iPhone Duo: The Complaints Are Missing the Point
Apple waited years to make a foldable iPhone. Did the $1,999 iPhone Duo finally fix the biggest problems with foldable phones?
iPhone Duo - Did Apple Actually FIX Foldable Phones?
Apple was ridiculously late to foldable phones. After seeing the iPhone Duo, I’m starting to think that may have been exactly the point.
Samsung, Google, and other companies have spent years building foldable phones and working through the strange problems that come with them.
Visible display creases.
Bulky hinges.
Camera compromises.
Software that sometimes feels like a stretched phone interface instead of something designed around a folding screen.
Apple watched all of that happen from the sidelines.
Now the company has finally entered the category with the $1,999 iPhone Duo — and some of the solutions Apple came up with are much more interesting than I expected.
The iPhone Duo isn’t perfect, but Apple may have found ways to make some of the biggest foldable-phone compromises much easier to live with.
Apple Is Years Late to Foldable Phones
There’s no way around it: Apple did not invent the foldable phone.
It wasn’t even close.
Samsung has released multiple generations of Galaxy Fold devices. Google has built its own folding phones. Other manufacturers have spent years experimenting with hinges, flexible displays, software layouts, cameras, durability, and battery life.
Apple waited.
And normally, showing up this late would look like a disadvantage.
But foldable phones are a little different because being first also meant dealing with a long list of very visible compromises.
Early folding displays had obvious creases.
Devices were often thick.
Apps did not always know what to do with the extra screen space.
And making room for cameras, sensors, batteries, and hinges inside an already thin smartphone created all kinds of engineering problems.
Apple didn’t need to figure out how to make a phone fold. It needed to figure out how to make a folding iPhone feel less compromised.
Did Apple Fix the Foldable Display Crease?
The crease is probably the most obvious problem with foldable phones.
You open this giant, expensive, beautiful display — and there’s a line running right through the middle of it.
Apple hasn’t magically eliminated that.
A screen that physically bends still has to bend somewhere.
But the iPhone Duo uses a matte inner display treatment designed to reduce reflections and make the fold less visually distracting.
That matters because reflections are one of the things that make a crease stand out so much.
Under the wrong lighting, even a relatively shallow fold can suddenly become obvious.
By cutting down some of those reflections, Apple appears to have made the center fold much harder to notice during normal use.
The goal was never going to be making the crease physically disappear. The real goal is making you stop noticing it while you’re actually using the phone.
And based on what Apple has shown so far, the Duo appears to get surprisingly close.
Yes, you can still find the crease if you look for it.
Yes, certain lighting and angles will make it more visible.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the display experience is ruined.
We went through something similar when the iPhone X introduced the notch.
At launch, people obsessed over it.
Then most users simply got used to it.
If the iPhone Duo’s crease fades into the background the same way during everyday use, that would be a major improvement for foldables.
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The iPhone Duo Hides a Camera Under the Display
The folding display creates another problem: where do you put the inner camera?
Apple’s answer is one of the most futuristic things about the iPhone Duo.
The FaceTime camera sits underneath the 7.6-inch inner display.
Instead of cutting another visible hole into the screen, Apple hides the camera behind the display itself.
That technology isn’t perfect either.
Depending on the background and lighting, you may still be able to tell where the camera sits beneath the screen.
But on brighter backgrounds, it can become extremely difficult to notice.
And that makes the technology more interesting than simply asking how many megapixels the camera has.
Apple has now shipped an iPhone with a camera underneath the display — and that could eventually lead to iPhones with fewer visible interruptions in the screen at all.
Future generations could improve the camera quality.
The display above it could become more uniform.
And eventually, cameras and sensors may become nearly invisible until you actually need them.
The iPhone Duo may be giving us an early look at where Apple wants its displays to go next.
No Face ID Is Still a Compromise
One of the strangest changes on the iPhone Duo is the lack of Face ID.
Apple instead uses Touch ID built into the side button.
And no, I don’t think removing Face ID should be treated like some kind of upgrade.
Face ID is incredibly convenient because authentication usually happens without you having to think about it.
You look at your iPhone and it unlocks.
Moving back to a fingerprint sensor means physically reaching for the button.
But Apple has added another feature that makes that compromise more interesting: Apple Watch Unlock.
If you’re already wearing an authenticated Apple Watch, the Watch can help unlock the iPhone Duo without forcing you to constantly reach for Touch ID.
That doesn’t make losing Face ID better. It does make the compromise smarter.
If Apple couldn’t fit the normal Face ID hardware into a foldable this thin, Touch ID combined with Apple Watch Unlock is a pretty reasonable solution.
The Most Important Question Is What Happens When You Open It
A great hinge doesn’t matter if opening the phone just gives you a gigantic iPhone app.
A subtle crease doesn’t matter if the software has no idea what to do with the extra space.
And an under-display camera doesn’t matter if the folding screen itself doesn’t actually change how you use the device.
This may be the most important thing Apple got right with the iPhone Duo.
When you open it, the software changes with the hardware.
You can pair apps.
You can run multiple apps on the larger display.
Apps can adapt to iPad-style layouts.
The Dock and interface can take advantage of the extra room.
The Duo supports Apple Pencil.
