Apple on Wednesday introduced its first foldable iPhone, dubbed the iPhone Duo, a bendable, book-style device unveiled at its Cupertino, California, headquarters during the company’s annual fall showcase. The debut marks Apple’s most significant hardware redesign since the original iPhone in 2007, and signals a high‑stakes attempt to revive slowing smartphone sales while proving new CEO John Ternus can steer the company into its next era. Consumers, investors and competitors now face a significant shift in the smartphone landscape, with analysts expecting Apple’s entry to accelerate global adoption of foldables and reshape the premium market.
Apple’s foldable arrives after years of durability issues, niche adoption and failed early attempts from rivals, but analysts say Apple’s second‑mover advantage—and its ability to mainstream new formats—could finally push foldables beyond novelty. Apple’s foldable phone, expected to cost around $2,000, represents the company’s biggest hardware gamble in more than a decade. Foldables have remained stuck at a single‑digit share of the global smartphone market, largely because of trade-offs: weaker cameras, shorter battery life and the notorious center‑screen crease that plagued early models like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.
But Apple is entering at a moment when the technology has matured. Samsung’s latest Fold 8 has significantly reduced its crease thanks to years of hinge redesign, and Chinese manufacturers like Huawei have pushed durability forward with tri‑fold devices. The foldable arrives as Apple faces pressure to prove it can still innovate.
Under Tim Cook, Apple refined existing categories but introduced few new ones. Ternus—long known internally as a hardware engineer focused on durability and materials—now must show he can deliver the kind of flair Apple once commanded on launch days. The smartphone era began decades before Apple entered the scene.
In 1973, Motorola’s Martin Cooper made the first mobile phone call, paving the way for portable communications. By 1984, Motorola’s DynaTAC 8000X became the first commercial mobile phone—nicknamed “The Brick” for its 2‑pound weight and 30‑minute battery life. In 1992, IBM unveiled the Simon Personal Communicator, widely recognized as the first true smartphone.
It combined a touchscreen, stylus, email, faxing and apps like a calendar and notepad—features that foreshadowed the modern iPhone. The Simon’s bulky form and one‑hour battery life limited adoption, but it marked the beginning of smartphones as multifunctional devices. By 1997, Ericsson coined the term “smartphone” for its GS88 prototype, and Nokia introduced Snake, launching the mobile gaming industry.
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