Apple has finally entered the foldable smartphone market. This week, Apple unveiled its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, with a starting price of $1,999. The device features a 7.6-inch inner display when unfolded and a 5.4-inch outer display when folded.
It is powered by the A20 Pro chip, supports split-screen multitasking and Apple Pencil, and offers up to 2TB of storage. Apple also highlighted a new precision hinge, a reduced-crease design, and an iOS experience optimized specifically for the foldable form factor.
Appleโs promotional video also reveals how the company wants consumers to think about the foldable form factor. Through a series of fast and highly stylized scene transitions, the iPhone Duo moves between different scenarios as it folds and unfolds, making the change in form feel almost seamless.
The focus is not simply on the mechanical act of folding the phone, but on how that change can alter the userโs interaction with the device. In that sense, Apple is presenting the foldable iPhone less as a new type of hardware and more as a phone that can adapt its form to different situations.
For Apple, the launch represents one of the biggest changes to the iPhoneโs form factor in more than a decade. But in China, Apple is not entering an empty market.
Chinese smartphone makers including Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have been competing in the foldable segment for years. They have released multiple generations of foldable phones while continuously working to reduce weight and thickness and improve hinges, display creases, battery life, and software optimization for larger screens.
As Apple begins to explore what a foldable iPhone should look like, Chinese manufacturers are already asking what the next generation of foldable phones should look like.
Apple takes a relatively mature approach
The iPhone Duo does not take the most aggressive approach. It adopts the book-style horizontal fold that has become one of the more established designs in the market. Its 7.6-inch inner display offers a screen size close to that of a small tablet when unfolded, while the 5.4-inch outer display is designed for everyday smartphone use. Apple says the two displays use consistent proportions to ensure that content can transition smoothly between the folded and unfolded states.
This design has already gone through several generations of development in China.ย For example, Huaweiโs Mate X7 features an 8-inch inner display and a 6.49-inch outer display. It is about 9.5mm thick when folded and weighs around 235 grams.
Oppoโs Find N6 features an 8.12-inch inner display and a 6.62-inch outer display, measuring about 8.93mm thick when folded and weighing around 225 grams. The Vivo X Fold6 features an 8.02-inch inner display and a 6.51-inch outer display, with a weight starting at around 228 grams.
By comparison, the iPhone Duo weighs around 254 grams and measures 11.3mm thick when folded, making it heavier and thicker than the three Chinese foldable phones mentioned above.
This points to an interesting reality: when Apple is making its first foldable phone, Chinese manufacturers have moved the competition beyond whether a phone can fold to whether a foldable can be as thin and light as a conventional smartphone.
Still, weight alone does not determine the overall user experience. Apple has its own advantages in structural design, hinges, and display technology. The company also says the Duo is the thinnest iPhone ever when unfolded (5.2mm thick) and uses a new hinge and display design to reduce the visibility of the crease.
But in terms of hardware iteration, Chinese smartphone makers clearly have more experience with foldable devices.
The real competition may be software
However, looking only at hardware specifications could underestimate the significance of Appleโs entry. The biggest challenge for foldable phones has never been just the hinge or the display. It is how to make the larger screen genuinely useful.
The iPhone Duo introduces split-screen multitasking for its larger display and supports Apple Pencil. Apple is hoping that users will be able to handle multiple tasks when the phone is unfolded, rather than simply seeing an enlarged version of the standard iPhone interface.
Chinese manufacturers are exploring the same direction. The Vivo X Fold6 features an 8.02-inch inner display and supports multitasking on the larger screen. Oppoโs Find N6 goes further by positioning itself as a Pocket AI Workstation, supporting multiple apps running simultaneously, adjustable windows, and desktop-style multitasking features such as Split View.
Huawei has also added features such as split-screen translation, split-screen navigation, AI call summaries, AI call translation, and multi-device collaboration to the Mate XT 2, turning its tri-fold design into more than just a larger display and positioning it as an AI and productivity tool.
Therefore, the real competition Apple faces is not simply who has the larger screen, but who can actually change the way consumers use their phones.
Apple has an ecosystem advantage Chinese brands cannot easily replicate
Apple also has an advantage that Chinese smartphone makers will find difficult to replicate: a tightly integrated hardware and software ecosystem. The A20 Pro chip, iOS, Apple Pencil, and integration across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac could all become important selling points for the foldable iPhone.
For users who already own an iPhone, Mac, or iPad, buying a foldable iPhone is not simply about purchasing another smartphone. It could introduce a new way of interacting with their existing devices. This also helps explain why Apple can afford to enter the foldable market years after other manufacturers.
It does not need to prove that there is demand for foldable phones. Chinese manufacturers, along with Samsung and others, have already helped establish the category. What Apple needs to prove is whether a foldable can become the next iPhone, rather than simply a more expensive iPhone.
Apple is the newcomer, but Chinese brands face new challenges
Appleโs entry into the foldable market cuts both ways. For Chinese manufacturers, Apple represents a new competitor. With its strong brand, massive user base, and mature developer ecosystem, Apple could help push foldable phones further into the mainstream if the foldable iPhone gains traction.
At the same time, Appleโs entry could also validate years of experimentation by Chinese manufacturers. By the time Apple entered the foldable market, Huawei was already exploring tri-fold designs, Oppo was continuing to reduce the weight and visibility of creases on its foldables, and Vivo was exploring AI and productivity features for large screens.
So this is not simply a competition between Apple and Chinese smartphone brands. More accurately, it is a collision between two different product approaches: Apple is looking to redefine the foldable experience through its mature ecosystem and software, while Chinese manufacturers are drawing on years of hardware iteration to explore how much further foldable phones can go.
Apple may have entered the foldable race late, but it has changed the question for everyone else. For Chinese smartphone makers, the challenge is no longer simply to make foldables thinner, lighter, or more advanced. It is to keep finding new ways to make the form factor useful โ and convince consumers that a foldable phone can be more than just a phone that folds.
