John Ternus made his first major public appearance outside of Apple as the company’s new chief executive on Sunday night, attending the Emmy Awards and, according to a report from Deadline, showing off Apple’s unreleased iPhone Duo to attendees.
Deadline reported that Ternus pulled the foldable iPhone from the pocket of his tuxedo jacket while arriving at the ceremony on September 14, roughly two weeks after he officially took over as CEO on September 1. The sighting was Ternus’s most visible public moment since he unveiled the iPhone Duo at Apple’s annual product event on September 9, his first major keynote in the role.
The iPhone Duo Has Already Shipped to No One
The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable iPhone. Apple announced the device last week, pricing it from $1,999 for 256GB of storage, with configurations reaching $3,199 for 2TB. Pre-orders open on October 16, and the phone goes on sale October 23 in more than 70 countries and regions, with 28 additional markets following on October 30.
Because the Duo has been announced but does not yet ship, Ternus was carrying what amounts to an early public demo unit. Apple executives have a long history of casually displaying unreleased hardware in public, but the appearance still gave the company’s first foldable an unusual red-carpet debut, weeks before paying customers can buy one.
The device itself opens like a book. Closed, it has a 5.4-inch outer display; opened, it reveals a 7.6-inch inner display that Apple says makes it the thinnest iPhone the company has ever produced. It runs on the A20 Pro chip and will ship with iOS 27.1.
A New CEO in the Spotlight
Ternus succeeded Tim Cook, who became Apple’s executive chairman after 15 years as CEO. Apple announced the transition in April, and it took effect on September 1. Ternus, a mechanical engineer by training, joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and had led hardware engineering as a senior vice president since 2021, overseeing work on the iPad, AirPods, and multiple generations of the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch.
The Emmy appearance also carried a business dimension for Apple beyond the phone. Apple’s streaming business, anchored by Apple TV, had awards in contention at the ceremony, and the company has been investing in original programming as it competes with established Hollywood studios.
Whether Ternus’s outing with the Duo was a planned bit of publicity or simply a new CEO enjoying his moment, the message was the same: Apple’s first foldable now has a face, and it is the person running the company. Customers will be able to judge the device for themselves when pre-orders begin on October 16.