Source : the age
Apple will charge Australians $3499 for its first folding iPhone, unveiled on Thursday morning AEST, making it the most expensive phone the company has released.
The company’s new chief executive, John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook on September 1, introduced the latest lineup at the Steve Jobs Theatre.
After cycling through other updates to the iPhone, the Apple Watch and AirPods along with artificial intelligence advances, Ternus told the audience that “actually there is one more thing,” in a nod to the trademark phrase from Jobs that Jobs himself borrowed from the 1970s detective show Columbo.
Called Duo, the phone has the “largest display ever on an iPhone, yet fits into your pocket,” Ternus said.
The phone opens to a 7.6 inch display that is 80 per cent larger than the newest iPhone 18 Pro. It will let people use an Apple Pencil on the phone, a capability previously reserved to iPad users.
Duo, Ternus said, “will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone”.
The Duo also lets users split the screen to use two different apps on the device, or two windows on the same website for things like comparison shopping.
The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, Ternus said, bring improvements to the battery, camera, and performance. They will start at $2099 and $2299, respectively. The $3499 iPhone Duo goes on sale here on October 23, with pre-orders from 11pm AEST on October 16. A 2TB model costs $5899.
In an unusual move, Apple has also raised the price of phones it released last year. The iPhone 17 has gone from $1399 to $1549, the iPhone 17e from $999 to $1149, and a 1TB iPhone Air from $2599 to $3099. The iPhone 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Plus have been discontinued.
The new models feature a long battery life – 45 hours of video playback for the Pro Max – and faster charging. The camera offers what Apple called “cinematic effects” from regular video captured on the phone, as well as new options for manual controls and “smart focus tracking,” which lets users focus on a single moving subject, such as a kid during a soccer game.
The Duo drops several features found on cheaper iPhones. There is no telephoto lens and no Face ID, with Touch ID built into the side button instead. It also misses the variable aperture camera that is the marquee upgrade on the $2099 iPhone 18 Pro. The phone is eSIM only, with no physical SIM slot.
Apple is also focusing on Siri’s new AI capabilities with the new phones, emphasising privacy and security to stand apart from rivals who are further along in incorporating AI.
The Duo “was always going to eclipse Apple’s other announcements at the event,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. “The device adds a distinctive new design to the iPhone lineup and marks the company’s entry into the niche foldable smartphone category.”
Wood said that while there is certain to be demand for the Duo, which costs less than some analysts had anticipated, foldables still account for less than 5 per cent of the overall smartphone market.
Many of Apple’s biggest rivals, such as Samsung, Motorola and Google, have already come out with foldable smartphones. But Apple is not one to rush on new technologies.
“The foldable launch is straight out of Apple’s playbook: Wait for the product to work out its kinks and for the market to offer glimpses of viability, then enter and shape the category,” said Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee.
“The difference is that foldables still represent a minuscule share of the smartphone market. The test of Apple’s ambition will be whether it can expand that niche into a meaningful new segment.”
Ben Henzell, who owns digital agency BFJ Digital, said he would buy one.
“Apple may not be the first to market with a foldable phone, but it certainly has the engineering and brand to bring it to the mainstream,” he told this masthead. He expects it to appeal to people working on their phones, and compared the moment to the launch of the iPad.
Earlier this year, Apple unveiled artificial intelligence advances, including upgrades to its Siri assistant, emphasising a focus on privacy and day-to-day use as the company tries to catch up with rivals on AI.
The keynote address for Ternus at the tech giant’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, will set the tone for his vision of Apple’s future, Chatterjee said.
“John Ternus inherits perhaps the most successful consumer technology juggernaut in modern times. That is both a boon and a burden for him. Tim Cook’s perfected execution, scale, and monetisation set a high bar, and Ternus must extend that run,” Chatterjee said. “But he must sustain that momentum while positioning Apple to disrupt itself in the near future, when the iPhone, or any smartphone for that matter, will cease to be the consumer’s primary conduit to the world.”
Last year’s iPhone 17 lineup, which included a new ultra-thin model, has been selling well. That generation saw a new slimmed-down model that adopted the “Air” name that Apple already used for its sleekest iPads and Mac computers.
Wood noted that, with all the excitement around the Duo, the official arrival of Ternus as CEO “felt like less of a story” than he’d expected.
“This event marks a seamless transition from Tim Cook, and its timing to coincide with the iPhone Duo was undoubtedly planned,” Wood said. “However, despite the media frenzy about this new device, it is the broader strength of Apple’s hardware, software and services that will drive the company forward.”
With AP
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David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.
