Quick one this week. Scammers are circling the Dangote IPO, Apple’s big update can wait a few days, and the folding iPhone costs more than its price tag. Let’s get into it.
Buying Dangote shares on your phone? Read this first
The Dangote refinery IPO opened on Monday, and Nigerians rushed in from their phones. By midday on the first day, the Nigerian Exchange had counted more than 400,000 transactions worth about N1.48 trillion, through roughly 55 approved apps from banks, fintechs and mobile money operators. Some investment apps, including Bamboo, struggled with the traffic.
Scammers followed the crowd. The SEC warned the same day about fake websites, WhatsApp messages and social media ads promising guaranteed shares, and banks including Access, Zenith and UBA have sent their own warnings. The offer runs until October 13, so nobody needs to rush you.
Real talk: Pick your bank or platform from the official list at ipo.dangote.com, then open that app yourself. Don’t tap links people send you. Ignore anyone promising a guaranteed allotment, and never share your PIN, OTP or card details.
How to buy Dangote shares without getting scammed
iOS 27 is out. The new AI Siri isn’t, yet.
Apple released iOS 27 on September 14 for the iPhone 11 and newer. Beyond the new features, it fixes more than 120 security flaws. None are known to have been used in attacks. The headline feature is a new AI version of Siri that can understand what’s on your screen and take actions inside your apps for you. It needs an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, and Apple says it arrives later this year as a beta, an early test version.
Apple also released iOS 26.7, a security-only update for anyone who wants the fixes without the new features yet.
Real talk: Phone working fine? Install iOS 26.7 now for the security fixes. Then back up, and move to iOS 27 in a week or two, once any early bugs have shown up.
Apple’s list of security updates
The folding iPhone is coming. Read this before you pay an importer.
Apple’s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, starts at $1,999 with 256GB of storage and runs to $3,199 for the biggest model. Pre-orders open October 16 and it ships October 23. That’s $700 more than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which has the same processor inside. Those are US prices. Imported units will cost more.
The $700 buys a 7.6-inch inner screen that opens like a small book, with two apps side by side. It doesn’t buy the Pro Max’s 4x zoom camera or Face ID, since the Duo unlocks with a fingerprint button on the side. Battery is rated up to 31 hours of video on the big screen, against 45 on the Pro Max. And as of Friday, we couldn’t find a published repair price for the folding screen.
Real talk: Apple’s warranty lets it limit iPhone repairs to the country where the phone was first sold. Buying through an importer? Get the seller’s own warranty in writing, including who fixes the folding screen and how long it takes.
Is the foldable iPhone worth it?
Community Spotlight
Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative
A nonprofit group of Nigerian lawyers who take privacy cases to court. One of their cases led to a 2021 Court of Appeal ruling that protecting your personal data is part of your constitutional right to privacy.
They also run public sessions on questions like what happens to your details after you register to vote. Worth following if you want to know who is standing up for your data.
Consumer Tech Tip
Find the ID photos hiding in your camera roll
Most of us have snapped a photo of an ID card, passport or NIN slip to send to someone once. That photo usually syncs to the cloud and stays there for years.
iPhone: open Photos, tap Search, and type “passport” or “license”. Photos reads the text inside pictures, so it finds them. Delete what you don’t need, then open Albums, then Recently Deleted, and delete them there too, or they sit for 30 days.
Android: in Google Photos, tap Search and try “ID” or “passport”. Deleted photos stay in Trash for up to 60 days, so empty it.
Need to keep one? Move it to the Hidden album on iPhone or the Locked Folder in Google Photos. If search finds nothing, scroll your Screenshots album. That’s where these usually hide.
Tech Being Tech
Last September, Apple made the iPhone see-through. Menus, buttons, notifications: all glass.
Weeks later, an update added a switch to make it less see-through.
This week, iOS 27 swapped the switch for a slider, from clear glass all the way to frosted.
Apple’s default is right in the middle.
From TechCity
Some loan apps ask for more than your BVN. They ask for your whole contact list, and some use it when you’re late paying. Our short documentary, Borrow 5 Naira, Owe Your Contact List, follows two people it happened to. It’s seven minutes, and worth it before you tap Allow on any app. Made with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Watch it on YouTube
I need your two cents
Settle this for me: $700 extra for a phone that folds, or that money straight into Dangote refinery shares? Hit reply. I read every one.
See you next Sunday,
Olawale