Apple addresses iPhone Duo copycats
Apple executives John Ternus and Greg Joswiak have addressed accusations that the new foldable iPhone Duo copied rival designs, arguing that leaks and shared global suppliers meant details such as its aspect ratio became known before launch, prompting competitors like Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi to release similarly shaped wide foldables first. The comments, made during an interview with TechRadar and Tom's Guide, highlight how difficult it is for any smartphone maker to keep hardware development fully confidential given the interconnected supply chain.
Joswiak said Apple successfully kept one major feature under wraps: the folding nano-texture display, which he said was protected with extra security measures and not discussed externally. Ternus, Apple's newly appointed CEO, also spoke enthusiastically about his first hands-on encounter with a prototype of the display, a moment the article contrasts with the more reserved public style of predecessor Tim Cook.
- Apple denies copying rivals' foldable phone designs, blames supplier leaks
- Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi announced wide foldables before the iPhone Duo
- Apple kept its nano-texture folding display secret until launch
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Apple's new foldable, the iPhone Duo, arrives into a market where Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi already sell similarly shaped wide foldable phones. Critics have suggested Apple simply copied those rivals' designs, prompting two senior Apple executives, John Ternus and Greg Joswiak, to publicly defend the device's development in a joint interview.
Ternus, who recently took over as Apple's chief executive from Tim Cook, and Joswiak, a longtime Apple marketing figure, argue that smartphone makers largely rely on the same small pool of global component suppliers. This shared supply chain means details of an unreleased device, such as its screen shape, can leak out well before launch, allowing competitors to release comparable designs first even if the ideas were developed independently.
The dispute matters because it touches on how much genuine innovation drives new smartphone designs, and how easily confidential hardware work leaks in a tightly interconnected manufacturing industry. Apple's defence centres on one feature it says it did keep secret, a specialised folding display finish, which it points to as evidence that meaningful secrecy is still possible when a company takes extra precautions.