🤲 Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo has enamored the media with its polished form factor, overshadowing years of iterations from competitors like Samsung
🥰 It features an ideal passport-style footprint with rounded right edges for comfortable handling and an almost invisible screen crease
👏 Apple has custom-built iOS to allow apps to switch seamlessly between inner and outer displays, offering a superior multitasking experience
📈 Despite trade-offs like weaker cameras, a smaller battery, and a high price tag of $1,999, it is positioned to be the best-selling foldable on the market
Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo has dominated headlines and media attention since its reveal, and the flurry of disgruntled posts from Samsung Mobile’s X account that followed wasn’t a surprise.
While I can sympathize with Samsung’s frustration that Apple is notoriously late to the party and already deemed the belle of the ball, the Korean company has had several years to become the de facto foldable.
dbrand MNML cases
However, ever since it launched the Galaxy Z Fold in 2019, too many minor iterations have allowed Apple to step in and render years of work seem irrelevant. And that must hurt, when Samsung was the one that established the foldable market.
Apple magic
Apple has waited patiently until it felt it could improve on everything that has come before it.
From the gorgeous opening and closing animation to the almost invisible crease, it’s the little things that elevate a product from something we’ve already seen to something you actually want.
I used to lament Apple for being overly cautious and essentially spring-boarding off the foundations laid down by other companies, but you can’t help but admire the execution. Samsung may have accused Apple of “reheating its leftovers”, but in reality, it’s taken the same ingredients, added more flavor, and nailed the presentation. It’s the equivalent of eating at a fine-dining restaurant compared to a drive-in diner.
A great example is the Duo’s passport-style footprint. Samsung has beaten Apple to the punch, sure, but Apple made the form factor even better by prominently rounding out the right-hand edges so it doesn’t dig into your palm. Suddenly, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks sharp and unwieldy.
Apple has also clearly put in the hours to ensure iOS 27 and its apps work wonderfully with the new displays, whereas Android is always hit-and-miss. The way apps can be viewed side by side, sit above one another, or seamlessly switch between the inner and outer displays is almost magical. Apple even moved the main UI elements to the right-hand side, making them easier to reach.
And that’s crucial to the overall experience. “It just works,” as Apple’s Steve Jobs would famously say.
The iPhone Duo doesn’t feel as experimental as the iPhone Air, either, which had one too many compromises for most users. You’re still getting the A20 Pro chip, as well as a 48MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide and an additional under-display camera. The periscope zoom found on the 18 Pro Max is missing, but I doubt many people are buying the Duo for that. The display is also 120Hz, there’s MagSafe, and support for the Apple Pencil is on the way.
Durability, which was a problem with earlier foldable phones, appears to be top-notch, with water resistance and higher dust resistance than Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, or any other competing foldable.
The only real downside, then, is that the battery size is reduced, though Apple promises it will still last at least 24 hours. Face ID has also been replaced by Touch ID, which is hardly a deal breaker for people who still miss the ease of the home button. It’s just a well-rounded, well thought-out device.
This is the way
The iPhone Duo is a polished, sleek, yet cautious upgrade of what competitors have been offering for years. And although it isn’t a generational product, the Duo proves once again that only Apple can deliver the potent combination of quality hardware, thoughtful design, and innovative software that continues to elude its rivals.
Playing it safe may be frustrating for some, but for Apple, it just works.
Is the iPhone Duo the best foldable on the market, then? We’ll know for sure once we get our hands on it for review. But I can confidently say it’ll easily be the best-selling foldable to date, despite its $1,999 price tag, and the only one I’d consider buying.
The iPhone Duo didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Apple only needed to improve on every foldable that came before it to make everything else seem obsolete.
Playing it safe may be frustrating for some, but for Apple, it just works.
Up next: Our iPhone Duo hot takes and first impressions
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.