Apple may not stop at one book-style foldable. According to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman, the company already has room in its naming system — and its product roadmap — for a larger follow-on model that he calls an iPhone Duo Max.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman wrote that Apple chose the three-letter “Duo” suffix in part because it lines up with names such as Air and Pro and leaves space for extra labels that a name like “Ultra” would have blocked. That, he said, makes a future Duo Max a natural next step: a bigger-display version of the book-style foldable, with additional variants such as a lower-cost Duo SE or a smaller Duo mini also possible.
Gurman’s point is less about a single flagship and more about a family. He argued that Apple is unlikely to treat the first foldable as a one-off experiment. Instead, he sees a lineup that could stretch across sizes and price points, much as Samsung has done with its Galaxy Z series — a large Max model, a cheaper stripped-down version, or even a clamshell-style mini.
The Max idea matters because of what Gurman thinks foldables are about to become. He expects the category to move from a niche — still only a sliver of global smartphone shipments — toward the majority of new phone sales within a decade, as people get used to carrying a larger screen that can stand in for a tablet or laptop for many tasks. A larger Duo Max would be the most direct expression of that bet: more canvas for video, gaming, side-by-side apps, and stylus work, without abandoning the pocketable fold.
Price is still the issue. Gurman has been clear that the first book-style iPhone starts at $1,999, more than two conventional iPhones, and that this will slow the shift even if the hardware and software are strong. He expects that barrier to ease over time as component costs fall and leasing becomes a bigger part of how Apple sells high-end devices. A Max model would almost certainly sit at the top of that pricing ladder; a future SE or Mini would be how Apple tries to pull the format down-market.
Gurman framed the Duo Max as a foreseeable product, not an imminent one, and tied it to the same logic that produced “Duo” in the first place: a short name that can grow. If he is right, the first foldable iPhone is not the end of Apple’s foldable plan. It is the base of a stack, and the Max is the model meant to make the larger screen the default.
MacDailyNews Take: If a Duo Max were available today alongside the iPhone Duo, we’d choose the Max every time – same as we’ve always done with iPhone Pro Max.
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