Login
iPhone Duo
Apple (video, MacRumors, Hacker News, Slashdot):
Apple today introduced iPhone Duo, the first foldable iPhone. Opened, it is the thinnest iPhone ever, with a 7.6-inch inner display that provides a large canvas for viewing content, gaming, and multitasking, and a special nano-texture finish that minimizes glare for an unparalleled viewing experience. Closed, the 5.4-inch outer display delivers 90 percent of the screen area of iPhone 18 Pro in a compact, pocketable design. Both displays share the same aspect ratio, so content scales proportionally, ensuring visual continuity. iPhone Duo is built to last with an innovative hardware design and a precision hinge that offers a smooth, satisfying feel with every use.
[…]
The 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera — the same as on iPhone 18 Pro models — captures wider fields of view and enables macro photography, while the Center Stage front camera can automatically take photos and videos in any orientation, so users don’t have to rotate iPhone for landscape selfies. Upgraded Photographic Styles with new texture and grain controls let users further dial in their desired appearance and have more creative control over their photos. […] The foldable design with dual displays unlocks camera experiences that are not possible on any other iPhone.
[…]
Lock Screen controls, the Dock on the Home Screen, and app navigation and controls now appear on the side to maximize vertical space for content. When iPhone Duo is open, the display shows two Home Screen pages with Today View — a vertically scrolling list of customizable widgets — on the left. The status bar includes a circular, flexible system that nestles into the corner of the screen, showing relevant information like Wi-Fi, cellular strength, battery, and more.
[…]
The expansive display supercharges productivity, letting users do more at once with new multitasking capabilities. Split View allows users to open two apps side by side on iPhone for the first time.
[…]
iPhone Duo is available in star white and night sky, and starts at $1,999, or $83.29 per month for 24 months, in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage capacities.
I love the idea of the larger screen and how it can be balanced half-folded like a laptop, upside-down, or on the short side. The camera is better than I expected. The price is high enough to make me lose interest but perhaps not unreasonable if it can actually replace your iPad. My main concern is that the wide passport-style shape doesn’t look very comfortable to hold or keep in your pocket. It’s great that it can unfold, but the compact form factor is how most people will probably hold it most of the time. How well does the side Touch ID work if you’re left-handed?
The release notes of Xcode 27 RC doesn’t contain the phrase ‘Duo’…
Learn how to update and optimize your app for the foldable display of iPhone Duo. Discover how to opt in to the full-screen experience, adopt flexible layout best practices, and simulate poses in Device Hub with Xcode. Find out how to use size classes instead of interface orientation, handle asymmetric safe areas, and test Split View multitasking to ensure your app shines in all the ways people use it …
This is like a whole new platform dropping with a month’s lead time
The app design implications alone that are now basically forced onto app developers is nuts. Vision Pro was opt in but… all iPhone apps have to support this new device right? What a nightmare. Ugh, websites? New safe areas?
ToolbarItem(placement: .somewhereDepends)
As an anecdotal data point, I’ve had my foldable OnePlus Open for over 2 and a half years. It’s fallen on tile and cement, been kicked accidentally, and swatted across a room by my cat. The hinge and screens have no problems.
Here’s the list of tech products that have the Duo moniker[…]
Previously:
- iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
- UIKit in iOS 27
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 18 Pro Variable Camera Aperture Rumor
- Galaxy Fold Review
- Galaxy Unpacked 2019
Update (2026-09-11): Tim Hardwick:
In a joint interview with Tom's Guide and TechRadar, new Apple CEO John Ternus and marketing chief Greg Joswiak explained why the company waited until now to release a foldable, its design philosophy, and how it kept the iPhone Duo under wraps.
So here are my biggest unanswered questions from yesterday:
They said the iPhone Duo will fit in a pocket and is great for one handed operation.
Whose hands?
WHOSE POCKETS!?
The iPhone Duo does not include an Action Button, according to the device’s technical specifications page.
