CUPERTINO — The price of Apple’s latest ambition varies sharply depending on where you buy it. The iPhone Duo — Apple’s first foldable phone, unveiled Tuesday at the company’s “Surprise and Shine” event — starts at $1,999 in the United States. In India, the same 256GB base model is priced at ₹2,99,900. At current exchange rates, that amounts to roughly $3,564, a difference of $1,565. For buyers in Mumbai and Bengaluru, Apple’s most consequential new product in a decade costs nearly twice as much as it does in New York.
That price gap reflects how Apple has positioned the iPhone lineup across its five largest markets: the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. In every market except the UK — where £1,999 puts the price broadly in line with that in the US — the Duo carries a substantial premium, largely reflecting import duties and local tax structures that Apple incorporates into its retail prices rather than absorbing through its margins.
The iPhone Duo is also unlike any iPhone Apple has previously sold. It features a 5.4-inch outer display that unfolds into a 7.6-inch inner screen, the largest display Apple has shipped on a pocketable device. CEO John Ternus, making his first major product-launch appearance in the role, described it as “the thinnest iPhone we have ever made.” Pre-orders begin October 16, with the device scheduled to ship October 23 across more than 70 countries.
| Model | United States | United Kingdom | India | Canada | Australia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17 (256GB) | $799 | £799 | ₹82,900 | C$1,129 | A$1,399 |
| iPhone Air (128GB) | $999 | £999 | ₹1,19,900 | C$1,449 | A$1,599 |
| iPhone 18 Pro (256GB) | $1,199 | £1,199 | ₹1,64,900 | C$1,749 | A$2,099 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max (256GB) | $1,299 | — | — | C$1,899 | A$2,299 |
| iPhone Duo (256GB) | $1,999 | £1,999 | ₹2,99,900 | C$2,999 | A$3,499 |
| Base storage configurations. India prices include applicable import duties and taxes. iPhone 18 Pro Max pricing for the UK and India not confirmed at publication time. Sources: Apple, company announcement, September 9, 2026. | |||||
Alongside the Duo, Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299 in the United States — both available for pre-order this Saturday, with shipments beginning September 18. The iPhone 17, which Apple launched in the spring at $799, and the iPhone Air at $999, remain on sale. The iPhone 18 standard model has not been announced; Apple has indicated it is targeting a spring 2027 release.
Canada presents a separate complication. Apple raised prices on several existing models at Tuesday’s event, with the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 both climbing by as much as C$450 compared to their earlier price points. The iPhone Duo enters the Canadian market at C$2,999 — about $2,232 at current exchange rates, a 12% premium over US pricing that is modest relative to India’s gap but represents a meaningful increase in an already expensive lineup.
India applies a 22% basic customs duty on imported smartphones. Apple has expanded local assembly in India — the iPhone 17 is partially assembled there — but the Duo’s folding mechanism involves components not currently part of Apple’s Indian manufacturing footprint, making the device a fully imported product subject to the full duty stack. A breakdown of the iPhone 18 Pro’s manufacturing costs published by The Eastern Herald last month showed that memory and display expenses climbed sharply this cycle, leaving Apple with less margin flexibility on flagship products than it had in previous years.
Apple and other major technology companies raised prices across their product lines earlier this year as memory costs surged and AI-driven component demand pushed manufacturing expenses higher. Those increases landed hardest in markets where the local currency had already softened against the dollar — a dynamic that compounds the import-duty gap rather than offsetting it.
What is less clear is whether any of Tuesday’s pricing will shift before launch. Apple rarely revises retail prices in response to short-term currency movement — the iPhone 17’s India price, set in April, has not changed despite exchange-rate fluctuations since. According to Engadget’s live coverage of the event, Apple framed the Duo’s pricing as a natural consequence of its engineering ambition, a product requiring entirely new manufacturing techniques built over years. That may be accurate. But it does not explain why a buyer in London pays £1,999 for the same device that costs the equivalent of £2,726 in Delhi. Whether demand at ₹2,99,900 is strong enough to sustain the Duo’s India launch, or whether Apple is quietly relying on limited supply to manage expectations in markets where the price gap is hardest to justify, is a question the company has not addressed.
