With the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone unveiled this week, the company has moved furthest from the "one-handed use" principle it had defended for 15 years. But this time, it has a different card to play: an AI-powered voice interface, Siri AI, rather than the touch-screen.

In Türkiye, consumers will have the chance to experience the new iPhone Duo at Türk Telekom stores. The devices will go on sale in October through Türk Telekom campaigns, with customers also able to try them out in stores.

In 2010, as Steve Jobs mocked large-screen Android phones onstage, he made a memorable point: no one wants to carry a "Hummer" in their pocket. According to Jobs, the secret to the iPhone's success was keeping the screen within the range of a thumb's natural reach.

The 3.5-inch display was not a limitation in his view, but the essence of the design. It was the only size that preserved the direct relationship between the human hand and the touch-screen interface.

Screen took time to grow

This philosophy survived for several years even after Jobs' death in 2011.

The iPhone 5's decision in 2012 to increase only its length while keeping its width unchanged was the last stronghold of that resistance. But the market proved more powerful than philosophy: when Samsung's "phablet" category began achieving significant sales, Apple officially abandoned that boundary in 2014 with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. As screens grew, the principle of "one-handed use" gradually became a matter of nostalgia.

While the iPhone Duo completely reverses the "screen within the boundaries of the hand" principle Jobs established 15 years ago, Apple is seeking a new balance to justify that reversal: an interface in which voice partly takes the place of touch. Whether that bet pays off will be determined by users' everyday experience after Oct. 23.

Screen folds 12 years later

The iPhone Duo's 5.4-inch external display and 7.6-inch internal screen when unfolded represent the exact opposite of Jobs' original principle. This is no longer a device designed for one-handed use, but one that requires two hands and, at times, a table to support it. Apple itself describes it as "the biggest design change in iPhone history."

So how will Apple make such a large surface meaningful without losing the feeling of the touch-screen as a "natural extension of the hand"? This is precisely where a second layer of interface comes in: voice.

Voice becomes interface

The new Siri AI introduced with the iPhone Duo is powered by Apple Intelligence's on-device models and the Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. But the key difference is that Siri can now "understand" what is displayed on the screen and provide more accurate responses based on context-aware information from different applications.

The way this intersects with the foldable screen is particularly interesting: users can talk to Siri AI on one side of the large internal display while keeping an application open on the other – made possible by the Split View feature coming to iOS for the first time.

In other words, as the screen gets larger, Apple's answer to the question "How am I supposed to control such a large surface with one hand?" is to let voice share some of the workload traditionally handled by the hand.

This is not entirely at odds with the philosophy of the Jobs era; in fact, it is a continuation of its logic. Jobs said, "the screen should not extend beyond the natural limits of the hand." Apple is now saying, "Let the screen grow, but let voice take over some of the things the hand needs to do." The limitation has not disappeared; it has simply shifted from touch to voice.

Bigger screen, smaller processor, bigger battery

This is a hybrid experience.

A large screen, multiple windows, on-device AI models and continuous contextual Siri processing require significant computing power.

Apple's A20 Pro chip, designed for this purpose, boosts both conventional CPU/GPU performance and Neural Engine capacity, which is critical for AI processing. The device's 12 GB of RAM also allows multiple applications and AI models running in the background to remain in memory simultaneously.

This is no coincidence: Apple's strategy of running AI on the device rather than in the cloud wherever possible is necessary not only for its privacy promise but also for a responsive Siri experience. If users are expected to interact with a foldable screen instantly through voice, that interaction needs to happen without the latency of sending requests to and from a server. The A20 Pro is what will carry that load.

Price not only deciding factor

The data points to both risks and opportunities.

On the opportunity side, Apple is entering the foldable phone market seven years after Samsung, but this time it is promising more than just a "bigger screen": an operating system that lets users control the screen through voice. That is a distinction its rivals have yet to offer in such a clear form.

On the risk side, however, Siri AI's ability to understand context at this level has yet to be tested by users, and historically, Apple's execution on voice assistants has not been as strong as its performance on the hardware side.

Price is also part of the equation. Starting at $1,999 in the U.S. and TL 229,999 ($4,733) in Türkiye, the iPhone Duo is the most expensive iPhone Apple has ever sold. What will justify that price is not simply a piece of folding glass, but whether the AI running on that glass can make a meaningful difference in everyday use.

TV becomes head of orchestra at home, companion for entertainment

The television users' experience is changing completely. From now on, the main screen changes according to whoever is in front of it. With artificial intelligence, both picture quality and the consumer experience are being reshaped.

The heart of the global consumer electronics and home appliances industry beat this week at the IFA 2026 trade fair in Berlin. Having opened its doors this year under the theme "Innovating a Brighter Life," the fair showed us that AI is no longer limited to standalone smart devices, but is evolving into a proactive "companion" that organizes the entire home.

Hisense, which made a rapid entry into the Turkish market as of this June and is the global leader in the 100-inch-and-above television segment, attracted attention at the fair with its next-generation AI ecosystem.

Ekin Çomak, the brand's commercial director responsible for sales and marketing in Türkiye, made striking remarks at the fair as he assessed the global launches presented there and what these technologies mean for the Turkish market.

Smart companion on TV screen

AI-focused televisions and smart home systems reached an entirely new dimension at IFA 2026.

Hisense's response to this new era is the V AIOS platform, the latest evolution of its VIDAA OS operating system. The platform is built around four core AI capabilities: Senses, Think, Communicate and Execute.

This infrastructure enables devices to perceive people, other devices and their surroundings, understand what users need and autonomously coordinate systems throughout the home.

Although there were no reports about a physical humanoid robot or cleaning robot being showcased directly at the fair, Hisense's "AI Companion Suite" offers an integrated AI network that autonomously manages all home appliances and climate-control systems, effectively operating like an invisible robot within the home.

Key innovations in this area include:

AI's definition on TV changes

Hisense's Çomak emphasized the rapid transformation of AI in both the technology market and among consumers.

Referring to how AI was perceived in televisions in the past, Çomak said: "When we talked about artificial intelligence, the first thing that came to mind was the accurate processing of images or a structure that supported picture quality. Today, with our new AI OS (V AIOS) concept presented at IFA, we see that this has truly evolved into a ‘ConnectLife,' a structure that makes life easier and responds to consumers' unique and personalized needs."

She also announced that they had completed preparations to bring this AI vision, achieved in global markets, along with the latest products, to consumers in Türkiye.

Summarizing the vision they have set for Türkiye, Çomak said: "We have embarked on a promising journey within the framework of an approximately five-year business plan to introduce our other product groups to Turkish consumers as well. Our main target and fundamental goal is to earn a place in the hearts of Turkish consumers."

"We want to make the Hisense brand one of the first brands that comes to mind, both through its identity as a manufacturer and as a company that leads technology," she noted.

Noting that simply meeting consumers at the point of sale is not enough, Çomak said they were working intensively to crown this journey with a strong after-sales service network that supports a 360-degree consumer experience.