Apple has finally entered the foldable smartphone market. At a keynote in Cupertino on Wednesday, chief executive John Ternus unveiled the iPhone Duo, a device that folds to passport dimensions and opens to a 7.6-inch inner display. The starting price in Europe is 2,299 euros, positioning it well above Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series. This is Ternus's first major product launch since succeeding Tim Cook, and the company's most significant hardware gamble in years.
A late arrival to a mature market
Samsung has sold foldable phones in Europe since 2019 and currently holds the overwhelming share of the segment. Google, Honor, Xiaomi and Oppo have all released competing devices, most recently the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Apple's entry comes at a moment when foldable shipments in Europe have begun to plateau after several years of rapid growth. Analysts at IDC estimate the western European foldable market reached 2.1 million units in 2025, a figure that represents less than three per cent of total smartphone volumes.
Ternus acknowledged the competition directly. Previous foldables, he said, felt "like two phones awkwardly glued together" with square screens that leave black bars when playing video. The iPhone Duo's inner panel uses a taller aspect ratio intended to show cinematic content without letterboxing. Whether that difference justifies a 400-euro premium over the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will be the central question for European buyers.
Hardware that borrows from the Pro line
The Duo's specifications read like a greatest-hits compilation of recent iPhone Pro features. The chassis is grade-5 titanium, the same alloy introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro. The hinge mechanism is rated for 600,000 folds, double the industry standard cited by Samsung. When unfolded, the device measures 4.8 millimetres thick, making it the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever produced. The outer 5.4-inch display matches the dimensions of the iPhone 13 mini, allowing one-handed use while folded.
Two features stand out. The front-facing camera sits beneath the inner display, a first for an iPhone, eliminating the notch or dynamic island that has characterised recent models. Fingerprint authentication returns via a Touch ID sensor embedded in the side button, a design Apple abandoned in 2017 with the iPhone X. The sensor works whether the device is open or closed, addressing a persistent frustration with Face ID on foldables: the need to unfold the phone before unlocking it.
The AI assistant that Europe cannot yet use
Apple Intelligence, the company's generative AI platform, is positioned as a core selling point. The refreshed Siri can rewrite emails, summarise notifications and generate images across apps. In the United States, these features began rolling out in late 2025. In the European Union, however, the launch has been delayed while Apple negotiates compliance with the Digital Markets Act, which designates Apple as a gatekeeper and imposes interoperability requirements on its AI services.
The company has not committed to a European release date for Apple Intelligence. At the keynote, Ternus said only that the company was "working constructively with regulators". For European buyers paying 2,299 euros, the Duo may ship without its headline AI features. That gap could blunt the device's appeal in a region where Samsung's Galaxy AI suite is already available in full.
Pricing and the European tax question
The 2,299-euro figure includes value-added tax, which ranges from 17 per cent in Luxembourg to 27 per cent in Hungary. That means the pre-tax price varies by more than 150 euros across the single market. Apple typically sets a single euro-zone price and absorbs the difference, but the high baseline leaves little room for carrier subsidies. In Germany, the largest European market, the Duo will retail at 2,299 euros while the Galaxy Z Fold 6 launched at 1,899 euros. The premium tests whether European consumers still associate Apple with a quality gap wide enough to justify the difference.
The pricing also reflects component costs that remain elevated. Foldable OLED panels, ultra-thin glass and titanium alloys are all sourced from a narrow supplier base dominated by Samsung Display and Japanese material firms. Apple's volume commitments may eventually drive costs down, but the first generation rarely benefits from economies of scale.
What the launch says about Apple's new leadership
Ternus, a 20-year Apple veteran who ran hardware engineering before his promotion, chose to open his keynote with Steve Jobs's signature phrase: "There is one more thing." The reference was deliberate. It signals continuity with the founder's theatrical instinct while marking a strategic pivot. Under Cook, Apple waited for markets to mature before entering: the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Watch and AirPods all arrived after competitors had proven demand. The foldable category is already mature. Ternus is betting that Apple's integration of silicon, software and services can still redefine a segment it ignored for half a decade.
The risk is that the Duo arrives as a hardware showcase without the software differentiation that made previous category entries compelling. The iPhone succeeded because of iOS and the App Store. The Watch succeeded because of health sensors and watchOS. The Duo's success now hinges on whether Apple Intelligence can deliver experiences that Samsung's Galaxy AI cannot. With the EU rollout uncertain, that bet is harder to evaluate in Europe than in Cupertino.
What happens next
Pre-orders open on 19 September with general availability from 26 September in 30 European markets. The first real-world durability tests will appear within weeks, focusing on hinge reliability and crease visibility. Regulatory clearance for Apple Intelligence in the EU remains the largest unknown. The European Commission's next gatekeeper compliance review is scheduled for March 2027. Until then, European buyers are effectively purchasing a 2,299-euro hardware promise.
People mentioned
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John Ternus
Organisations
Apple
