Apple held its fall event on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and unveiled its first foldable iPhone. By the time the event ended, the CEO of one of the country’s largest wireless carriers had already gone on camera and shared his thoughts on the device.
AT&T CEO John Stankey was in San Francisco on Sept. 9 for the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference, the same day Apple held its event.
Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi pulled him aside and asked what he made of the $1,999 iPhone Duo. Stankey did not hold back.
AT&T CEO on the iPhone Duo: “This is not new“
“The best characterization I can give is, looking at the foldable phones that have been out in the market, this is not new,” Stankey told Yahoo Finance.
He brought up Android foldables as his evidence. Samsung, Google, and others have been selling foldable phones for years. They get good reviews. They have loyal fans. Yet they have never broken through to the average buyer.
“Android users are as passionate about Android as iOS users are about iOS,” Stankey said. “They’re a smaller percentage of the U.S. market, but they are still passionate, and there’s been some really good foldable devices in the Android ecosystem for a couple years. And what we’ve seen is that it tends to function more as a specific niche type application as opposed to [being] broadly accepted.”
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He acknowledged Apple could prove him wrong, but said he doubted it.
“Will iOS users view it differently, or will there be some unique take that Apple comes up with that changes that penetration dynamic a little bit?” Stankey said. “I suppose it’s possible, but my guess right now is we’re going to kind of see it contained to a portion of the user base that wants that larger device and is maybe willing to invest more money to pick it up and get it.”
Samsung has had the market to itself for years, having launched its first Galaxy Fold in 2019 and having sold foldables every year since. IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo, however, puts foldable phones at only about 2.2% of global smartphone sales in 2026.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 runs $1,899, and Apple wants $1,999 for the Duo, reinforcing that foldables are still a niche product.
What is the Apple iPhone Duo?
Apple unveiled the Duo at its Sept. 9 event. New CEO John Ternus ran the show for the first time, walking through the iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5, and Apple Watch Series 12 before saving the Duo for last.
The Duo has a 5.4-inch screen on the outside and a 7.6-inch display when unfolded, according to CNBC. It folds like a book and slips into a pocket.
Open it up, and the screen is large enough to watch a video, work across two apps, or do anything that usually requires a tablet. Apple priced it at $1,999. No iPhone has ever cost that much.
IDC projects foldables will reach 3.1% of global smartphone volume by 2030, even with Apple now in the market.
In revenue, they punch above their weight at about 6.9% of global smartphone sales in 2026, because the price tags are high. But unit volume has been the category’s stubborn weak spot for years.
Would the AT&T CEO buy the iPhone Duo?
Stankey said he might consider it, under one specific condition. He travels with both an iPhone and an iPad and moves between them throughout the day. If the Duo could replace the iPad, he said he would be interested. If it just adds a third device, he is out.
“I’m going to have to see if it replaces something that I use,” Stankey told Yahoo Finance. “I’m pretty adept at moving back and forth between my iPad and my mobile device right now. And if it becomes something where it says maybe I don’t need to carry the larger iPad around with me, I might be interested.”
A lot of people considering the Duo will probably do the same math. For someone who carries an iPhone and a tablet everywhere, a $1,999 phone that consolidates both devices could be worth it. For everyone else, $1,999 for a phone they already own a smaller version of is a harder sell.
iPhone Duo price and what it means for Apple stock
Stankey runs a wireless carrier. His job with any new iPhone is working out how many customers will buy it and what AT&T has to put together to compete for those sales.
On the Duo, he is betting the buyers will be people who have been waiting for a bigger iPhone, not people who never thought about one until now.
For AT&T, a $1,999 phone matters, even if volume is modest. Higher-priced phones generally mean bigger upgrade financing deals, longer device payment plans, and more opportunities for premium plan attachments. Carriers make money on foldables, even when they do not sell in massive numbers.
Apple now has a foldable phone. Samsung has had one since 2019. Preorder numbers will start coming in shortly, and the first few weeks of sales should tell us whether Stankey read the room correctly or whether Apple will pull off something Samsung could not.
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