And apps can transition between the outer screen and the much larger folding display.
The iPhone Duo doesn’t rely on one magical folding feature. Apple built a bunch of smaller reasons to actually open the device.
Some Foldable iPhone Use Cases Are Better Than Others
That doesn’t mean every demonstration Apple showed makes perfect sense.
Some of the positioning options are going to look a little ridiculous.
I am not putting a $1,999 folding iPhone screen-down on concrete just because Apple says I technically can.
And turning the device into a tiny laptop-style setup can waste a lot of the available display space.
But I also think that criticism misses the bigger point.
You don’t have to use the Duo in every possible configuration.
Maybe you open it completely and use the full 7.6-inch display.
Maybe you keep two apps open side by side.
Maybe you partially fold it for a FaceTime call.
Maybe you use the folding design like a built-in tripod for a photo or video.
And when you don’t need any of that, you close it and use it like a regular iPhone.
That flexibility is much more compelling than trying to invent one single reason everybody needs a foldable phone.
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Apple May Have Been Right to Wait
This is ultimately why Apple being late suddenly makes a lot more sense.
Samsung and everyone else had to figure out whether foldable phones were even practical.
They spent years improving hinges.
Making folding displays more durable.
Reducing thickness.
Improving software.
Learning how people actually use these devices.
Apple got to watch all of it.
Then it entered the market once several of the biggest problems finally had believable solutions.
That doesn’t mean Apple solved everything.
The crease still exists.
The under-display camera still has limitations.
Face ID is gone.
The camera system isn’t identical to Apple’s best Pro Max camera setup.
And $1,999 is an enormous amount of money for a phone.
But Apple appears to have waited until folding an iPhone no longer required quite as many obvious compromises.
Is the $1,999 iPhone Duo Worth It?
That’s a completely different question.
A clever hinge doesn’t automatically make a $1,999 phone worth buying.
A subtle crease doesn’t make two thousand dollars cheap.
And having a giant screen in your pocket only matters if you actually use that extra space.
For some people, the iPhone Duo may be incredibly useful.
For others, a normal iPhone will still do everything they need while costing dramatically less.
The real test will be whether the larger display changes your everyday behavior enough to justify the price.
Do you actually use two apps at once?
Do you read, work, watch video, edit photos, or navigate differently?
Does the folding camera design solve real problems?
Does carrying one device that can transform between a compact phone and a small tablet replace something else you would normally carry?
The iPhone Duo doesn’t need to be the best value in the iPhone lineup. It needs to make the folding experience valuable enough that some people genuinely prefer it.
Did Apple Actually Fix Foldable Phones?
No.
At least not in the sense that every compromise has magically disappeared.
There is still a crease.
There are still hardware tradeoffs.
The price is still extreme.
And this is still a first-generation Apple product entering a category that competitors have been refining for years.
But “fixing” foldables doesn’t necessarily mean reaching perfection.
It may simply mean reducing the compromises enough that the folding design finally feels worth using.
Apple appears to have approached the crease, cameras, authentication, multitasking, and folding software as separate problems that all needed their own solutions.
And when you combine enough of those solutions, the device starts feeling much more complete.
Apple didn’t invent the foldable phone. It may have waited until it could build one that feels less like an experiment.
🍎 Quick Take
The iPhone Duo still has compromises, but Apple’s approach to the crease, under-display camera, Touch ID, Apple Watch Unlock, multitasking, and adaptive software makes this first-generation foldable much more interesting than I expected.
The bigger question isn’t whether Apple made the crease disappear. It’s whether Apple reduced enough of the friction around foldables that people stop thinking about the compromises and start thinking about what the larger screen lets them do.
If that happens, Apple being years late to foldable phones may turn out to have been a feature rather than a failure.
Watch the Full Video
In the full video, I go deeper into the iPhone Duo’s folding display crease, under-display camera, lack of Face ID, Apple Watch Unlock, multitasking, Apple Pencil support, and why Apple may have been right to wait before entering the foldable-phone market.
Watch: iPhone Duo - Did Apple Actually FIX Foldable Phones?
More on the iPhone Duo
If you want to go deeper on Apple’s first foldable iPhone, I’ve covered the iPhone Duo and Apple’s foldable strategy from several different angles:
Watch: Apple’s $2,000 Foldable iPhone Makes iPhones EXCITING Again!
Watch: Apple’s $2,000 Foldable iPhone Has FEWER Features?!
Watch: This Is Why Apple Is Making a Foldable iPhone
Watch: So This Is Apple's $2,000 Foldable iPhone
Watch: Why Would Anyone Want a Foldable iPhone?
Watch: Is It ACTUALLY Worth Upgrading Your iPhone This Year?
What Do You Think Apple Actually Fixed?
This is the part I’m most curious about now that the iPhone Duo is real.
Which of these compromises matters most to you?
The crease?
The lack of Face ID?
The under-display camera?
The software?
The price?
Or is the biggest problem with foldable phones simply convincing people they need a phone that folds in the first place?
The iPhone Duo doesn’t need to make foldables perfect. It needs to make them useful enough that the compromises stop dominating the conversation.
Let me know whether you think Apple actually improved the biggest problems with foldable phones — or whether the company waited all these years and still didn’t do enough.
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