Apple debuts passport-shaped foldable phone, called Duo

A foldable iPhone-style device marks Apple’s biggest flagship shift in years, as the new Duo opens from passport size into a wide screen.

New Apple CEO John Ternus speaks as Apple holds an event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

CUPERTINO, California: Apple on Wednesday (Sep 9) unveiled a foldable phone called Duo , introducing the biggest change in years in the company's flagship product. The Duo is sized and shaped like a passport, with rounded edges. It opens into a horizontal, wide screen that also can be viewed vertically. There is a smaller single screen on the front, when the phone is folded. When open, it is Apple's thinnest phone, the company said. The folding phone event, the first with new CEO John Ternus at the helm, is the most noticeable overhaul of Apple's flagship product since it removed the physical home button from the iPhone X in 2017. The iPhone brought in US$209.6 billion, or just over half of Apple's sales, in its most recent fiscal year. Former CEO Tim Cook handed over the leadership baton to Ternus with a video about how to start the presentation that ended with a closeup of Cook, who said, "Not me. That's your guy," pointing back toward Ternus. Ternus touted the iPhone as a personal AI hub that focused on privacy, saying that others wanted to collect and store personal data. "Honestly, trust only goes so far when your data is no longer yours to control," he said. "That's why Apple Intelligence runs on device whenever it can."

Apple's Lilian Rincon, who oversees AI products for the iPhone maker and was recruited from Google earlier this year, described an updated Siri assistant that will work with 300,000 apps at release. Executives also showed off the iPhone 18 Pro and the 18 Pro Max handsets that are the latest versions of Apple's well-known line, which do not fold. Pricing for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max starts at $1,199 and $1,299, up $100 from the starting prices of the 17 Pro and Pro Max.

Apple also unveiled a feature aimed at addressing growing concerns over AI-generated and manipulated images. It introduced a new standard it calls "Apple Reference Image" to prove the authenticity of the images taken with the new iPhone 18 Pro cameras and said it will also support the emerging SynthID standard for identifying images that have been created or edited with AI. The Apple Reference Image feature will not be available in the EU or China. The iPhone 18 Pro will also include the new A20 Pro chip, which brings improvements to help advanced AI models to run directly on iPhones. "Apple Intelligence and Siri are front and center. Apple is using its biggest strength, the sheer scale of its hardware base, to make AI an integral part of the everyday experience across devices," PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore said. Shares were down about 1% during the Apple presentation. The company also said a new version of AirPods would start at $129 with noise cancellation, a first for its budget line of earbuds, and that a $149 version will be available with extra features such as wireless charging, and on-stem volume control that will allow users to adjust the volume by swiping up or down on the stem. Apple also introduced the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, positioning them as major health-focused upgrades. That includes a redesigned sensor system that collects heart rate more frequently than before and powers new features that gauge recovery and fitness. The company said the watches use new Apple silicon and improved sensors to deliver what it called the most accurate heart-rate tracking in a wearable.

PREMIUM PRICING CHALLENGE

Ternus previously served as Apple's hardware chief but has kept a low public profile aside from a handful of product introductions and sustainability initiatives. It will fall to Ternus to persuade Apple's customers that they need a foldable device that analysts believe could cost more than $2,000, a new high for a global brand that has defined mass luxury. While Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies have sold folding phones since 2019, the devices have remained a niche among tech enthusiasts. But even with a steep price tag, analyst firms such as International Data Corporation expect Apple will sell every foldable iPhone it can produce and secure a 40 per cent share of the lucrative niche by the end of next year. Wednesday's event is also expected to mark a major change in Apple's annual product schedule. While analysts expect Apple to show off new watches, they anticipate the company will hold off on updates to its more affordable iPhone models until next spring and instead focus only on the new folding device and its iPhone Pro and Pro Max lineup.

The move is aimed at smoothing out Apple's annual sales cycle, which typically shows a large bump in revenue during the year-end holiday quarter for the U.S. and Europe.

