Apple Kicks Off the Ternus Era With Its First Foldable Phone

Apple is preparing for what could be its most consequential product launch in years, with the first major public appearance of John Ternus as chief executive putting an added spotlight on the company’s next iPhone strategy.

The central attraction is expected to be Apple’s first foldable iPhone, reportedly called the iPhone Duo. It would mark the biggest change to the iPhone form factor in almost 20 years, taking Apple beyond the familiar slab-of-glass design that has defined the smartphone era.

The stakes extend beyond one premium handset. Apple is entering a foldable market that rivals such as Samsung, Google and Motorola have already spent years developing. The company’s challenge is not simply to make a phone that bends. It is to make the product feel refined, durable and useful enough to turn a niche category into a meaningful new upgrade cycle.

Quick Summary

• Apple’s expected iPhone Duo would be its first foldable iPhone, starting near $2,000.
• Apple’s main challenge is making a foldable durable, polished and useful enough for mainstream buyers.
• IDC expects Apple could ship 10 million foldable iPhones in its first 12 months.
• John Ternus’s first major launch as CEO arrives amid intensifying AI and hardware competition.

Table of Contents

• A Foldable iPhone Years in the Making
• What to Expect From the iPhone Duo
• Why Apple Is Entering the Market Now
• AI Matters, but the User Experience Matters More
• Premium Pricing and Apple’s Upgrade Strategy
• China Could Be Crucial to Foldable Demand
• How Big Could Apple’s Foldable Opportunity Be?
• John Ternus Takes Center Stage
• Markets React as Apple Faces a Bigger Tech and Debt Backdrop
• Treasury Buybacks Raise Questions About Yields
• AI Safety Concerns Move Inside the Industry
• Covenant Emerges With $250 Million for Affordable Strike Capability
• The Foldable iPhone Is Apple’s Big Test

A Foldable iPhone Years in the Making

Apple’s work on foldable displays reportedly began more than a decade ago. Samsung brought its first foldable smartphone to market in 2019, but Apple took a considerably more deliberate route, exploring different designs before settling on a foldable iPhone rather than a foldable iPad-style product.

The eventual direction was shaped by a simple conclusion: the product needed to remain an iPhone. Rather than becoming a small tablet that happens to fold, Apple’s device is expected to preserve phone-like portability when closed while opening into a wider screen for richer content, multitasking and productivity.

That approach reportedly gained momentum around 2023, when several core technical challenges began to come together:

• Foldable display technology that could reduce the visibility of the crease.
• Improved durability for a device designed to be opened and closed constantly.
• Better battery technology for a thin, lightweight folding product.
• A software foundation better suited to apps and interfaces on a larger screen.

The result is expected to be a passport-shaped device: shorter and wider than a conventional iPhone when closed, then significantly larger when opened.

What to Expect From the iPhone Duo

Bloomberg reporting indicates the iPhone Duo could start at approximately $2,000 in the United States and go on sale in October, slightly after the expected launch of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.

The expected specifications include:

• A 5.5-inch outer display.
• A 7.8-inch internal folding display.
• Two 48-megapixel rear cameras.
• Software-based telephoto functionality rather than a dedicated telephoto lens.
• Dark blue and white finishes.
• Storage configurations reaching 2 terabytes, with the top model near $3,000.

The camera compromise is notable. Foldables require difficult tradeoffs involving thickness, hinge mechanics, battery capacity and internal component space. Apple appears to be prioritizing the engineering required for a premium foldable experience, even if that means relying on computational photography rather than adding every possible camera component.

For a device at this price, the feel matters as much as the specification sheet. The hinge needs to open smoothly. The screen has to look and feel high quality. The device must survive the realities of daily use, from travel to accidental drops to years of repeated folding.

That is why the crease remains one of the biggest questions. Existing foldables have made considerable progress, but a visible crease or questionable durability can make an expensive device feel unfinished. Apple’s opportunity is to remove those points of friction and make folding hardware feel ordinary rather than experimental.

Why Apple Is Entering the Market Now

Apple is rarely first into a product category. Its pattern has been to wait, observe what works and then use its hardware, software and services ecosystem to make a new category easier for consumers to understand.

The iPad offers a useful comparison. Early on, the message was straightforward: it was essentially an iPhone with a bigger screen. Over time, optimized software, applications and accessories gave the form factor a clearer purpose. The foldable iPhone may follow a similar path.

At first, the immediate benefit could be intuitive. A larger screen is better for:

• Streaming video and viewing photos.
• Reading ebooks and documents.
• Handling multiple apps or tasks at once.
• Consuming information in a more immersive format.
• Sharing content with someone nearby without handing over a full-size tablet.

The bigger question is how Apple adapts iOS to the extra screen space. Foldable hardware alone does not create a compelling category. The experience needs to be polished enough that a buyer sees a clear advantage over a conventional iPhone.