“The iPhone Duo’s under-display camera wasn’t placed in the top-right corner of the inner screen because of engineering difficulties,” said the leaker in a Weibo post this morning.
In the end, every Apple product—and probably every product—is a story of trade-offs. So, the thinking went, what will we give up to get the benefit of a small iPhone that unfolds into a larger iPhone?
The answer: some things, but less than I’d feared.
The company’s view is clear: the iPhone Duo, even when open in all of its glory, may evoke an iPad, but it is very much not an iPad.
[…]
It’s not an iPad that you fold up to put in your pocket. Or an iPad with a little iPhone glued to the front. It’s not running iPadOS. You won’t be installing or running iPad apps.
Apple’s iPhone Duo is the first iPhone that can run two apps side by side, but anyone expecting the sort of freedom that Split View offers on iPad might want to temper their expectations.
I’ve been using Samsung’s latest folding phone that has a very similar form factor to what Apple just announced, and it’s gotten me accustomed to what the folding phone experience is. I personally very much like it, and it’s the most joy an Android phone has brought me in close to a decade. That said, I just watched Apple’s iPhone Duo unveiling, and it immediately made my Samsung phone feel behind the curve.
Most of the UX we saw so far was both predictable and familiar to anyone who’s played with a Samsung Z Fold (Apple did not invent screen splits, app swaps or drag and drop), and so was the camera placement.
Imagine an iPad mini in your pocket. This is my dream!
Well, you had me in the first half; not going to lie. It’s a dream, but not at $2200.
[…]
Now admittedly part of me doesn’t trust the IP68 rating Apple claims for the Duo.
Apple says that you need the Apple Pencil with USB-C for the iPhone Duo, so if you have the Apple Pencil Pro, you may be out of luck.
Charging is the least of the problems. Because the Duo doesn’t have the magnetic attachment for Pencil Pro, there’s no way to even pair a Pencil Pro.
[…]
Imagine you own an iPad Pro and a Pencil Pro, and you love using the Pencil. You’ve always wanted to be able to use a Pencil with your iPhone. Now you can, if you buy a Duo. But you also have to buy a different Pencil — and then pack two different Pencils whenever you leave the house with both your iPad and iPhone. That’s ridiculous.
Also let’s not forget that the USB-C Apple Pencil doesn’t have pressure sensitivity, so the artists are already posting their disappointed reactions. I feel like this backs up that @markgurman report that they were planning on creating a bespoke Apple Pencil for the iPhone Duo that later got cancelled, and the USB-C version is the fallback.
Previously:
Update (2026-09-14): Kirk McElhearn:
Folding smartphones are extremely popular in China: there are about as many foldables sold in China as in the rest of the world. Samsung, Google, Huawei, Motorola, Xiaomi, and other brands sell devices like this. Apple will likely sell a lot of devices in China, but given the reactions I’ve seen, they are poised to have a successful product elsewhere, in spite of the high cost.
[…]
For me, a folding phone would mean that for non-work tasks, I would have a larger display, not quite as big as my 11″ iPad Pro. I doubt I would do much work on it, but if I need to check my online accounting app or make a quick edit to an article on my blog, that larger display would be much more practical than my iPhone.
In addition, my eyesight isn’t great. Since the iPhone 8 was released with a larger screen size, I have always bought larger iPhone models. Even with that size, I need to zoom the text on my iPhone a notch above the standard size. A larger display for when I’m reading articles would be a help, not to mention a small, portable device that makes it easier to read PDFs.
I may not be the target audience, but I’m sure there are people who aren’t price-sensitive, spend a lot of time watching videos or playing games, and only ever carry their phones in a pocket or bag. But I don’t regularly encounter such people—I hear complaints about phones being too big, but never that they’re not big enough.
I’ve made my choice. I’m buying the iPhone Duo instead of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
I do wonder whether iPhone Duo’s splitscreen multitasking mode will come back to iPad. People have been complaining all year that it went away, but it feels like Duo’s implementation is a simplified, easier-to-understand model. It might make sense to bring back in the future, especially for smaller iPads.
