iPhone Duo has made TIME’s list of the best inventions of 2026, ahead of pre-orders opening in the US on October 16. The foldable starts at $1,999 and arrives on October 23.
TIME ran the honor with a profile of Apple CEO John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook on September 1. In the Best Inventions of 2026 piece, Ternus and Apple vice president of product design Richard Dinh describe how iPhone Duo went from a patent filing to a $1,999 phone.
Ternus Helped File a Foldable Patent in 2011, Years Before Apple Built One
Ternus and five other Apple engineers filed a patent application for foldable electronic devices in 2011, according to TIME. The filing looked at the batteries and circuit boards such a phone would need. Ternus said it already felt clear that OLED displays would eventually become flexible.
Apple then watched other companies ship foldables first. Ternus described those early attempts as cheap, with a big crease running down the middle of the screen. He pushed his team to keep investing anyway, even after rivals reached the market. He explained the design thinking behind the shape in an earlier interview.
Apple Built a Nanotexture Surface and a Hinge With 100-Plus Parts to Hide the Crease
TIME credits four pieces of engineering for the result:
- A new display engine, built on advances in Apple silicon, handles the transitions between the inner and outer screens.
- iOS was redesigned to move the main controls from the bottom of the screen to the right side, closer to the thumb.
- The inner display uses a nanotexture surface made from a custom polymer.
- The frame and hinge cover are Grade 5 titanium.
Dinh said he once asked Ternus whether the team should use a top surface similar to what rivals ship, which Dinh felt had flaws but might be good enough. Ternus pushed back, saying, “Look, Rich, you’ll know when it’s the right thing.”
That answer sent Apple’s teams around the world to connect suppliers and develop the nanotexture surface, Dinh said. The surface sits on a hinge built from more than 100 tiny precision components, and early users told TIME they can barely detect a crease.
Open, the inner display measures 7.6 inches and the outer display 5.4 inches. The open screen is 50 percent larger than iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple has not said how much of the iPhone Duo display comes from Samsung.
A $1,999 Price and a Memory Shortage Are the Hard Parts for Apple Now
TIME is direct that success is not guaranteed. It points to the Apple Car, which never shipped, and to Apple Vision Pro, which has sold poorly over the past year. Many buyers will balk at a price above $2,000, and repair fees top out at $1,499 without AppleCare+. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 demand has been strong, especially in Asia, so the market for foldables is growing.
The bigger near-term problem is supply. A global shortage of memory chips has raised costs and delayed production timelines. Apple has reportedly tested memory chips from a Chinese supplier to ease the squeeze, which drew a letter from a bipartisan group of senators who argued it would endanger national security. Ternus told TIME the shortage is a crisis and that every option should be on the table.
iPhone Duo Pre-Orders Open October 16 at 5 a.m. PT
iPhone Duo comes in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations. It runs the A20 Pro chip, uses Touch ID on the side button instead of Face ID, and is eSIM-only worldwide.
Apple rates battery life at up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner display and up to 44 hours on the outer display. Pre-orders open at 5 a.m. PT on October 16, and iPhone Duo is available starting October 23.
