News

Apple’s First Folding iPhone Arrives Late To A Shrinking Market

Apple’s foldable costs $1,999 and skips both Face ID and a telephoto lens. Almost 33% of consumers told IDC they would “absolutely” buy one.

Published

2 months ago

September 10, 2026

Nour Nasir

Apple

Samsung released the first Galaxy Fold in 2019. Honor, Google, Motorola and Oppo followed, and the designs have grown slimmer, lighter and more durable. Seven years on, Apple has joined them with its first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, unveiled at the company’s annual September event – and it arrives as the category shrinks rather than grows.

The Duo costs $1,999 (AED 8,499 in the UAE) for 256GB of storage, with preorders opening on October 16 and sales starting on October 23. It launches alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max but, for the first time, without a base model: the iPhone 18 is now expected in spring 2027.

Closed, it has a 5.4-inch screen. Unfolded, it offers a 7.6-inch display close to the iPad Mini’s and is, Apple says, the thinnest iPhone ever. The frame is titanium, the front is Ceramic Shield 2 glass, and it carries an IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating that, until now, only Google’s folding Pixels could claim.

There are trade-offs: Face ID is missing; Touch ID sits in the side power button instead. The two 48-megapixel rear cameras also come without a telephoto lens. However, the battery is the biggest Apple has ever put in an iPhone, rated for up to 24 hours of mixed use.

According to Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, the foldable category has declined for five straight quarters, by 13% year over year, and will account for around 2% of the global smartphone market by the end of this year. Apple, she says, could capture up to 30% of the foldable market by the end of 2026. In a recent IDC survey, 60% of consumers said they were not likely to buy a foldable at their next upgrade; asked whether they would if Apple released one, almost 33% said they “absolutely” would.

Also Read: Qatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9

“Apple has such a strong market pull,” Popal told journalists. “Coming into foldables, it’s going to create overall excitement for the category. And it’s good for the consumer too”.

She calls the Duo “guaranteed to be a blockbuster” despite the price. “Yes, there’s going to be sticker shock, but Apple caters to a very high-end consumer segment who can afford it,” she says.

Folding phones remain notoriously prone to damage and difficult to fix. Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, told reporters her team has never taken apart one it would call truly repairable.

“Manufacturers have come a long way since the Galaxy Fold first dropped,” she says. “But the gains in durability haven’t come with gains in repairability”.

News

Abu Dhabi’s Robot Kitchen Is Serving Up Biryani, Not Burgers

Circus SE wants to put a tiny automated factory inside the buildings where Gulf residents live and work, bypassing part of last-mile delivery.

Published

6 days ago

October 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

abu dhabi's robot kitchen is serving up biryani not burgers

Circus SE

The most telling thing about a new autonomous kitchen now running in Abu Dhabi’s Marina Square is what it won’t cook:

“We don’t do fast food,” says Nikolas Bullwinkel, Founder and CEO of Circus SE. “We’ve actively decided not to build a machine that can only do burgers”.

Instead, the CA-1 system is built around pot-based cooking: curries, pastas, soups and rice dishes. After experimenting with highly personalized recipes, Circus deliberately leaned back toward recognizable food. “We’re going with a chicken biryani because you know it,” Bullwinkel says of the AED 40 dish.

circus se ca-1 robot system

The Germany-based robotics and food technology company operates across eight countries, and Abu Dhabi is its first deployment outside Europe. More locations are expected there and in Dubai.

In Germany, its units can be placed in supermarkets, gas stations, airports and hospitals. In the Gulf, Bullwinkel wants them inside residential and office buildings, replacing some of the complexity of last-mile delivery. “We’re basically bringing a very tiny factory a few square meters into your building,” he says. Catering company Royal Prestige supplies the ingredients and knowledge of local tastes.

The CA-1 manages up to 36 refrigerated ingredient silos alongside automated induction cooking, robotic plating and a self-cleaning dishwasher. Two robotic arms move ingredients through the system with minimal human intervention. It can produce up to 120 hot meals an hour, and a meal such as rice and curry can take around three to four minutes.

Also Read: Ooredoo Qatar’s 5G+ Network Is Built For Machines As Much As People

Five cameras and multiple sensors monitor heat, temperature and consistency, an attempt to approximate what a chef perceives. “You can hear something gets burned, you can smell it, you can see it at some point,” Bullwinkel says. CircusOS, the company’s operating system, adjusts recipes in real time.

You might think of the platform as a threat to kitchen staff, but Bullwinkel frames Circus as a way for chefs to develop recipes and distribute them at scale. With that being said, rising labor costs and shortages are also part of his case for automation.