The folding iPhone is real and it's called the iPhone Duo. It starts at A$3,499, comes in two colours, and it isn't shipping with the rest of the range. Pre-orders open on Friday 16 October and it lands on Friday 23 October. Here's what Apple has actually said about it, and the few things that might give you pause.
Closed, it's a 5.4 inch phone. Apple says the outer screen gives you about 90 per cent of the screen area of an 18 Pro. Open it up and you get a 7.6 inch inner screen that Apple says is 50 per cent bigger than an 18 Pro Max. Both screens are the same shape, so apps don't reflow when you open it. Both do ProMotion, always-on and 3,000 nits outdoors. The inside screen has a matte nano-texture finish, which Apple says minimises how visible the crease is. Note the wording: minimises, not removes.
Open, it's the thinnest iPhone Apple has made. Apple didn't put a millimetre figure in the release, so I won't either.
Built out of titanium, and no Face ID
The frame is grade 5 titanium with a mirror polish and a 3D-printed hinge cover. Ceramic Shield on the back, Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, IP68 for water and dust. The hinge has more than 100 parts in it. Under the inner screen there's a layer of custom polymer, glass above and below the folding panel, and a titanium plate at the bottom.
Two things people will notice. Face ID isn't mentioned anywhere in Apple's release. Touch ID lives in the side button instead, and you can also unlock it with an Apple Watch. And it's eSIM only everywhere in the world, Australia included, so there's no SIM tray at all. If your carrier is awkward about eSIM, sort that out before October.
The cameras, and the bit for parents
Two rear cameras: a 48 megapixel main with a 2x crop that Apple calls optical quality, and the same 48 megapixel ultrawide as the 18 Pro, which does macro. There's no separate telephoto lens, so this is not the camera setup of the Pro phones. The front camera is Center Stage, and there's another FaceTime camera hidden under the inner screen.
Because there's a screen on the outside, Apple has done some things with it. Duo Preview shows whoever you're photographing the live shot on the outer screen. Smart Take uses the A20 Pro to fire the shutter itself when it sees people posing. And Kid Cue plays Peanuts animations on the outer screen to get little kids looking at the camera. As a dad of four, that last one is the feature I'd actually use. Video goes to 4K at 120fps in Dolby Vision.
Chip, battery and software
It's the same A20 Pro as the 18 Pro, with its own vapour chamber. Apple claims 35 per cent better sustained performance than a 17 Pro. There's one battery on each side of the fold and they work as one. Apple's figures are 31 hours of video on the inner screen, 44 hours on the outer screen, and 24 hours of general use if you split time between them. Charging is 50 per cent in about 20 minutes wired or about 30 minutes on MagSafe or Qi2.
It ships on iOS 27.1, not 27, and the layout has been redone for it: the dock and controls move to the side, you get two home screen pages open at once, Split View lets you run two apps side by side, and StandBy works on either screen even when it isn't charging. Apple Pencil support is coming later this year, not at launch.
Price and dates for Australia
A$3,499 for 256GB, in star white or night sky, with 512GB, 1TB and 2TB above that. Apple hasn't published the Australian prices for the bigger storage tiers in the release. Pre-orders open at 11pm AEST on Friday 16 October, and it's in stores on Friday 23 October. The Duo Case is A$119 and the Duo Folio with a kickstand is A$199. In the US it's US$1,999, so the Australian price is roughly what you'd expect once GST and the exchange rate are in.