Industry Odisha Bureau, Sep 10: Apple has entered the foldable smartphone race at last. Its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, starts at $1,999. In India, pricing begins at Rs 2,99,900. Samsung and Huawei got there years earlier.
That delay may not be the setback it seems. Apple has a long history of arriving late. It typically waits for a category to mature first. Then it enters with scale and polish.
The company’s real weapon is its installed base. Hundreds of millions of iPhone owners already trust Apple. They know its apps, its services, its interface. Converting even a fraction of them changes the maths. Familiarity does not, however, guarantee they will buy in.
Pricing tells its own story here. Many expected Apple’s foldable to cost even more. At $1,999 for 256GB, it undercuts those expectations slightly. Even so, this is not a budget device. Apple is chasing premium buyers, not mass adoption.
The hardware itself is almost secondary to the strategy. A 7.6-inch inner screen unfolds into tablet-like space. A 5.4-inch outer display handles quick, everyday tasks. Apple leaned hard into hinge engineering and slim thickness. Multiple folding angles support flexible, hands-free use.
Foldables, despite nearly a decade on the market, stay niche. Samsung and Huawei built that niche largely on their own. Apple is not creating a new category here. It is stepping into one that already exists.
That distinction matters more than it first appears. Apple’s entry could pull in undecided buyers, not just switchers. Growing the whole pie may matter more than grabbing slices. Increased visibility alone could shift how consumers see foldables.
Samsung is not about to cede ground quietly. Years of iteration have earned it real market trust. Analysts expect Samsung to keep the largest foldable share. Apple’s arrival complicates that position without immediately threatening it.
China raises the stakes further. Huawei commanded nearly 80% of China’s foldable market. That figure reflects the second quarter of 2026. IDC supplied the data behind that number.
For Apple, China represents unfinished business more than opportunity alone. Millions of Apple loyalists there have lacked a foldable option. The Duo changes that, even if Huawei’s grip holds firm.
IDC’s forecasts hint at where this could head. It projects roughly 10 million Duo shipments in year one. That would translate into close to $27 billion in revenue. Revenue, notably, says nothing about actual profit margins.
Looking further out, IDC expects something bigger by 2027. It forecasts Apple overtaking rivals as the top foldable vendor. That remains a projection, not a settled outcome.
The real test isn’t whether Apple sells phones. It’s whether Apple makes foldables matter to everyone else.
