Apple presented the foldable iPhone Duo on Wednesday as its biggest handset redesign in nearly two decades. But its story began in 2011, when nine Apple engineers — including future CEO John Ternus — were already putting flexible devices on paper.
That July, Fletcher Rothkopf, Andrew Janis and Teodor Dabov filed the first patent. It described two sections joined by a hinge, with a flexible display running across them.
Their device could fold with its screen facing either inward or outward. The patent covered several possible products, including mobile phones and computers, rather than an identifiable ancestor of the Duo.
A second team followed that September. Jeremy Franklin, Scott Myers, Benjamin Rappoport, Stephen Lynch, Justin Wodrich and Ternus were named on a broader patent for electronic devices able to bend without breaking their internal components.
😂📱 John Ternus just let IShowSpeed make history as the first person to attempt a backflip while holding Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo.
— Apple Pixels (@TheApplePixels) September 9, 2026
Speed really took the iPhone Duo for a spin! 😭🔥#AppleEvent #iPhoneDuo #IShowSpeed #Apple #iPhone #Tech pic.twitter.com/GfpzFDfY9R
Read more: Apple’s hyped iPhone Ultra is actually foldable Duo
Patents are menus of possibilities, not product specifications. Apple files many that go unseen in a shop. But these documents show its engineers were working on foldable hardware eight years before Samsung launched the first Galaxy Fold.
The earliest filing also dates to the Steve Jobs era, although there’s no indication Jobs directed the work or spoke publicly about foldable phones.
Cook gives the fold a destination
The work continued under Dan Riccio, Apple’s former hardware chief, with his teams working with industrial designers on flexible displays and related components. One early idea was for something like an iPad mini that could open out to a larger tablet.
Tim Cook redirected the work around 2020, according to reports. He’d noticed the rise in popularity of foldable phones from Samsung, Huawei and others on trips to China and other parts of Asia.
Apple posted this video on Instagram, a FINAL GOODBYE to Tim Cook as Apple CEO. pic.twitter.com/OFVcBxVdGT
— Ahmed (@itz_ahmedx) September 1, 2026
Cook returned convinced that Apple needed one of its own and pushed the company to concentrate on a foldable iPhone, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Read more: iPhone Duo hands-on: perks, flaws and $1,999 trade-offs
That intervention muddies the oft-repeated criticism of Cook as an operator who made Apple richer but less adventurous. He didn’t invent its foldable concept but is said to have given a commercial destination to years of engineering experiments.
Ternus’ turn
Ternus took over Apple’s hardware division in 2021 and later became one of the project’s most ardent supporters.
By around 2023, the designers had decided on the short, wide proportions that would become the Duo. The phone folds into a passport-like shape before opening to reveal a 7.6-inch display.
Ternus unveiled the $1,999 handset on Wednesday, just over a week after succeeding Cook as CEO. The moment appeared to be the start of a new Apple era, but one of the men on stage had already lent his name to flexible hardware 15 years before.
Read more: Apple rolls out iPhone Duo, 18 series, AirPods 5 and new Apple Watch
