Apple Unveils Foldable iPhone Duo and New iPhone 18 Lineup

Apple has unveiled its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, alongside an updated iPhone 18 lineup. The presentation — the first without former CEO Tim Cook — was led by his successor, 51-year-old John Ternus, who oversees product development.

Cook, who had led Apple since 2011 and steered the company to record profits, appeared on stage for only a few seconds to introduce the new chief executive. According to Bloomberg, it was Cook himself who pushed for the foldable phone, an idea that reportedly came to him after a trip around Asia, where he said foldable devices seemed to be everywhere.

A Foldable iPhone Without Face ID

The headline product is the iPhone Duo, a foldable smartphone that will go on sale from October 23. The base version with 256GB of storage will cost 54,990 CZK, while the top-tier model with 2TB of storage starts at 90,990 CZK.

Designer Steve Lemay said the team began the project by developing a large display of the right quality, rather than adapting an existing form factor. Apple emphasizes that, unlike competitors whose foldables "look like two phones glued together," its device was built from the ground up as a single product with one large screen.

The slim folded profile forced engineers to make trade-offs: for the first time since 2017, an iPhone lacks Face ID — instead, the Duo uses a fingerprint scanner built into the side button. The device also skips a telephoto lens; the main camera is a 48-megapixel Fusion module, with 2x zoom achieved digitally through cropping. The front-facing camera for FaceTime is hidden under the inner display for the first time.

Standard iPhone 18 Models and a New Chip

The iPhone 18 Pro, with a 6.3-inch display, arrives sooner — on September 18 — with the 256GB version priced from 34,990 CZK and the 2TB version from 70,990 CZK. The larger iPhone 18 Pro Max, featuring a 6.9-inch screen, starts at 37,990 CZK for 256GB and 73,990 CZK for 2TB.

The new phones are powered by the A20 Pro chip, which Apple says delivers not only greater performance headroom but also significantly longer battery life. According to the company, the iPhone 18 Pro Max can play video for up to 45 hours on a single charge — the largest generation-over-generation battery gain in iPhone history, Apple claims. By comparison, the iPhone 18 Pro lasts 36 hours. These figures apply to versions without a physical SIM slot; European models will see slightly lower numbers.

Siri Voice Assistant and New Camera Features

A significant portion of the presentation was devoted to an updated Siri — an area where Apple has long faced criticism for falling behind. According to marketing vice president Lillian Rincon, the voice assistant handles 25 billion requests daily and will now be able to carry out more complex conversations, drawing on a user's calendar and messages with close contacts.

Siri is getting new, more expressive voices with personalization options, along with a long-promised, more reliable dictation feature — usable not just within Siri itself, but in any app on the iPhone. Apple's AI features remain available in English only for now, while the updated Siri will support 16 languages — Czech is not among them.

Later this year, a new "Siri Recap" feature will roll out, allowing users to record nearby conversations and later review transcripts on their iPhone or Apple Watch — useful for anyone who missed or forgot something. Processing happens entirely on-device, and users decide when the feature is active.

Among the camera upgrades is a genuine (rather than software-simulated) variable aperture, giving users greater control over lighting and long exposures, including in video. Apple has also added sensor-level digital signing of photos to verify authenticity and confirm images haven't been manipulated — though this feature won't be available in China or the European Union.

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Source: seznamzpravy.cz