Apple used its September keynote on Wednesday to unveil its first folding smartphone. The device is called the iPhone Duo, starts at US$1,999 and goes on sale on 23 October, CNN reported from the launch in Cupertino.
The name settles a question our 8 September preview could not. Pre-launch reporting had almost uniformly called the device the iPhone Ultra; that name did not survive the keynote.
What Apple actually showed
The Duo has a 5.4-inch outer screen and opens to a 7.6-inch inner display — both slightly smaller than the 5.5-inch and 7.8-inch panels described in pre-launch accounts. Apple says it is the thinnest iPhone the company has made when unfolded, and CNN’s reporter, who handled the device, described it as roughly the size and shape of a passport with a crease that is “barely visible” and cannot be felt across the display.
Chief executive John Ternus, who took the top job on 1 September, said the Duo “will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone.” It is the first September keynote in fifteen years not presented by Tim Cook.
Software adapts to how far the phone is opened: apps split to either side when it is partly folded, video expands to the inner screen without interruption, and a Standby mode turns the cover screen into a bedside clock or photo frame when the phone is propped up. Both cameras can run at once during FaceTime calls.
Apple is late to a category Samsung, Huawei and Motorola have sold in for years, and folding phones remain a small share of global handset sales.
The iPhone 18 Pro line
Announced at the same event, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max start at $1,199 and $1,299, with pre-orders from 12 September and sales from 18 September in more than 65 countries — five weeks ahead of the Duo.
Hiru News, carrying a Daily Star report, said both models take a 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera with a variable aperture that adjusts to lighting and depth of field, with four aperture settings available manually. A new opt-in feature, Apple Reference Image, records signed sensor data at capture so an original can later be compared against edited versions — a response to the difficulty of telling altered photographs from unaltered ones.
Both run the A20 Pro chip on a 2-nanometre process, which Apple says carries 50% more memory bandwidth than the A19 Pro and delivers graphics up to 40% faster. A redesigned vapour-chamber cooling system has three times the surface area of the iPhone 17 Pro’s. Apple claims up to 36 hours of video playback on the Pro and 45 on the Pro Max for eSIM-only versions, with a 50% charge in about 15 minutes.
The phones ship with iOS 27 and the new Siri AI, which can draw on messages, emails and photos and act across supported apps. Siri AI enters beta on 14 September, in English first. Other changes include a smaller Dynamic Island showing three Live Activities at once, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 via Apple’s N1 chip, and the C2 modem. Colours are black, silver, glacier and burgundy, in 256GB to 2TB.
Apple Watch Series 12
A later Hiru report covers the third product from the keynote. Apple Watch Series 12 carries a new Health Sensing System and the S11 chip, which Apple says deliver the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable through higher-frequency heart rate and heart rate variability readings. Those feed a new readiness score.
A redesigned Health app for iPhone follows later this year with a Longevity tab and a Health Age feature that shows how a user’s metrics track against their age. The S11 also enables Audio Intelligence features, also later this year, intended to help users recall parts of conversations and stay alert to important sounds. The watch runs watchOS 27, which brings Apple Intelligence and Siri AI to the wrist.
This account should be read with care: Hiru’s text is Apple’s own launch wording carried verbatim, including the superlatives, rather than independent testing. It gives no price, no release date and no Sri Lanka availability.
What it means for prices here
Sri Lanka has no official Apple store, so local prices carry import duties, taxes and dealer margins on top of the US figure. Our earlier report found local listings running roughly 17 to 22 per cent above a straight conversion of Apple’s US price.
Applying that gap to $1,999 at about Rs. 328 to the dollar puts a Duo here in the region of Rs. 767,000 to Rs. 800,000, if and when it arrives. That is our own arithmetic, not a quoted price — no local dealer has listed the device, and Apple has not said whether Sri Lanka falls inside the first wave of markets.
Not reported
Neither source gives a Sri Lanka release date or local pricing for any of the three models, names the countries in the 18 Pro’s launch wave, or states a price for the Duo’s higher storage tiers. No source gives a price or release date for the Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple’s AirPods announcement, expected alongside the phones, is not covered in any of the three reports.
