Apple introduced its iPhone 18 lineup at an event on Wednesday in Cupertino, California, the company's home base. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299, both with 256 GB of storage, according to the Brazilian outlets G1 and InfoMoney. The most awaited announcement came last: the iPhone Duo, the company's first foldable phone, priced at $1,999 in the US and between R$ 21,999 and R$ 30,999 in Brazil.
It was the first product presentation led by John Ternus, who took over as CEO after Tim Cook's departure. Apple also showed the Apple Watch Series 12, the Watch Ultra 4 with up to 50 hours of battery life, the $129 AirPods 5 with stronger noise cancellation and live translation, a new version of the Siri assistant and a chip of its own design. The iPhone 18 Pro models gained camera, battery and charging speed upgrades, InfoMoney reported.
How the foldable works
Closed, the iPhone Duo is about the size of a passport; open, it works like a small tablet. Picture a wallet that unfolds into a book. It has two screens, 5.4 and 7.6 inches, and Apple says the larger one is the biggest ever fitted to an iPhone: 50% bigger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max display and 80% bigger than the iPhone 18 Pro's. The hinge has more than 100 parts, according to the company, and the phone brings back Touch ID, the fingerprint reader, instead of the face recognition used on other iPhones.
Why the prices matter
The iPhone accounts for roughly half of Apple's revenue, as InfoMoney noted, so any price change moves the whole business, and the incentive to push buyers toward the more expensive models is clear. Before the event, Bank of America Securities analysts had warned of potentially significant increases across the Pro line and of the decision to delay the cheaper iPhone 18 models to the Northern Hemisphere spring of 2027. Foldables, for all the attention they get, still hold a small share of the global smartphone market.
Here is what we do not know yet. Apple mentioned more than 100 hinge parts, but there are no independent durability tests so far, and battery life on a screen that large was not detailed in the first reports. By the end of the presentation G1 had listed only the Duo's Brazilian prices, and the release timing is vague: the device arrives "next month", according to InfoMoney.
The practical read: if you want a regular 18 Pro, wait for the price in your currency and the first reviews before upgrading. If the Duo tempts you, remember it costs $700 more than the entry iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a first-generation form factor is exactly the one where early buyers do the testing for everyone else.