Apple has mocked Samsung’s foldable smartphones while promoting its new iPhone Duo, but the US technology giant is heavily reliant on its South Korean rival for the components that make the A$3,950 device possible.

Samsung Display is understood to be the exclusive supplier of the foldable OLED panel used in the first-generation Duo, while Samsung is also positioned to supply memory components for the device.

Higher-capacity versions of the Duo are expected to cost more than A$5,000, putting pressure on Apple to demonstrate why its first foldable offers better value than Samsung’s established Galaxy Fold range.

Samsung launched its first Galaxy Fold in 2019 and has spent seven years refining its foldable displays, hinges, durability and screen crease technology. Its latest Galaxy Z Fold8 is already on sale and is reportedly outperforming internal forecasts.

Apple had limited options when sourcing a foldable panel capable of meeting its quality and production requirements.

The Elec reported earlier this year that Apple had agreed to source foldable OLED panels exclusively from Samsung Display for as long as three years.

“Apple normally puts a lot of importance on diversifying suppliers,” a Korean industry official told The Korea Herald.

“If it still decided to leave the most important component of a first-generation product with one company, that tells you the alternative isn’t easy right now.”

Samsung Display previously served as Apple’s exclusive OLED supplier when the iPhone X was launched in 2017. With the Duo, however, the Samsung-made panel is more than a display upgrade. It is the component that allows the device to fold.

Samsung manufactures the panel to Apple’s specifications, with Apple engineering the remaining hardware and software around it.

Linda Sui, founder and principal analyst at Smart Analytics Global and former head of mobile-device markets at TechInsights, said the Duo remained globally sourced but was unusually dependent on South Korea for “several critical and difficult-to-replace technologies”.

“The clearest example is the foldable OLED display,” Sui said, citing Samsung Display’s “technology maturity, manufacturing experience and ability to meet Apple’s requirements for quality, yield and scale”.

“Other display manufacturers can produce high-quality foldable OLED panels, but meeting Apple’s requirements across all of these dimensions while supporting millions of devices consistently is a much higher bar.”

Apple’s dependence on South Korean suppliers also extends to memory.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dominate global DRAM and NAND production, leaving Apple exposed to rising memory prices and potentially weakening its ability to negotiate lower component costs.

Counterpoint Research estimated that memory was the largest contributor to an almost A$300 increase in the bill of materials for a 1TB iPhone 18 Pro Max compared with its predecessor.

There has been no teardown of the Duo to establish how much of its production cost is tied to Samsung-supplied components. Industry officials, however, claim Apple may have less leverage than usual when negotiating prices for foldable displays and memory.

“Apple usually uses its enormous purchasing power to push component prices down,” one Korean telecommunications industry official said.

“With this product, that formula may work less well for some key parts, especially memory.”

Apple claims the Duo combines the largest display ever fitted to an iPhone with a thin design, Split View multitasking, dual-screen camera features and all-day battery life.

Similar capabilities are already available in Samsung foldables at a lower price, leaving Apple facing questions over whether consumers will pay a substantial premium for the company’s software ecosystem and brand.

“If you’re paying around A$3,950 and you lose things people associate with a flagship, consumers are going to ask, ‘How is this better if it costs more and has lesser hardware?’” the official said.

“Apple doesn’t have to prove that it can make a foldable. Samsung has already proved that for seven years. Apple has to prove why this foldable is worth A$3,950 and upwards.”