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IT Home reported on October 29 that market research firm TrendForce published a blog post yesterday (October 28) estimating that shipments of Apple's first foldable iPhone Duo will reach about 5 million units in 2026, giving it approximately 24.8% of global foldable phone shipments in its first year on the market.
TrendForce estimates that global foldable phone shipments will grow slightly, by 0.5%, in 2026.
The firm collected and analyzed initial feedback from iPhone Duo users and found two distinct characteristics: an “impressive experience” and a “significant learning curve.” Split-screen operation when unfolded and the display's appearance received praise, but users still need to get used to black borders in some apps, the button layout, and fingerprint unlocking.
On the technical side, the iPhone Duo's barely visible crease results from the combined effects of multilayer OLED materials and optical design. The cover layer, optical adhesive, display, and encapsulation layers bear different stresses when bent, so strain must be reduced through the bending radius, material thickness, modulus configuration, and movement within the adhesive layer. The screen's nanotexture disperses reflected light, making the band of reflected light in the folding area less noticeable.
More important is the software ecosystem. The iPhone Duo puts a large screen into a portable device, providing room to read documents, view AI summaries, and edit content in parallel. But if apps cannot dynamically adjust their layouts as the device opens and closes while preserving reading position, entered text, and work state, the added screen space will be hard to turn into productivity gains. The large screen also raises the demands on power management: highly efficient light-emitting materials, optimized optical structures, and adaptive driving are needed to balance multitasking, AI processing, and battery life.
TrendForce believes Apple's core advantage lies in its ability to integrate chips, the operating system, and the developer ecosystem. As app compatibility and hardware reliability improve, foldable phones may move beyond “form-factor innovation” toward product competition centered on multitasking efficiency.
IT Home provides the reference link below.
TrendForce: iPhone Duo launch sparks a wave of interest; structural reliability of the folding area and software-hardware compatibility will be key going forward
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