Apple enters the foldable game. Now everyone has to follow.

Every few years, Apple makes a decision that leaves the technology industry scratching its head. Then, slowly, what initially looks like a questionable move starts becoming the direction the industry itself moves in. Apple has turned this into something of a pattern; make a controversial decision, get consumers to accept it, and eventually watch competitors follow.

It killed the headphone jack with the iPhone 7. In 2020, it removed the charging adapter from the iPhone box. The iPhone X’s notch went from being the subject of ridicule to becoming a familiar part of smartphone design. The iPhone’s Gold, and later Rose Gold, helped turn smartphone colours into fashion and status statements.

In several cases, Apple’s decisions have looked less like reactions to industry trends and more like bets on where the industry would eventually go.

Must read: The iPhone folds! Apple unveils its first-ever foldable ‘iPhone Duo’ at Rs 2,99,900

And now comes a different kind of bet.

Apple is taking a technology category that competitors created and putting the full weight of the iPhone ecosystem behind it.

Unveiling the iPhone Duo nearly eight years after Samsung helped establish the modern foldable smartphone category, Apple has finally entered the market. Samsung, Huawei, Motorola and Chinese smartphone makers have spent years building the category, refining hinges, flexible displays, software and different form factors.

But the iPhone Duo could turn what has largely remained a premium enthusiast category into a mainstream smartphone form factor. Apple does not need to invent the foldable; it needs to make the category feel mature, reliable and desirable enough for millions of existing iPhone users to consider making the switch.

In India, the iPhone Duo starts at Rs 2,99,900 and uses a book-style design, with a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch internal screen. Apple has also focused on addressing some of the weaknesses that have held back foldables, including the display crease, durability and overall thickness.

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Those improvements matter because Apple’s biggest advantage may not be the hardware itself. Apple’s strength lies in everything surrounding the device: iOS, the App Store, developers, services and, most importantly, an enormous installed base of customers already accustomed to buying iPhones.

That could change the economics of the category.

Foldables have traditionally sold in relatively small numbers, making them expensive to develop and manufacture. If the Duo persuades a meaningful share of Apple’s premium customers to embrace the form factor, higher volumes could encourage greater investment in components, manufacturing and software, potentially accelerating improvements across the industry.

That puts pressure on Apple’s rivals.

Samsung will have to defend its position as the company that effectively pioneered the modern foldable smartphone. Huawei, Honor and Motorola will have to assess whether their existing designs offer enough differentiation. Chinese manufacturers, which have often moved faster on thinness, charging speeds and hardware innovation, may find themselves under even greater pressure to push those advantages further.

More importantly, Apple could change what consumers expect from a foldable. Today, buyers tend to compare these devices on screen size, hinge design, crease visibility and thickness. With Apple in the game, those considerations could become part of a broader premium smartphone checklist: How thin is it? How durable is it? How good is the camera? Do the software and apps genuinely take advantage of the larger screen? And is the premium over a conventional flagship justified?

That is how a niche technology becomes mainstream. It stops being something consumers buy because it is novel and becomes something they consider because it is simply smartphone option.

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The Duo is therefore a test not just for Apple, but for the entire foldable industry.

If consumers embrace it, thinner designs could become the norm, better hinge mechanisms and less visible creases could become table stakes, and foldable-optimised software could become a bigger priority for developers. Higher volumes could eventually help bring prices down as well.

There is, of course, another possibility. Apple could discover that even its brand power cannot overcome the fundamental compromises of the form factor. At almost Rs 3 lakh, the Duo is firmly positioned as a luxury product, and consumers may decide that the benefits of a foldable simply do not justify the premium over a conventional flagship iPhone.

But if history is any indication, once Apple decides that something is the future, consumers quickly lap it up, and the rest of the industry eventually has to start preparing for it.