Apple reveals new foldable iPhone Duo in latest generation

0:00So tech nerds have been waiting for this for a while. Now Apple has not been to the folding phone, but they've been working on it. They got beaten by Samsung. And Apple has not had a big new product. Like, its iPhones are progressively a bit better every generation, but not noticeably differently. A slightly faster process is better cameras, that sort of thing. But the folding phone, they call it the iPhone Duo, looks to me, looks interesting. So you fold it in half and it's like a chunky phone. And then you unfold it and it's like a little iPad. And it has this amazing feature where the screen and the middle can be in without breaking. Now I'm interested in it. They're very expensive. They're range from three and a half to almost $5,000. But I'm wondering if this product could be a phone and iPad and a laptop all rolled into one. And excuse tech expert at Finder. Mariam Gabbagia, good morning. Good morning. How are you going? Good. So, Finder say there's been a lot of hype over this

1:01sort of folding iPhone. Yes, it is something that Apple fans have been waiting on for years. And I guess if you're in the Apple ecosystem, and like you said, you're on your own, you only see incremental upgrades. And this is something completely new. If you're in Android, you're there are a few pads, Samsung, you've been used to different types of phones like Foldable. And this is an interesting year because Samsung launched its first ever is that Fold 8, which is a passport size Fold. So it to expand the market and make more people interested because the problem at Foldable has always been that they're just too bulky. And Apple has sort of followed suit and done the same thing. Okay, so I know I don't think you've actually been able to physically hold one yet because they're not in Australia. But from what you say, when it's folded in half, will the work fine as a phone? Yes, so I did get a chance. I haven't obviously used the new iPhone joy yet, but I've used a similar one from Samsung and it does work

2:04quite well. And it's the first time ever part of that switching to a Foldable and that's never happened before. Okay, well, what if you like me? I mean, I have an iPhone. I have a very old iPad, which barely works down. I have an ancient laptop which struggles a bit too because it's got very old versions of offers and things on it. And it's not powerful enough to have new ones. Could this Foldable iPhone do the job of all three? Could I have one device that sort of replaces a laptop and iPad and an iPhone? I think it can definitely do the job of replacing an iPad. And if being an iPad and a phone in one, a laptop, it really just depends on how you go about your day and how much you're on the move as well. If you want a form factor is important to you, it will get the job done because I think that's the biggest thing that Apple's working on. It's just making sure that both the screens work seamlessly together. You're able to be productive, use Apple intelligence features and all of that stuff. Are we confident that the screen, which sort

3:05of somehow flexes in the middle where it falls? So if you do that tens of thousands of time over the years that it won't crack and break? The key note that Apple gave this morning, it was massively focused on durability. Obviously you won't know until you actually use the phone and test it out. And it's the first one that Apple's come out with. But they have mentioned that durability with the key focus when they were making the phone. Because I remember years ago, when we still made cars in Australia, I went to the Holden factory in Port Melbourne. And they actually had like these machines that just opened and closed the doors, slamming them thousands of times in a row just to make it, just to see if the hinges could take it. You know, try to simulate you know, 10 years worth of use in the space of an afternoon. And you know, every now and then the door came off and they knew that they had a problem. Okay, well, what about the price? I mean, the base one's three and a half grand. The one with the most memory is almost $5,000. Is this overly expensive? It is. It is Apple's most expensive iPhone to date. For example, the iPhone 18 Pro Max

4:14costs about $2,200 in this start at $3,499. So you, there's a massive gap and just to put it more context, a similar phone from Samsung starts at $2,699. So there it is quite expensive. It might not suit everyone's budget. Yeah, but again, if it can replace two or even three devices, it could be worth it. Yes, you just have to understand what you're using it for, why you need it. And if you, like you said, if it's someone like you and you're trying to replace both your phone and your tablet and potentially your laptop, because you prefer a smaller screen, it could work. Now, final question, one of the big bug bears about Apple products is battery life. I was really all-fans, but I mean, like I have an Apple watch, which is great, but if you don't charge it each day, it stops working. And the phone, you know, I start the day with the full charge, I need to charge it again by the end of the day. Has Apple done much to improve battery life? And I'm guessing this, this duo, this foldable phone will, because it can do more stuff, it will consume

5:20more, more, more power. So have they upgraded their batteries? They do say that it can comfortably loss the full day, so they've made changes to just the tech inside the phone to make sure that the battery life can do, can last comfortably a full day. Again, it's one of those things where you have to use it and see how it goes for the next couple of years, but the tech has been improving here on year, for example, I'm using last year's iPhone 17 Pro Max and the charge loss comfortably, or a day and a half even when you're doing a lot of things. Okay, I just thought I'd want more question, but for me, it's important. So I'm one of those people, I always have quite a chunky cover on the phone, because I tend to drop them, and otherwise they break. With the folding phone, can you, will you be able to get a cover which protects it from being dropped? Yes, you should be able to get it. I think that's the thing that people want the most as well. I can never get a phone without a cover, so you will be able to

6:20get a case from Apple to cover your phone. Okay, take a big time. Merriam Gabbaji, the tech expert at Finder, and he'll apologize to everyone who's not an Apple user, but Apple's probably, I think it's 40% of a smartphone market, and once you have a whole family, if everybody has Apple devices, it's very hard to leave, because the devices all sort of communicate with each other and share contacts. It's just a whole bunch of stuff, and even if a Samsung is better or cheaper, which they often are, it's just too hard to shift, which is exactly what Apple wants. The foldable iPhone, called the iPhone Duo. It is expensive, the base model, three and a half grand. The top one, I think, is close to $5,000, and I'll be here for sale next month in October.