Hours before Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event, the biggest leak of the night has already landed. As per this leak, Apple's foldable iPhone will officially be called the "iPhone Duo" and not the "iPhone Ultra" name that had been in leaks for months.
The information comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who took to a Power-On newsletter to report the final name. The name shift makes sense on paper, as Apple is seemingly leaning into the dual-screen identity of the device rather than pitching it as a flagship-tier "iPhone Ultra."
iPhone Duo Price Is Not Cheap, but Not as Bad as Feared
However, let's address the elephant in the room first, which is the price. Gurman says the iPhone Duo will start at $2,000 (approximately Rs 1,90,500) for the entry-level 256 GB configuration. Meanwhile, the top-end storage option could push the price to around $3,000 (approximately Rs 2,85,500).
That's a steep ask by any measure, but it's actually a bit of a relief compared to earlier rumours, which had pegged the starting price as high as $2,500 (approximately Rs 2,38,000).
So why the last-minute price shave? According to the report, Apple had blown past its internal cost targets because of the RAM crisis and it is reportedly absorbing part of that extra cost itself just to keep the starting price anchored near $2,000.
In other words, Apple wants that psychological $2K price point badly enough to eat some of the margin. Meanwhile, the Cupertino giant plans to make up for it by charging a premium on the higher-capacity variants.
For context on just how much this pricing is: the base iPhone Duo will then cost almost double of what Apple will charge for the iPhone 18 Pro.
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What Else We Know About the iPhone Duo
Beyond the name and price, Gurman's report fills in a few more blanks on Apple's first foldable iPhone:
- iPhone Duo colours could include white and dark blue options
- iPhone Duo release window could be as early as October, a few weeks behind the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, likely due to production constraints on the foldable hardware
- The foldable iPhone will reportedly be powered by the A20 Pro chipset and sport in-house C2 modem (which previous leaks have also backed)
- Dual 48 MP rear cameras plus a 12 MP front camera
- A magnetic hinge system, with the foldable expected to fold to short and wide format than the conventional tall and narrow one
- The iPhone Duo will reportedly support the Apple Pencil, although though Gurman had earlier noted Apple tested (and ultimately shelved) a smaller, dedicated Pencil for the iPhone Duo
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iPhone 18 Pro Also Gets a Price Hike
The same report also states that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will see a $100 price increase over their current-generation counterparts. Now, this is certainly smaller than some analysts had predicted, but a hike nonetheless.
With Apple's keynote just hours away, every detail here is expected to be confirmed or corrected soon. We'll be tracking the "Surprise and Shine" event as it happens, so stick around for the official name, pricing and specs straight from Apple.
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