Apple CEO Calls Rival Foldables “Cheap and Crappy”. In My Opinion, That Is Pure Arrogance

As 9to5Mac and MacRumors reported, TIME put the iPhone Duo on its list of the best inventions of 2026, with John Ternus on the cover. In the interview, Ternus said he and five other engineers filed a patent for foldable devices back in 2011, and about the foldables other companies released in the 2010s, he said: “The other examples in the world felt kind of cheap and crappy.”

According to TIME, Apple’s VP of Product Design Richard Dinh asked Ternus whether to use a surface material similar to competitors’, which was “good enough” but had flaws. Ternus told him: “You’ll know when it’s the right thing.” The result is a custom nanotextured polymer surface and a hinge with more than 100 tiny precision parts. Ternus also said Apple uses Google’s Gemini technology for Siri AI: “There’s not really a goal that we have to make every single thing in a product.”

In this article: “Cheap and crappy”? In my opinion, pure arrogance · $1,999, and no telephoto · “I already miss Tim Cook” · 254 grams: a brick in your pocket? · Best invention before it even sells? · No fold rating, but big words · Siri AI from Google: enough already · Duo or iPhone 18 Pro? · Would I buy the Duo? · FAQ

“Cheap and crappy”? In my opinion, pure arrogance

My God, this is arrogance. It seems we really live in a world ruled by people with big egos. “Cheap and crappy”? Please, calm down.

I held the iPhone Duo in my hands and looked at it in an Apple Store. Just because you cannot see the hinge area in photos and videos does not mean you cannot feel it. In my opinion, they only made it so you do not see it at first look. But when I touched it, I could still feel the area at the hinge, like on a Samsung. So, a hinge with 100 parts? To me, it is an illusion that you do not see it. And it is still there.

How can you be so arrogant? You came to the market years later. In my opinion, the CEO of a company that arrived this late should not humiliate the work of other people and other companies. It sounds very embarrassing and aggressive to me.

$1,999, and no telephoto

The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, $2,199 for 512GB, $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for 2TB. It has two 48MP cameras and no separate telephoto lens.

Yes, it is expensive. But you put a weaker camera into the most expensive smartphone, and you forgot to mention that. How can you pay $2,000, or almost $3,000, and get less camera than on an iPhone 18 Pro? Yes, the competitors are cheaper than you. That is where it ends.

Is the price justified? No. Everything comes down to the super hinge and storage. Apple talks as if it invented something we have never seen. That is how they talk about themselves. But what they say does not mean anyone believes them.

“I already miss Tim Cook”

Two MacRumors readers wrote the same sentence under the TIME cover story: “I already miss Tim Cook.” Another wrote: “so far it’s been the era of ever higher prices.”

I miss him too, and I really miss the old leadership. Cook was much better, even though he was not an engineer. Now an engineer is CEO, and what do we have? In my opinion, only show, PR and talk. When you are that good, you do not need to try so hard in front of cameras. Maybe time will teach him. But right now, I feel anger, only about how he speaks about other companies.

Do not forget: people could also buy the best glasses from you, the Vision Pro, and they really were excellent glasses. It did not happen. So I would wait before celebrating, because nobody knows how your foldable will sell.

254 grams: a brick in your pocket?

The Duo weighs 254 grams, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 201 grams. Folded, the Duo is 11.3 mm thick, the Fold 9.7 mm. One Redditor wrote: “I don’t want another brick in my pocket.”

You can feel that it is heavier. I cannot fully judge, but in my opinion it is too big. When I held it folded, it was not very comfortable for me because of its width. I do not think you can use it with one hand.

Reddit users also say “the phone discriminates against lefties.” I am not left-handed, so lefties must judge that. But as I said, I do not think even right-handed people will use it much with one hand.

Best invention before it even sells?

TIME put the iPhone Duo among the best inventions of 2026 before it even went on sale.

I do not want to claim anything for sure, but I write here and I can say my opinion: to me, it feels like PR. Nothing bad meant by that. In my opinion, it is another sign of the new CEO’s style. I do not think it will make people buy the Duo as much as they think. If we hear and see the Duo everywhere, to me that is a sign it is not selling that well. Maybe the numbers will surprise me, that is possible.

They said the Duo would be hard to get, but from what I saw, the Apple Store was almost empty. So that sounds more like a fairy tale for kids, or for fans.

No fold rating, but big words

Apple has not published how many folds the display can survive.

And why would they? The main thing is that the CEO came years later and, in my opinion, talks as if Apple invented the foldable phone and was first with it in 2026. I know fans will come and correct me that he was talking about the hinge. But then he had to say it was about the hinge, not that the competition is just cheap junk.

My God, after all the years Samsung and others have sold foldables, making a speech like you invented the foldable phone, what kind of arrogance is that? And most important: after these big words, they did not even say how many openings and closings the super hinge survives. That is exactly what should prove the super invention, not just that it is made of 100 parts.

Siri AI from Google: enough already

My God, please, enough with your silly Siri. You keep talking about it. It is really embarrassing. At a time when AI all over the world speaks and understands almost every language, Siri, in my opinion, is still far behind. What kind of super Siri AI is that?

You make a “know-how” out of it again, and sell it late again. In my opinion, Siri AI is only marketing. And now it even runs on Google Gemini technology. I do not understand how such a campaign can raise the stock on the market.

Duo or iPhone 18 Pro?

A reviewer who used a Galaxy Fold for a year wrote that he would rather buy the iPhone 18 Pro and save $800. I agree. The iPhone 18 Pro form factor has been on the market for a long time, and you get the best of everything. It really is better than the first version of the Duo. I wrote more about the iPhone 18 lineup in my iPhone 18 article.

Would I buy the Duo?

I do not know. Right now, the words of this, in my opinion, narcissistic speech made me really angry. I am not sure where Apple will go next: toward “we will only do good marketing and nothing more”, or back to the quality products we were used to, with lower prices. I wrote about my doubts in my Apple $5 trillion article too.

Featured photo: iPhone Duo by 茅野ふたば, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Disclosure: the author owns Apple shares. This article is opinion.

iPhone Duo and Ternus: FAQ

What did John Ternus say about foldable phones?

In a TIME interview, Apple CEO John Ternus said early foldables from other companies “felt kind of cheap and crappy”. He said he filed a foldable device patent with five other engineers in 2011.

How much does the iPhone Duo cost?

The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, with $2,199 for 512GB, $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for 2TB.

When can I buy the iPhone Duo?

Pre-orders start October 16, 2026, and the iPhone Duo is available on October 23.

How heavy is the iPhone Duo?

The iPhone Duo weighs 254 grams and is 11.3 mm thick when folded. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 weighs 201 grams and is 9.7 mm thick.

Does the iPhone Duo have a telephoto camera?

No. It has two 48MP rear cameras, and the 2x option comes from the main camera, not a separate telephoto lens.

Sources: TIME, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Reddit.

Our Take

Mr. Ternus, look back at where you came from, and do not humiliate the work of others.

In my opinion, a company that arrived years late with a $1,999 phone without a telephoto should be humble, not arrogant. Let’s wait for the sales numbers. And Apple, please, come back to quality and fair prices.