs 7,000 on select credit cards. The box contains only the phone and a USB-C cable; buyers must purchase cases separately, with Apple selling two options at Rs 8,900 and Rs 14,900.
What distinguishes the Duo most visibly is the absence of Face ID. Apple has replaced it with Touch ID embedded in the side button—a significant departure from iPhone convention that simplifies the folding mechanism by eliminating the need for a front-facing camera array. The phone is also eSIM-only worldwide with no physical SIM tray, though Indian carriers Airtel, Jio and Vi all support eSIM. There is no Action button either, another break from recent iPhone design.
The engineering centers on durability. The inner display uses ten ultra-thin layers of wide-angle OLED with a FaceTime camera hidden beneath the surface. Beneath the cover sits a custom polymer 40 percent stiffer than industry standard, layered with high-strength glass and adhesives that allow the screen components to slide against each other like pages, distributing bend stress rather than concentrating it. A titanium plate runs along the base. The hinge alone contains more than a hundred parts. The frame and hinge cover use grade 5 titanium, the front is protected by Ceramic Shield 2 with three times the scratch resistance of the previous generation, and the phone carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
Inside is the A20 Pro chip, the same processor found in the iPhone 18 Pro, built on a 2-nanometer process. It features a 6-core CPU that is 20 percent faster than the A19 Pro, a 7-core GPU 40 percent more powerful, and dual 16-core Neural Engines with 50 percent greater memory bandwidth. A new display engine drives both screens simultaneously. Two batteries, one on each side, function as a single unit and deliver 31 hours of video playback on the inner display, 44 hours on the outer screen, and 24 hours of typical mixed use. Charging reaches 50 percent capacity in roughly 20 minutes over cable or about 30 minutes via MagSafe.
The camera system is where the Duo steps back from flagship status. It uses a 48-megapixel Dual Fusion setup—a main sensor with sensor-shift stabilization and a 2x optical-quality crop, plus a 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens. There is no dedicated telephoto, no variable aperture, and no Pro controls, features reserved for Pro models. Instead, the folding form enables new capabilities: Smart Take fires the shutter when everyone is posed, Duo Preview displays a live feed on the outer screen so subjects can frame themselves, Kid Cue plays animations to capture children's attention, and Duo FaceTime allows someone beside you to join a call on the outer display. Video reaches 4K at 120 frames per second in Dolby Vision. The front camera is a 12-megapixel Center Stage unit on the outer display, with an under-display 1080p FaceTime camera inside.
The software, iOS 27.1, has been rebuilt for two screens rather than stretched across them. Lock screen controls, the dock, and app navigation shift to the side to maximize vertical space. The Dynamic Island runs vertically along the edge of either display. Opening the phone brings up two Home Screen pages with a scrolling Today View on the left. The centerpiece is Split View, which puts two apps side by side on an iPhone for the first time, allows two windows of the same app to run together, and lets users save and reopen app pairs. Netflix, Zoom and Slack have already adapted their apps. Apple Pencil support arrives later this year on both screens. Siri AI, Apple's rebuilt assistant, rolls out in beta starting Monday, September 14, in English initially, with additional languages in October. It draws personal context from messages, mail and photos, executes actions within apps, and answers general questions—capabilities Apple positions as best experienced on the large inner screen.
Citas Notables
Apple calls it the most transformational change to the iPhone since the original— Apple
The hinge alone uses more than a hundred parts— Apple engineering specifications
Quieres la nota completa?
Lee el original en Times of India ↗
Technology