That is where Apple’s ability to integrate silicon, hardware and software becomes particularly important. The company still needs to sell hardware before it can sell any broader vision of artificial intelligence. A foldable device could provide more room for voice-led interactions, contextual information and richer AI-assisted workflows, but only if those capabilities make the overall user experience better.

AI Matters, but the User Experience Matters More

AI readiness will be closely watched, but it may not be the primary reason people choose a foldable iPhone. Consumer research points to more fundamental purchase factors: trust in the brand, product quality, the overall user experience, technical specifications and security.

AI can support those priorities, particularly when it helps create a better experience rather than standing alone as a chatbot feature. The opportunity is to make the larger display and Apple ecosystem work together more intelligently.

That could include tighter interactions between the iPhone Duo and other Apple devices. It could also mean software features that use the expanded display more effectively. The key is not simply whether the phone has AI, but whether AI helps make the device more useful in daily life.

Consumer interest in AI also differs across markets. Surveys suggest buyers in China and India are particularly enthusiastic about AI features, while consumers in Europe tend to be more reserved. In the United States, AI appears to matter, but it sits alongside broader concerns about quality, usability and trust.

Premium Pricing and Apple’s Upgrade Strategy

The iPhone Duo’s expected $2,000 starting price puts it firmly in the luxury end of the smartphone market. That is roughly three times the average selling price of a typical smartphone, but it is in line with the current pricing of high-end foldable devices.

Apple is also expected to raise prices for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max by around $100 each. That would be a smaller increase than some market expectations, which had anticipated jumps of several hundred dollars.

Memory costs are a major factor. Apple is facing rising component prices, and it must decide how much of that increase to absorb through lower margins and how much to pass on to customers. The company has an advantage over many hardware rivals because services and subscriptions create revenue beyond the device sale itself.

That gives Apple more flexibility in balancing hardware prices with the desire to maintain a healthy upgrade cycle. It also helps explain the apparent effort to keep the U.S. entry price near the psychologically important $1,999 threshold, while allowing international pricing to absorb more of the cost pressure.

China Could Be Crucial to Foldable Demand

China is already the center of the global foldable market, accounting for more than half of current demand. The United States represents a much smaller share, while developed Asian markets such as South Korea and Japan also contribute meaningful demand.

In these markets, foldables are not mass-market devices. They are premium products for early adopters and affluent consumers. In China especially, a foldable iPhone could carry the appeal of a designer product: expensive, distinctive and potentially limited in early supply.

Apple’s position is particularly significant because it is the leading smartphone brand in the United States and one of the largest players in China. Its entry could bring momentum to a category that remains tiny relative to the total smartphone market.

Foldables account for less than 2% of the global smartphone market today. Yet the segment could become far more relevant if Apple turns the product from a technical novelty into a status device with a clear everyday purpose.

How Big Could Apple’s Foldable Opportunity Be?

The global smartphone market is expected to reach roughly one billion units this year, underscoring how small the foldable segment still is by comparison. The total foldable market is estimated at around 23 million devices.

IDC expects Apple could ship approximately 10 million foldable iPhones in the first 12 months after launch. That would give Apple a substantial portion of the market almost immediately, with estimates pointing to around 30% share in the initial launch period and potentially 40% by the end of the following year.

Those numbers reflect the power of the iPhone brand, but they also underscore how much Apple needs to differentiate the product. Foldables have been available for years. The competitive landscape is already crowded. Apple cannot rely solely on brand value when buyers are spending $2,000 or more.

The company needs to answer several practical questions:

• Is the fold and crease effectively invisible?
• Does the hinge feel durable enough for years of use?
• Can battery life meet expectations despite the thin folding design?
• Does iOS make the expanded display feel genuinely useful?
• Can the device justify its price against a conventional iPhone and a tablet?

If Apple gets those answers right, the iPhone Duo could give the foldable category the kind of mainstream credibility it has been missing.

John Ternus Takes Center Stage

The event is also a major leadership moment. John Ternus has appeared on Apple stages before, but appearing as chief executive changes the significance of every detail, from the message to the delivery.

Apple is not expected to suddenly make a dramatic turn away from the strategy that built it into one of the world’s most valuable companies. But Ternus comes from an engineering and product background at a moment when product integration is central to Apple’s future.

That is especially relevant as the industry shifts toward AI. Apple’s competitive strength has long been the way it joins chips, hardware, software and services. The next phase will test whether that integration can make AI feel tangible and useful inside the products people already depend on every day.

The smartphone remains the most personal and essential consumer technology device. It is a wallet, camera, computer, internet connection, calculator and communications tool. Even under economic pressure, consumers have shown that this is one product category where they are willing to spend.

That is the foundation Apple is building on as it introduces a new form factor.

