GoKawiilApple has revealed its first folding iPhone with a starting price of $2,000 (£1,475).
The new phone, dubbed the Duo, is now one of the most expensive smartphones on the market. The model with the biggest storage option goes up to $3,200 (£2,360).
Chief executive John Ternus said the Duo, which has a book-style format, was "inspired by the iPad" and called the folding features "fluid and completely intuitive".
But critics say the phone risks becoming a "premium-priced ornament" that doesn't bring meaningful growth to the firm, which pundits say hasn't revealed seriously stand-out features in many years.
It comes as John Ternus entered his second week as Apple's chief executive. Ternus took on the top job after Tim Cook stepped down.
The foldable phone has been a work-in-progress, external inside Apple for several years.
When unfolded, it has the look of a small iPad. When folded in half, it has the look of a wider iPhone.
Ternus said during the event that Apple wanted to avoid the look and feel of other foldable smart phones on the market, which he said "feel like two phones stuck together... making a larger screen feel much smaller."
The Duo, he said, is the "result of a series of remarkable innovations that we think will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone."
Ternus was directly involved in developing the foldable iPhone as he spent many years as a top executive inside Apple's hardware division before being tapped earlier this year as Cook's successor.
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