CALIFORNIA: Apple officially kicked off a new era in smartphone hardware during its annual keynote event at Apple Park, unveiling the flagship iPhone 18 Pro series alongside the long-rumored iPhone Duo—the company’s first-ever foldable smartphone. Hosted by senior executive leadership, the launch showcased a strategic pivot for the tech giant, pairing iterative performance upgrades across its Pro lineup with a form-factor expansion aimed directly at the ultra-premium foldable market. In India, official pricing for the new flagship tier reflects local taxes and import duties, establishing new benchmark price points across the premium segment.
The headline hardware expansion centers on the iPhone Duo, a passport-style book-like foldable engineered to eliminate the visible screen crease that has long challenged competing devices. Built with a titanium frame and a custom liquid-metal hinge, the device pairs a 5.5-inch outer cover screen with an expansive 7.8-inch inner OLED main workspace. To preserve an ultra-slim chassis measuring under 5mm unfolded, Apple replaced Face ID on the foldable with a side-mounted capacitive Touch ID sensor integrated into the power button. The iPhone Duo carries a base price of $1,999 in the United States, while in India, the model starts at Rs. 2,49,900 for the 256GB storage variant, scaling up to nearly Rs. 3,00,000 for top-tier storage configurations.
Alongside the foldable, Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, driven by the silicon-leading A20 Pro chipset built on TSMC’s advanced 2nm architecture. The Pro models introduce a newly engineered thermal cooling system designed for sustained AI workloads, a redesigned, smaller Dynamic Island, and an upgraded camera array featuring a mechanical variable aperture for enhanced depth-of-field control. In India, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at Rs. 1,64,900 ($1,199 in the US) for the 256GB base capacity. The larger iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at Rs. 1,79,900 ($1,299 in the US) for 256GB, with higher capacities extending up to a new 2TB option. Official pre-orders for the Pro models begin this week, while retail shipments for the iPhone Duo are scheduled for an October rollout.
