Apple’s iPhone Duo Lands in Germany and Austria at ~€2,300, Minus Siri AI

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Apple has just unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone. With it, the last major smartphone maker enters a category that rivals such as Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi have occupied for roughly seven years. In Austria the device starts at €2,319, in Germany at €2,299. Pre-orders open on October 16, with shipping from October 23.

Two Screens and a Hinge Made of More Than 100 Parts

Opened, the inner Super Retina XDR display measures 7.6 inches, which Apple says is 50 percent more screen area than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Closed, a 5.4-inch outer display remains, offering about 90 percent of the screen area of an iPhone 18 Pro. Both displays share the same aspect ratio, so content scales proportionally as users open or close the device. Both offer ProMotion, Always On and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness.

The hinge consists of more than 100 individual components, according to Apple, and holds the display flat when opened. The enclosure is made of grade 5 titanium, Ceramic Shield protects the back and Ceramic Shield 2 covers the outer display. The device carries an IP68 rating against dust and water. To address the crease that runs down the middle of most foldables, Apple uses a nano-texture surface that cuts glare and is meant to make the fold less visible.

Beneath the display sit carbon fiber support plates and a titanium plate, MacRumors reports, along with a multilayer lamination that uses viscoelastic adhesives to let the layers glide against one another as the phone folds. A hidden FaceTime camera sits under the inner display, and Touch ID moves into the side button. Apple Pencil support arrives later this year, making this the first iPhone that works with a stylus, as Deskmodder notes.

Software, Camera and Battery

iOS 27 has been adapted to the form factor: controls move to the side, the dock stands vertically, and the Dynamic Island has been rebuilt. For the first time on an iPhone, two apps can run side by side in Split View, and two windows of the same app are possible as well. App pairs can be saved for later. Netflix, Zoom and Slack have already adapted their apps.

The camera system pairs a 48MP Fusion main camera with an integrated 2x telephoto and a 48MP Fusion ultra wide camera. More interesting than the sensors are the features that only become possible with two screens. Duo Preview shows the people being photographed their own live image on the outer display, Smart Take fires automatically once everyone is in position, and Kid Cue plays Peanuts animations on the outer screen so children look at the lens. With Duo FaceTime, a second person can join a video call through the outer display.

The device runs on the A20 Pro, the same chip as the iPhone 18 Pro, cooled by a vapor chamber. Each half of the enclosure holds its own battery, and the two operate as a single unit according to Apple: up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner display, up to 44 hours on the outer display, and up to 24 hours with mixed use. The iPhone Duo is eSIM only worldwide, with no SIM slot.

Prices and Availability in Europe

Here are the prices from the Austrian and German Apple Store:

In the United States the device starts at $1,999, though that figure excludes sales tax. Pre-orders open on October 16 in more than 70 countries, among them Germany, France, the United Kingdom, China, India and Japan, with sales beginning October 23. A further 28 markets follow on October 30, mobiFlip reports. Apple is also selling an iPhone Duo Case and a Folio with a built-in kickstand.

One detail matters especially for European buyers: Siri AI, the substantially rebuilt assistant based on Apple Intelligence, is not available in the EU at launch. Apple points to the Digital Markets Act, which in the company’s view would grant third-party AI systems overly broad access to the device (ComputerBase). The European Commission rejected Apple’s counterproposal of a “Trusted System Agent.” Anyone buying the most expensive iPhone ever made in Europe therefore gets fewer AI features at launch than customers in the United States.

Rivals Have Been Folding Since 2019

The concept has been around for a while, as heise online points out in its assessment. Samsung brought the Galaxy Fold to market in 2019, and Huawei launched the Mate X the same year. Motorola, Honor, Oppo and Xiaomi have followed since, Xiaomi mainly with its Mix Fold line in China. A Galaxy Z Fold8 currently starts at €1,999, the Z Fold8 Ultra at €2,199, and the more compact Z Flip8 at €1,299 (Netzwelt). Apple lands at the top end of an established price range and makes no attempt to undercut the market.

The segment itself remains small. In the second quarter of 2026, roughly 3.4 million foldable smartphones shipped worldwide, down two percent year over year. Huawei took 48 percent market share, ahead of Samsung with 15 percent, Motorola with 13 percent and Honor with 12 percent (PhoneArena). That leaves the foldable market heavily dependent on China, where Apple has long been under pressure.

What Apple Is Doing Differently

The difference lies less in the hardware concept than in the fine tuning. Four points stand out:

• Matching aspect ratios: the inner and outer displays share the same proportions. On most Android foldables the cover screen is narrower or shaped differently, so apps have to reflow when the device opens. Apple promises a continuous transition instead.
• The crease: rather than optimizing only the mechanics, Apple applies a nano-texture and a micro-lens structure to the surface, meant to disguise the fold optically. The crease has so far been the most visible argument against foldables.
• Camera as the selling point: Duo Preview, Smart Take and Duo FaceTime treat the second display as a feature in its own right. That is an attempt to give the form factor an everyday use beyond a bigger screen.
• System integration: Split View on iPhone, adapted first-party apps, new APIs for developers, Touch ID in the side button and Apple Pencil support. Apple is positioning the device as a productive companion between iPhone and iPad rather than a technology demo.

Whether that is enough to lift a niche into the mass market becomes clear from late October. At an entry price of €2,319 in Austria, the iPhone Duo is aimed at a very small audience for now.

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