Markets React as Apple Faces a Bigger Tech and Debt Backdrop

Apple’s launch arrived during a busy day for technology markets, with the company’s shares under pressure despite a strong rally since late June. Apple’s recent share gains have reflected enthusiasm around the upcoming product cycle, including the foldable iPhone at its center.

Elsewhere in tech, Meta shares moved higher as analysts focused on the company’s AI agent strategy. At the same time, Amazon, Alphabet and Apple weighed on the Nasdaq. Investors are increasingly balancing excitement about AI products against the cost of the infrastructure needed to build them.

Amazon is tapping global debt markets to fund its AI ambitions, raising $5.8 billion in its first sterling bond sale. The deal drew substantial investor demand, according to Bloomberg reporting. The company is among the hyperscalers diversifying their financing sources after extensive borrowing across U.S. debt markets.

Uber also entered the European bond market with a euro-denominated sale, another example of companies seeking broader pools of funding. For large technology companies, European investors can offer an opportunity to access capital where technology issuance has historically been less concentrated than in the United States.

Treasury Buybacks Raise Questions About Yields

Markets were also digesting news that the U.S. Treasury would buy back up to $6 billion of longer-dated government debt, focused on maturities between 10 and 20 years.

The stated purpose of these buybacks is to support market liquidity by creating a buyer for older, less actively traded Treasury securities. In theory, that can help investors sell older debt and free up capital for newer issues.

But the market reaction complicated that story. Rather than declining, yields on the 10-year and 30-year Treasury securities rose after the announcement. Investors remain focused on larger concerns, including rising U.S. debt, inflation, geopolitical instability and the cost of interest payments.

The Treasury had previously bought back about $2 billion in this maturity range on a regular basis, then signaled that purchases could rise to at least $4 billion. The move to $6 billion suggested a more forceful approach, but it left important questions unanswered:

• Will future buybacks remain at $6 billion?
• Will the program return to smaller regular purchases?
• How will the Treasury finance larger buybacks?
• Can buybacks meaningfully influence yields amid broader debt concerns?

Higher Treasury yields affect the wider economy because the 10-year yield is closely tied to mortgage rates. Rising yields increase borrowing costs and worsen the government’s own interest burden, creating a difficult feedback loop for policymakers.

AI Safety Concerns Move Inside the Industry

Another important development came from the AI sector, where a researcher resigned from Anthropic and urged others in the industry to reconsider their work on increasingly capable systems.

The researcher’s warning centered on the pace of the race toward superintelligence and the possibility that companies are moving ahead without adequately addressing severe safety risks. A current Anthropic researcher also weighed in, adding to concerns that have increasingly emerged from within the companies developing advanced AI models.

The risks cited in the broader debate include powerful cyberattacks, disruptions to financial systems and the possibility that AI could help enable dangerous biological threats. More than 1,100 employees from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic have previously called for a more measured approach to AI development and stronger attention to potential harms.

Washington faces a complicated balance. Some policymakers are calling for limits on the development of superintelligent systems, while the Trump administration has emphasized rapid AI development as critical to U.S. economic growth and competition with China.

The tension is clear: the technology industry sees immense commercial and geopolitical opportunity in AI, while a growing group of researchers and workers is warning that capability advances may be moving faster than safety efforts.

Covenant Emerges With $250 Million for Affordable Strike Capability

In private markets, defense technology startup Covenant emerged from stealth after raising more than $250 million across three funding rounds.

The company is developing a lower-cost, long-range cruise missile designed to address what it describes as a gap in deep precision strike capability. Covenant’s focus is not merely on producing an advanced prototype. Its central goal is to manufacture at scale.

The company says it progressed from initial concept to a full prototype in 11 months and one day, supported by a team that includes veteran missile engineers, reservists and other mission-focused specialists.

Covenant is building production capacity in Dallas and Germany. The Dallas facility is expected to deliver 1,000 missiles next year and is designed for an annual output of 5,000 missiles, with similar ambitions for the German facility.

The underlying argument is that deterrence requires affordable mass. Advanced weapon systems have often been expensive and difficult to produce in large quantities. Covenant is aiming to offer long-range capability at a price and scale that can support sustained inventories.

The Foldable iPhone Is Apple’s Big Test

Apple’s foldable iPhone arrives at a defining moment for the company. The device must prove that a new form factor can still inspire an industry that has spent years refining the same basic smartphone shape.

For John Ternus, it is also an early test of leadership in a period defined by high expectations around AI, pressure from rising component costs and an increasingly competitive global smartphone market.

The iPhone Duo may begin as a premium, limited-volume device. But if Apple delivers on durability, software and everyday usefulness, it could become more than a luxury handset. It could redefine what consumers expect from a phone.

Full credit for the original reporting and video coverage belongs to the Bloomberg Tech YouTube channel. For continuing coverage of Silicon Valley, AI and the future of business, visit Bloomberg Technology.