Apple has officially shattered one of its most legendary internal dogmas with the unveiling of its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo. In a move that directly contradicts the famous 2007 declaration by Steve Jobs—who once quipped that if a smartphone manufacturer included a stylus, “they blew it”—the tech giant has confirmed that the new high-end device will feature support for the Apple Pencil.
The iPhone Duo, which hits the market with a starting price of approximately Rs 3 lakh, is being marketed not merely as a phone, but as a hybrid powerhouse combining the portability of an iPhone with the utility of an iPad. Featuring a sprawling 7.6-inch main display, the device represents the most significant departure from Apple’s traditional smartphone design philosophy to date.
Addressing the long-standing controversy surrounding the stylus, Apple CEO John Ternus pushed back against the idea that Jobs’ original comment was a permanent rule for the company. “I’ve never really thought of it as a rule,” Ternus told Tom’s Guide. He explained that the larger screen real estate of the foldable device changes the paradigm entirely, creating use cases for precision input that were never viable on smaller, standard handsets. According to Ternus, the Pencil is intended to be an optional “fun” tool rather than a mandatory interface, serving users who want to leverage the device’s expanded display for creative or professional tasks.
To support this new form factor, Apple has introduced iOS 27, which has been significantly overhauled to ensure a seamless experience across the folding screen. One of the most notable changes is the migration of core navigational controls to the right side of the interface. Ternus noted that this design choice keeps essential tools within easy reach of the user’s thumb, regardless of whether the phone is folded or open.
The company is also moving aggressively to avoid the “stretched app” trap that has plagued early foldable devices from competitors. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak, emphasized that the company refused to rush the launch of the Duo. “What we saw others doing wasn’t particularly inspiring,” Joswiak said. “Our history has never been to rush into something with something half-baked.” To ensure a premium experience upon its October 23 release, Apple has been working closely with major developers, including Netflix, Slack, and Zoom, to optimize their applications for the device’s unique dual-display architecture.
While the Rs 3 lakh price tag positions the iPhone Duo as the most expensive mobile device in Apple’s lineup, the company maintains that the cost is justified by its engineering complexity and the seamless integration of its hardware, software, and services. As Ternus put it, the goal is to create an experience that is “bigger than the sum of its parts.”
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