Is the new iPhone Duo popular in China?

Apple introduced the iPhone Duo on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning the hashtag #iPhoneDuoFoldAnimationIsPerfect sat second on Weibo’s hot topic ranking. The praise was about how the phone looks, and how it moves. The objections underneath were about almost everything else. On Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNote), #iphone18pro has drawn 39.6 million impressions, and #iphoneduo is beating that with 71.9 million. Pre-orders open Friday, October 16, with availability from Friday, October 23, and Apple is selling its thinnest and most expensive iPhone into a market where two domestic rivals, Huawei and Xiaomi, have been refining foldables for years and where the hardware itself is no longer the novelty. Stirring noughties nostalgia, along with technological innovation, the foldable aspect is swaying netizens but it isn’t anything new in the market. The eSIM problem In most markets, an eSIM profile moves to a new handset online in minutes. In mainland China, carriers enforce strict real-name registration. Activating or migrating an eSIM means a trip to a physical store and a time-consuming identity check. For a phone positioned at the top of Apple’s range, that inverts the usual luxury logic as a new, more expensive model is creating more hassle rather than becoming more convenient. It also hands salespeople at Huawei and Xiaomi counters a point of differentiation, one that has nothing to do with specifications. Huawei set the reference point Western coverage has treated the unfolded 7.6-inch display as a leap in size. Chinese users are not reacting that way, because they have seen it before. “The size is literally identical to the Huawei Pura X Max,” one Xiaohongshu user wrote. The Huawei Pura X went on sale in China on March 20, 2025, priced between $770 and $1,699, and Huawei’s Chinese site still lists it from that price. The comparison runs in both directions. A proportionate number of netizens have accused Apple of copying the Pura X’s form factor. They have also expressed surprise at one thing Apple did differently: several say they cannot see the crease on the inner display, which is attracting a lot of praise. Despite China being home to larger phones like the Pura X, size skepticism follows. “Is Apple going to ditch the iPad at this rate,” one user asked, in a thread where others called the device simply too big, a complaint that lands harder in a market with a mature large-foldable category to compare against. There are three recurring objections circulating on Xiaohongshu and Weibo. First, cameras. “Doesn’t have a telephoto lens and the camera tests turn out bad, I’m passing on this one,” one commenter wrote. The Duo pairs a 48MP Fusion Main camera and a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide with 2x telephoto framing cropped from the main sensor rather than delivered by a dedicated lens, as on the iPhone 18 Pro. Then there is authentication. “No Face ID is a dealbreaker for me,” wrote one poster. Some apps in China specifically require Face ID. Apple moved the Duo to Touch ID on the side button, which works consistently whether the phone is open or shut, but reverses a decade of users becoming familiar with Face ID. Finally, durability came under scrutiny. “Apple store staff told me it breaks super fast,” one user posted — an unverified secondhand claim, and the kind that spreads fastest on a product nobody outside Apple has used for longer than a demo. More surface area to accessorize The most active commercial thread on Xiaohongshu is not about the phone. It is about cases. Sellers and customizers began posting Duo accessories within hours of the keynote, and a folding device with two shells, a hinge cover, and two display faces offers substantially more surface to decorate than a slab. That is the familiar shape of a Chinese launch cycle. Skins, charms, bespoke leather, and collaboration cases move before the handsets do, and they move on the strength of exactly what this launch has already earned: a consensus that the object is beautiful. Brands with accessory or personalization businesses have until October 23 to act on the part of the reaction Apple can count on, rather than the part still under discussion. The open question for Apple is whether admiration converts. Chinese consumers are complimenting the way the iPhone Duo looks more than the way it works. That said, there is an air of excitement in China for a new era of the flip phone.

Is the new iPhone Duo popular in China?

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Is the new iPhone Duo popular in China?

How Bottega Veneta weaved China’s forever it bag