Ounce for ounce, the $1,999 iPhone Duo is the priciest iPhone, at 4.2 times the price of silver
The newest iPhone Duo, Apple’s first attempt at a foldable phone, goes on sale Friday, October 23, at a price tag of $1,999. It weighs 8.96 ounces—that’s $223.10 per ounce and 4.2 times the price of silver. Gold is still way more expensive, at $3,774.36 per ounce. The Duo is the most expensive iPhone by weight at base-model launch prices. Its price per ounce is 51% higher than the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Key takeaways
- The iPhone Duo costs $223.10 per ounce—4.2 times as much as silver and 544 times as much as copper. Gold is still 17 times as expensive.
- The new foldable by Apple costs 54% more than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, but weighs just 2% more.
- The Duo is cheaper ounce for ounce than the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
The iPhone Duo vs. gold, silver and copper
To calculate the price per ounce, you need to divide the phone’s price by its weight. In this case, if we divide $1,999—the launch price of an iPhone Duo with 256 GB of storage—by 8.96, we get $223.10 per ounce. Gold trades at $4,141.01 per troy ounce, or $3,774.36 per ounce, making it 17 times as expensive as the Duo. If we wanted to get the weight of this phone in gold, we would be looking at about $34,000.
Silver, on the other hand, costs $57.98 per troy ounce, or $52.84 per ounce—the Duo costs 4.2 times as much. Copper is $6.56 a pound, or $0.4100 per ounce, making the first foldable iPhone 544 times as expensive.
At $223.10 per ounce, the iPhone Duo costs 4.3 times as much as silver but is 17 times cheaper than gold.
How does the Duo compare to other iPhones?
The Duo dominates the ranking at $223.10 per ounce, 1.7 times the base iPhone 17. Apple’s lightest phone is second, with $171.64 per ounce. That’s more than either iPhone 18 Pro. The 18 Pro Max works out cheaper than the 18 Pro, as the $100 difference buys 1.3 oz of phone.
On September 9, Apple raised the prices of the iPhone 17, Air and 17e by $100. At their current prices, they cost $143.99, $188.83, and $117.26 per ounce, respectively.
| Model | US launch price (256 GB) | Weight | Price per ounce | vs. silver |
| iPhone Duo | $1,999 | 8.960 oz | $223.10 | 4.2× |
| iPhone Air | $999 | 5.820 oz | $171.64 | 3.3× |
| iPhone 18 Pro | $1,199 | 7.443 oz | $161.10 | 3.0× |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | $1,299 | 8.783 oz | $147.90 | 2.8× |
| iPhone 17 | $799 | 6.244 oz | $127.97 | 2.4× |
| iPhone 17e | $599 | 5.961 oz | $100.48 | 1.9× |
Why the foldable iPhone costs so much
The newest iPhone Duo isn’t much heavier than Apple’s biggest phone to date: it’s only 2% heavier than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. But it does cost $700 more, and this jump in price is what makes up most of the 51% rise in price per ounce.
Per Apple, the increase in price buys a 7.6-inch display and a 5.4-inch outer display, as well as a hinge made of more than 100 different elements. This hinge is what allows the inner screen to stay flat when open.
But ounce for ounce, other foldables are actually more expensive. Samsung launched its Galaxy Z Fold 8 at $1,899—weighing 7.090 oz, its price per ounce works out at $267.84. The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold launched at $225.25 per ounce, which is just 1% more than the foldable iPhone. Even though the Duo costs $100 more than both of these foldables, it’s cheaper by weight, because it’s heavier.
The higher price tag comes with foldables as a category, not just because of the Apple logo on the back.
| Foldable | US launch price (256 GB) | Weight | Price per ounce | vs. silver |
| Galaxy Z Fold 8 | $1,899 | 7.090 oz | $267.84 | 5.1× |
| Pixel 11 Pro Fold | $1,899 | 8.430 oz | $225.25 | 4.3× |
| iPhone Duo | $1,999 | 8.960 oz | $223.10 | 4.2× |
Methodology
Gold and silver are spot prices in late US trading on Oct 21, 2026 (Kitco). Copper is the COMEX front-month settlement price on Oct 21, 2026. Metals are priced per troy ounce; we converted these prices to standard ounces to match phone weights. Phone prices are base-model (256 GB) US launch prices before tax and carrier deals.
Sources
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