Key Points
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Apple’s new iPhone 18 has arrived, but a premium-priced surprise is coming next month.
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The foldable iPhone Duo launches on Oct. 23 with a steep price tag and a screen that could prove polarizing.
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The high-end smartphone is expected to find its audience, with fans and telecom partners heavily invested in its success.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has launched its new iPhones, and the timing may be just right to return the consumer tech giant to the pinnacle of market capitalization. The distance ahead isn’t insurmountable.
Recent gains in the stock place Apple within 2% of reaching a $5 trillion market cap. What’s more intriguing is that Apple is now less than 10% behind Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) in the race to become the world’s most valuable company by market cap.
Apple’s business isn’t expanding as rapidly as Nvidia’s at present, yet the gap in market capitalization continues to narrow. Nvidia investors have little reason to complain — the stock is up 26% over the past year. The difference is that Apple shares have surged by more than 40% over the same period. Momentum is firmly behind Apple, and that’s before a device that could redefine expectations reaches store shelves.
Image source: Getty Images.
Flipping things around
For more than a dozen years, Apple has followed a predictable cycle. It delivers double-digit revenue growth in a fiscal year when a groundbreaking iPhone model launches, then follows with two — and often more than two — years of single-digit or negative top-line growth, content with evolutionary smartphone updates.
Apple will close out fiscal 2026 at the end of this month, posting double-digit revenue growth for the first time in five years. The company has already posted strong results through the first three quarters ending in June. The new iPhone 18 lineup, which arrived on Friday, should solidify that momentum heading into the final stretch of fiscal 2026. But the story doesn’t end there. Apple is on the verge of doing something it hasn’t attempted in 14 years — and it hinges on the most expensive iPhone it has ever released.
Just Duo it
When the iPhone Duo arrives — on Oct. 23, with preorders opening a week earlier — Apple will charge at least $1,999 for the new device. That’s $800 more than the iPhone 18 Pro introduced over the weekend.
It’s tempting to write off the pricey handset. Apple has overstepped its pricing before and paid the price. Its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset has struggled to attract buyers at a prohibitive $3,699. The Lisa, Power Mac G4 Cube, and HomePod are other notable examples of Apple testing the limits of consumer price elasticity and facing the consequences.
That said, I believe the iPhone Duo will connect with its audience. As the first foldable iPhone, its passport-sized profile when folded offers a compelling blend of portability and utility that should win style points. Leading wireless carriers will likely continue to subsidize the device when bundled with multi-year contracts — a concession that wasn’t available for Apple’s previous expensive missteps.
Assuming the iPhone Duo doesn’t debut next month with a critical flaw — something on the order of those early foldable screens prone to cracking — Apple will sell millions of units in fiscal 2027. Analysts already project Apple revenue climbing 10.5% next year. If that materializes, it would mark the first time since fiscal 2012 that Apple achieves consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth. That would be a Duo worth unfolding.
