The Gadget Agenda: Apple’s $2,000 iPhone Duo could transform foldable phones

I've never been a big fan of Apple smartphones. I use one daily for work - in fact I have done for years, and I get the appeal, but they're just not for me. Give me a flagship Android any day.

But I'll always reluctantly accept Apple is pretty good at setting trends and shaking up industries.

And I have a feeling we're just starting to witness another iPod moment, with Apple once again taking a concept that's been bumbling along and completely reinventing it. I'm referring to the new iPhone Duo.

Foldable phones have been very steadily increasing in popularity for a while now, but never really taking over as a concept. The vast majority of us are happy with our single-screen handsets that weigh less, perform better, and cost a fraction of a folding device.

However, while I wasn't on the recent hands-on launch of the new iPhone 18 and the long-awaited foldable iPhone Duo, I've read and watched plenty about it, and I can see why people are saying this feels like a turning point.

Rather than follow the same format of trying to hide the folding feature in a device that feels like a conventional phone, Apple has taken on a completely different shape and format, and gone for a square-ish shape when it's closed.

This matters because it means that, when you open it up, you've got a size, shape and format that works well as a tablet-sized screen, rather than an awkward rectangle that doesn't accommodate a standard video format.

The extra space on the square front screen is taken up by a new dock, on the right hand side, exactly where your thumb will sit.

It's a new way of imagining a foldable phone and, while it's not impressively thin, or filled with new features, it's potentially a game-changer and I suspect other brands will follow the new format.

There's nothing unusual about Apple taking this long to come to the market with their version of a product that's been out there for years. And it's actually very clever. Let the rivals spend billions making mistakes and launching flops, quietly sit back, observe, learn from their errors, and then swoop in years later with something incredibly polished.

And, in many ways, that's what they've done. The user experience looks so clever, with the way the inner screen splits and merges apps so seamlessly, and the fact it has a decent battery, MagSafe, a decent cooling system, and a format that will be instantly familiar to iPhone users is worthy of applause.

There are issues, though. There's no face unlock, which is really odd. The selfie camera in the inner screen looks rubbish, and plenty of people are finding it hard to reach apps and widgets on the extremities of the super-wide outer screen.

And these aren't the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the price. It's $2,000. In the UK that's likely to translate to £2,000. Yes, it's happened, there's now a mainstream £2,000 iPhone.

There are more than enough Apple fanboys out there that will be more than happy to pay that, though, because this is going to be as much a status symbol as a useful piece of tech.

And the fact it's completely overshadowed the launch of the new iPhone 18, which also looks impressive, just highlights how much interest there is in Apple's first foldable.

I certainly won't be dashing out to buy one. I'm certainly impressed with it, and it's by no means an anti-climax, but it's just not for me.

If a brand that sticks to Android happened to make one in a similar format, though - and I'm convinced that's going to happen - I might be swayed.

For now, though, hats off to Apple. The world of smartphones has been static and depressing for a while. It's about time there was a proper innovation, and I think the iPhone Duo has finally delivered it.