TechNewsAppleApple addresses iPhone Duo copycats‘Unfortunately they got the aspect ratio.’‘Unfortunately they got the aspect ratio.’by Thomas RickerSep 11, 2026, 10:02 AM UTCShareGiftJohn Ternus, Apple CEO, holds an iPhone Duo at the launch event. Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThomas Ricker is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.Apple was far from the first company to announce a passport-shaped folding phone this year, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t copied. As my colleague Dom Preston already explained, it’s almost impossible to keep product development secret when Apple and its competitors all share the same global suppliers.Apple’s new CEO John Ternus and head of marketing Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak addressed the topic during an interview with TechRadar’s Lance Ulanoff and Mark Spoonauer of Tom’s Guide.“People knew through leaks that we were working on a foldable,” said Joz. “Unfortunately, they got the aspect ratio, and a lot of coincidental instances of people finding that an interesting aspect ratio.” By “people,” Joz means Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi who all announced wide foldables ahead of Apple.What did remain a secret is the folding nano-texture display unique to the iPhone Duo. “What I’m super proud of — we kept it secret,” said Joz. “We put the extra security on it.
We didn’t talk about it to anybody.”The whole interview is worth a watch. Ternus’ boyish enthusiasm is a refreshing change from the more measured Tim Cook, signaling his roots as a hands-on engineer. You can see it when describing his first interaction with a prototype of the display. “Oh this is it, this is what I want,” he said, eagerly grinning.The new head of Apple is clearly a product guy, just like its mercurial founder.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Thomas RickerAppleApple Event 2026iPhoneNewsTechMost PopularOpenAI’s sly mathematical breakthrough sends a chill through academiaHands-on with the foldable iPhone DuoThe variable aperture isn’t the cool part of the iPhone 18 Pro’s cameraThe iPhone Duo’s hardware doesn’t look special, but its software might beThe iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldableAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
