Apple has claimed rival smartphone manufacturers copied the iPhone Duo’s wide aspect ratio after details of its first foldable leaked during development.

The accusation comes despite Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi unveiling similarly proportioned book-style foldables before Apple officially revealed the Duo this week.

Apple chief executive John Ternus (pictured) and marketing boss Greg Joswiak addressed the similarities during an interview following the launch.

“People knew through leaks that we were working on a foldable,” Joswiak said. “Unfortunately, they got the aspect ratio.”

He appeared to suggest competitors obtained information through Apple’s global supply chain and subsequently adopted the shorter, wider format.

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Keeping major products secret has become increasingly difficult because Apple and its rivals rely on many of the same manufacturers and component suppliers.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, Huawei’s Pura X Max and Xiaomi’s 18 Fold all adopted wide folding displays before the iPhone Duo was announced.

Apple says it successfully kept quiet one significant innovation: the Duo’s folding nano-texture display.

Joswiak said Apple placed additional security around the technology and avoided discussing it with external parties.

During the Apple launch event Ternus took a swipe at rival foldables, dismissing competing designs as “two phones awkwardly stuck together.”

Samsung responded to the iPhone Duo launch with a string of mocking social media posts highlighting Apple’s late arrival in the category.

“Let us know when you’re done reheating our leftovers,” Samsung Mobile US posted.

The company also targeted the Duo name by tagging language-learning service Duolingo and writing: “They copied us too.”

Other posts criticised Apple’s lack of a three-way folding model and described the event as familiar and unexciting.

Apple is entering the foldable category seven years after Samsung launched the original Galaxy Fold in 2019.

The passport-shaped Duo opens into a 7.6-inch display designed for entertainment and multitasking. Australian pre-orders are scheduled to open on October 16 before sales begin on October 23.

The exchange highlights the intensifying fight for foldable buyers as Apple enters a market already contested by Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, Google, Oppo and Xiaomi.