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The story
Apple’s newly announced foldable “iPhone Duo” has hit Japanese shelves at ¥364,800 for the 256GB model, rising to ¥574,800 for the top-end 2TB version. On 5ch’s live-discussion threads, users zeroed in on the gap between the reported US starting price of $1,999 and the much steeper yen conversion, with many lamenting the weak yen: “The pathetic yen just got valued at 165 to the dollar.” Commenters also compared the price to the rival Galaxy Z Fold8 (roughly ¥260,000 when its Korean won price is converted to yen), and posted plenty of hands-on photos praising the barely visible crease and the under-display camera revealed when the phone is opened.
What people said
In America everyone's spamming "so cheap!" — they were expecting it to start at $2,200-2,300.
Yeah, exactly.
The pathetic yen just got valued at 165 to the dollar.
https://k-tai.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/2139665.html
Won → yen
Dollar → yen
That's just the exchange-rate difference between the two currencies showing up.
The Galaxy Z Fold8's local price is ₩2,278,100
convert that to yen and it's about ¥261,000.
Android makers have tried and given up on that before — did they actually solve the image quality problem?
Do you even need a camera on the inner screen in the first place?
This "passport" style is becoming the standard shape for foldables.
The screen ratio when unfolded is good, so every manufacturer is jumping on it.
I'm an Apple fanboy who runs a Mac Studio, but
even I think ¥300,000+ is pushing it.
The base model is now priced like the old Pro used to be.
¥159,800 stings.
Wasn't like this with the 18.
You'll get jumped by a tokuryu crew and that's game over. ("tokuryu" = loosely organized, anonymous crime rings recruited via social media — a recent Japanese crime phenomenon)
It went up in price.
It got a price hike — even the US price went up to $899, that's a $100 increase.
The exchange rate timing is just awful.
Maybe around ¥150,000.
The base 17's 256GB model already got hiked to ¥159,800, so it'll be more than that.
These prices are broken.
If we're talking Japanese prices, the 11 is basically free now.
it's not really big enough to replace an iPad, so never mind lol
It can replace an iPad mini, at least.
How many years has it been?
Seriously, the Duo is way too extravagant, but they nailed that classic Apple polish.
using the Duo on the side without anyone knowing…
that'd be nice.
Apparently iOS 27 is getting some kind of phone-number-sharing feature.
Is a top-tier Galaxy really something to brag about?
What have you even been looking at? That's not true at all.
Until then I'll stick it out with my 15 Pro.
Face ID needs sensors, so they can shrink it but they can't remove it entirely.
The crease really doesn't stand out.
Impressive.
It's built from multiple layers of glass and film.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Apple’s products tend to be heavily affected by exchange rates when priced in yen, year after year, and this Duo is no exception. The “165 yen to the dollar” figure that came up in the thread is a gut-feeling number derived from a simple comparison against the $1,999 US price — worth noting that it’s a different thing from the actual exchange rate and from Apple’s region-by-region pricing logic, which factors in taxes and distribution costs. Likewise, the price gap with the rival Galaxy Z Fold8 is only a reference figure based on converting its won price into yen, and doesn’t account for differences in taxes or tariffs between the countries where each phone launches. What actually split opinion in the thread wasn’t the price itself so much as whether it’s “worth paying for” — some praised the near-invisible crease and the new camera placement, while others were skeptical given the overlap with the iPad and the size of the price gap versus existing models.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanidemo Jikkyo G) thread “iPhone Duo, ¥364,800 (256GB) to ¥574,800 (2TB).”
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