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可折叠的 iPhone 式设备标志着苹果近年来旗舰产品的最大转变，新款 Duo 可从护照大小展开成宽屏。

2026年9月9日，美国加利福尼亚州库比蒂诺，苹果公司新任首席执行官约翰·特纳斯在苹果公司位于加州库比蒂诺园区的史蒂夫·乔布斯剧院举行发布会并发表讲话。（路透社/卡洛斯·巴里亚摄）

加州库比蒂诺：苹果公司周三（9月9日）发布了一款名为Duo的折叠屏手机，这是该公司旗舰产品多年来最大的变革。Duo的尺寸和形状与护照相似，边缘圆润。展开后，它呈现一块横向宽屏，也可以竖屏观看。折叠状态下，正面则是一个较小的单屏。苹果公司表示，展开后的Duo是迄今为止最薄的苹果手机。此次折叠屏手机发布会是新任CEO约翰·特纳斯(John Ternus)上任后的首场发布会，也是自2017年iPhone X取消实体Home键以来，苹果旗舰产品最显著的革新。在最近一个财年，iPhone的销售额达到2096亿美元，占苹果公司总销售额的一半以上。前任CEO蒂姆·库克(Tim Cook)通过一段视频将领导权移交给特纳斯，视频中他演示了如何开始发布会，最后镜头特写库克，他指着特纳斯说：“不是我。那是你的人。”特纳斯称赞iPhone是一个注重隐私的个人AI中心，并表示其他公司都想收集和存储个人数据。“说实话，当你的数据不再由你掌控时，信任就无从谈起，”他说。“这就是为什么苹果尽可能让智能技术在设备上运行的原因。”

苹果公司负责人工智能产品的负责人莉莲·林孔（Lilian Rincon）今年早些时候从谷歌跳槽至苹果，她介绍了升级后的Siri助手，该助手发布时将支持30万个应用程序。高管们还展示了iPhone 18 Pro和18 Pro Max，这两款手机是苹果知名折叠屏手机系列的最新版本。iPhone 18 Pro和Pro Max的起售价分别为1199美元和1299美元，比17 Pro和Pro Max的起售价高出100美元。

苹果公司还发布了一项旨在解决人们对人工智能生成和篡改图像日益增长的担忧的功能。它推出了一项名为“Apple Reference Image”（苹果参考图像）的新标准，用于验证新款 iPhone 18 Pro 摄像头拍摄图像的真实性，并表示还将支持新兴的 SynthID 标准，用于识别使用人工智能创建或编辑的图像。Apple Reference Image 功能在欧盟和中国大陆地区暂不可用。iPhone 18 Pro 还将搭载全新的 A20 Pro 芯片，该芯片的改进有助于高级人工智能模型直接在 iPhone 上运行。PP Foresight 分析师 Paolo Pescatore 表示：“Apple Intelligence 和 Siri 是本次发布会的重中之重。苹果正在利用其最大的优势——庞大的硬件基础——将人工智能融入到各种设备的日常体验中。” 苹果发布会期间，其股价下跌了约 1%。该公司还表示，新款 AirPods 起售价为 129 美元，将首次在其入门级耳机产品线中加入降噪功能；此外，还将推出售价 149 美元的版本，该版本将配备无线充电和耳机柄音量控制等额外功能，用户只需在耳机柄上上下滑动即可调节音量。苹果还发布了 Apple Watch Series 12 和 Apple Watch Ultra 4，并将其定位为以健康为核心的重大升级。其中包括重新设计的传感器系统，该系统能够比以往更频繁地采集心率数据，并为评估恢复情况和健身水平的新功能提供支持。该公司表示，这两款手表采用全新的 Apple 芯片和改进的传感器，可提供可穿戴设备中最精准的心率追踪。

高端定价挑战

特纳斯此前曾担任苹果硬件主管，但除了少数产品发布和可持续发展项目外，一直保持低调。此次，他将肩负起说服苹果消费者购买可折叠设备的重任。分析师认为，这款设备的售价可能超过2000美元，对于这家定义了大众奢侈品的全球品牌而言，这将是一个新纪录。虽然三星电子和华为技术有限公司自2019年以来就已开始销售折叠屏手机，但这类设备在科技爱好者群体中仍然属于小众产品。然而，即便价格高昂，国际数据公司（IDC）等分析机构仍然预计，苹果将售罄所有可折叠iPhone的产量，并在明年年底前占据这一利润丰厚的细分市场40%的份额。周三的发布会预计也将标志着苹果年度产品发布计划的重大调整。分析师预计苹果将展示新款智能手表，但他们预计该公司会将价格更亲民的iPhone机型的更新推迟到明年春季，而将重点放在新款折叠屏设备以及iPhone Pro和Pro Max系列上。

此举旨在平滑苹果公司的年度销售周期，该周期通常在美国和欧洲的年底假日季期间出现收入大幅增长。

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