Analyst Mark Gurman said Apple’s iPhone Duo could transform foldable phones from a niche product into a mainstream category within a decade. Foldables currently account for around 2 perent of global smartphone shipments.

Apple's newly unveiled iPhone Duo could do for foldable phones what the original iPhone did for smartphones nearly two decades ago. In his September 13 Power On newsletter, analyst Mark Gurman predicted that foldables will grow from a niche category into the majority of new phone sales within the next ten years, with the Duo serving as the catalyst.

Foldables are still a tiny slice of the market

Foldable phones currently account for only about 2 percent of global smartphone shipments, according to Gurman's newsletter. That is the baseline his bullish, decade-long prediction is measuring against, and by his own admission, it is a steep climb. Gurman was careful to note that this forecast reflects his own reading of the market rather than information sourced from inside Apple.

Drawing a parallel to the original iPhone