Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo could be the first of several folding handsets, according to predictions about the company’s plans for the coming years.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests that Apple will eventually sell more than the basic iPhone Duo. He notes that Apple may have chosen the three-letter name Duo, echoing Air and Pro, because a short name leaves room for a suffix such as Max or Mini.
Gurman writes that it is easy to foresee Apple launching an iPhone Duo Max with a larger display, or perhaps an iPhone Duo SE or iPhone Duo mini as either a stripped-down version or a clamshell model.
Foldables Tipped to Dominate
Gurman predicts that foldables will make up the majority of new phone sales within the next decade, and suggests the iPhone Duo will become the predominant foldable phone on the market next year.
Such forecasts depend entirely on consumer demand, which is difficult to predict. Apple was recently rumoured to be working on a cheaper version of its Apple Vision Pro AR headset, but is said to have pivoted to smart glasses instead. Analyst Gene Munster long predicted the release of an Apple HDTV, but now cautions that a product being in development does not guarantee a release.
Pricing and Release Details
The iPhone Duo can be pre-ordered from 16 October ahead of a 23 October release. At around £1,500 and up, however, it costs roughly twice as much as most single-screen flagship phones, and is unlikely to replace them in the near future.
The Apple iPhone Duo was announced last week, marking the company’s first foldable phone. It still trails rivals by many years: Samsung’s Galaxy Fold was released in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
