• Markets: Stocks made it a threepeat yesterday, but not the good kind, falling for the third day in a row as Treasury yields and oil prices moved up (more on both of those below). But somewhere, Mark Zuckerberg was probably smiling: Meta rose a day after debuting personal AI agents.

RETURN TO THE FOLD

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John Ternus took the stage in Cupertino yesterday for the first time as Apple CEO and delivered what everyone was expecting—nearly 10 uninterrupted minutes of Apple Hands and a new folding iPhone that has the potential to become the leader in a virtually untapped market.

The details: The iPhone Duo will be available for preorder on Oct. 16 at a starting price of $2,000, but it can cost as much as $3,000 if you want more storage for cat videos. When unfolded, it acts more like an iPad than two iPhones, and it’s about the same size as a passport when folded.

Bringing Apple into the fold

Consumer electronics companies shipped a total of ~20 million foldables last year—accounting for ~2% of all smartphone sales, per Counterpoint Research. The Duo is tracking to make a splash instantly:

• Morgan Stanley expects Apple to ship 6.5 million Duos in its fiscal first quarter, which ends in December. That amounts to ~$14 billion in sales, or about 16% of total iPhone revenue expected in the quarter, per Bloomberg.
• Next year, the company is projected to sell more than 12 million foldables, according to Counterpoint.

The latest push to catch up on AI

Apple also unveiled other new products at yesterday’s “Surprise and Shine” event besides the iPhone You’re Even More Afraid To Drop, including the upgraded AirPods 5.

Just about everything else was a signal that Apple no longer wants to be the tech company that’s lagging on AI. The new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max (which you can fold, but only if you want to break it) along with the Duo are being positioned as Apple’s primary AI devices. Both of the latest iPhones have improved AI software that includes a new Siri AI. Even the new Apple Watch is being rebranded as an AI wearable.

Bad day, good outlook? Apple shares were down slightly yesterday before market close, but Ternus shouldn’t take it personally—it’s the sixth time over the last nine new iPhone events that its stock has fallen on the same day. But shares have also averaged a 10% gain over the six months following these annual product pitches, per data from Bloomberg.—DL

      

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