FirstFT: Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo will cost $1,999

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Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:

• Apple’s iPhone shake-up
• Bessent’s $6bn buyback plan disappoints investors
• Can Xi and Modi repair the ‘world’s biggest relationship’?

Apple’s iPhone shake-up

Bessent’s $6bn buyback plan disappoints investors

Can Xi and Modi repair the ‘world’s biggest relationship’?

Apple will price its new folding iPhone Duo from $1,999 as its new chief executive John Ternus presented the biggest shake-up to the smartphone in its nearly 20-year history alongside cost increases across the range.

The device unveiled yesterday sets a new high-water mark for iPhone pricing and has been in development for almost a decade. It comes several years after Apple’s rivals Samsung and Huawei began selling their own foldable phones.

Ternus said the Duo, which folds out to a screen almost as large as an iPad Mini, would “redefine the experience of using a foldable phone” after rivals “created foldables that just feel like two phones stuck together”.

Apple said its iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models would be $100 more expensive than the comparable devices in last year’s 17 family, starting at $1,199 and $1,299, respectively. The base model iPhone 18 will launch next spring, marking a new staggered way of releasing an iPhone line-up.

The price increase reflects pressure from industry-wide component shortages, notably for memory chips, caused by the boom in data centre building. This has left Apple with the choice to take a hit to its margins or pass the cost on to consumers, potentially affecting demand. Apple’s $100 price increase on its 18 Pro models was more modest than the worst-case scenarios foreseen by analysts.

The annual iPhone launch event, held at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, is a crucial moment for the financial performance of the world’s second-most-valuable company. The iPhone accounts for about half of Apple’s revenue, generating $209.6bn in sales for the 2025 financial year.

The FT’s Michael Acton has more details from Cupertino.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Bank of Japan: BoJ monetary policy board member Kazuyuki Masu gives a speech at a meeting with local leaders in Fukui.
• Global energy: Opec publishes its monthly oil market report.

Bank of Japan: BoJ monetary policy board member Kazuyuki Masu gives a speech at a meeting with local leaders in Fukui.

Global energy: Opec publishes its monthly oil market report.

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Five more top stories

1. US government bond yields rose to their highest in almost three years after Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s $6bn buyback plan disappointed investors in the world’s most important debt market. The Treasury department said yesterday that it would purchase $6bn in government debt in the first buyback operation since Bessent unveiled the expanded scheme last month to arrest a rise in borrowing costs.

• ‘I am the house now’: US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has warned traders not to bet against the yen, following his recent intervention to support the Japanese currency.

‘I am the house now’: US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has warned traders not to bet against the yen, following his recent intervention to support the Japanese currency.

2. A jet-powered attack drone nearly collided with Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aeroplane on Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian official flying with the president. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre yesterday told public broadcaster NRK that Zelenskyy’s “plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova”. Here are more details.

• Peace talks: CIA director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a bigger role in US negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, US officials have told their European counterparts

Peace talks: CIA director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a bigger role in US negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, US officials have told their European counterparts

3. Investors clamouring to participate in DeepSeek’s latest fundraising are paying unusually high fees to access investment vehicles created by groups allocated stakes in the Chinese AI group. The Hangzhou-based AI lab, which shot to global prominence last year with the release of its R1 reasoning model, is being valued at about $71bn before the new investment.

4. An Anthropic researcher has resigned from the AI lab, warning that the unchecked race to build self-improving superintelligence could destroy humanity by the end of the decade. Jacob Coxon, a 27-year-old British researcher at the San Francisco-based company, said Anthropic and its main competitor, OpenAI, were “gambling” with the future of humankind.

• More AI news: OpenAI has appointed a senior US government official at the agency tasked with testing AI model safety to its foundation’s board.

More AI news: OpenAI has appointed a senior US government official at the agency tasked with testing AI model safety to its foundation’s board.

5. The airports arm of Adani Group is planning a push into the international market after the US Justice Department’s decision to drop charges against the Indian conglomerate’s billionaire chair Gautam Adani. Jeet Adani, who is Gautam Adani’s younger son and controls Adani Airport Holdings, told the FT the company would seek opportunities “of size and relevance”.

Can Xi and Modi repair the ‘world’s biggest relationship’?

Xi Jinping’s expected visit to Narendra Modi this weekend is the first since China and India fought deadly border clashes in 2020 and the culmination of years of careful diplomacy to thaw relations between the world’s two most populous nations. The Chinese leader’s trip to the forthcoming Brics summit in New Delhi will test whether the two countries can set aside disagreements and project a global role while the US is mired in conflict with Iran.

We’re also reading . . .

• Chinese trade: Beijing increasingly sees surpluses as complementary to controlling global supply chains and technological chokepoints, writes Alan Beattie.
• A central banker for the world? After Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium last month, Martin Wolf is less pessimistic than before.
• Greek sweeteners: The country is hoping its new tax regime will convince hedge funds to establish substantial operations in Athens.

Chinese trade: Beijing increasingly sees surpluses as complementary to controlling global supply chains and technological chokepoints, writes Alan Beattie.

A central banker for the world? After Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium last month, Martin Wolf is less pessimistic than before.

Greek sweeteners: The country is hoping its new tax regime will convince hedge funds to establish substantial operations in Athens.

Chart of the day

School students’ reading scores have plunged across the developed world, as widespread access to AI and social media has harmed teenagers’ ability to concentrate, a report published by the OECD has found. Reliance on AI tended to produce worse scores in science for both pupils and education systems, the research showed, with 37 per cent of students prioritising “common sense” over scientific reasoning.

Take a break from the news . . .

Milan is basking in its fresh status as a hub for wealthy homebuyers looking for a European base, attracted by its flat-tax regime and high standard of living. Six city insiders share their house-hunting hacks.

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