Apple executives have dismissed the notion that competitors were the first to develop the passport-shaped foldable phone, asserting that leaks prompted everyone to adopt a similarly wide aspect ratio before the iPhone Duo's release.

In an interview with TechRadar and Tom's Guide, Greg Josiak, the company's chief marketing officer, stated that people knew Apple was working on a foldable phone: "Unfortunately, they got the aspect ratio, and a lot of coincidental instances of people finding that interesting aspect ratio." By "people," he was referring to Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi, all of which had already released wide foldable phones before Apple.