Apple watch unlock is not a new feature. THey just mentioned it because they know people won't be happy about not having faceID to unlock.
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Apple Announces Foldable 'iPhone Duo'
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This basically eats the iPad mini market for people with enough money. The opened screen is only a bit smaller than a mini screen. I've been an iPad 11" user for like a decade, but I'm on the 13" bus after I finally bought a used one. An iPhone pro screen is already a good ways to an iPad mini. The Duo definitely makes dedicated iPad mini or even 11" slightly redundant.
It will be decided in how much Apple allows the UI to cross over between iPhone apps and iPad apps. It seems like Apple is allowing some of the iPad specific features on this device in full screen.
mudflap
macrumors 6502a
AnthroMatt
macrumors 6502a
Yup. Unrelated, but this is why I hate a lot of cases. They tend to be molded in ways that are comfortable in the right hand but not the left (DBrand Tank and any case without a CC button, for example).
I think that is only for M-series chips, right? That would have been absolutely incredible and I was hoping for it.
I just realized that the Duo only gets the regular iPhone 17 cameras. Not even the 17 Pro. That sucks and makes me wonder if I should just get the 18 Pro 🙁
As someone who has had two phones for several years now with one of them being an iPhone and the other being a Samsung foldable (Z Folds 4, 6, 7, and 8), this presentation impressed me. It fixes just about every gripe about the Z Fold 8 except for having only two cameras on the back with no true telephoto. People love the Z Fold 8 and it’s selling like hotcakes with a price starting at $1899. Estimates are that the new 4:3 passport format juiced up interest to the point where it is selling about 10 times more than the prior Z Fold 7, telling us foldable makers have had the aspect ratio wrong for years. So yes, there will be a ton of interest in this phone.
The areas addressed that people dislike about the Z Fold 8 are:
1) Camera in the center top on the outer screen that sticks out like a sore thumb when watching videos. No more.
2) Phone won’t stay propped up with phone snapping fully open too easily, forcing Samsung to eliminate Flex mode. Apple’s gives us their Flex mode equivalent
3) Camera is invisible until needed on the inside screen. No word on quality of photos, but maybe it’s not needed, since they call that a FaceTime camera. If you don’t FaceTime, that camera probably never shows itself.
4) Apple Pencil support is here. Samsung removed S-pen support in the Z Fold 7 and it’s still gone
5) Duo has IP68 rating while every Samsung fold has little resistance to dirt and dust with IP48 rating. How’d Apple do that when Samsung hasn’t been able to for eight iterations?
6) Duo likely wobbles less with horizontal camera layout versus vertical layout on Samsung
7) Duo won’t suffer the problem the Z Fold 8 has of a finger covering the bottom camera by accident
8) No Z Fold has ever had MagSafe, requiring a case to provide it. Duo has MagSafe, so no case for me, making it thinner than a Z Fold, and probably similar weight. Note I haven’t had a case since the iPhone 6, and that was a belt case. I even had no case for the iPhone 7 piano black version and it was pristine after a year when I got the iPhone X.
The things Samsung does better:
1) Z Fold 8 is lighter at 201g versus Apple’s 258g, though I won’t need a case for the Duo
2) The outside is symmetrical instead of flat on left and round on right
3) You can open 3 apps simultaneously. Duo apparently does not have SlideOver mode the iPads have. This is software, so it could come in iOS 28 or later.
4) DeX mode. Personally I hate DeX since I call it a kluge to make phone apps look better on a tablet. But a lot of other people love it.
Despite the problems, the Z Fold 8 is selling like hotcakes. I’ve no doubt the iPhone Duo will sell even better since iPhones sell by over an order of magnitude more than the Galaxy series. Samsung outsells Apple only because of phones outside of their flagship lines, e.g. the A-series of phones.
Having a Z Fold 8, I’m very much going to buy an iPhone Duo. I’m glad a lot of you aren’t, so that’ll make it easier for me to get one, or actually two. I showed my Z Fold 8 to my wife and told her about the upcoming iPhone “Ultra”, and after one look at the size of the inside screen, she said, “Get me one!” Foldables have a bigger appeal than many of you think. You wonder why the iPhone mini died. It was too small for most people. “Bigger screens!” That’s what people want. A foldable gives a bigger screen without adding bulk. It really is having an iPad mini that fits in your pocket.
For those wondering why a foldable, I said years ago on these pages that I’m not interested in a foldable phone like the Z Flip series. But I’d be very interested in a foldable iPad. With Samsung offering a great trade-in deal, I got a Z Fold 4 just to see how close it was to an iPad, and was hooked. It basically was a badly shaped iPad mini that’s nearly square. Even then it was pretty good. The Z Fold 8 is awesome with its 4:3 aspect ratio. The iPhone Duo really is a foldable iPad mini. That’s why i will 100% get the Duo… and one for my wife as well. I barely use my iPhone because the screen is pathetic, even on the iPhone Pro Max models. You can’t do anything on screens that small and narrow. Web sites look awful, videos are too small. Even grocery lists look terrible. The Z Fold 4 and up fixed all that.
My household is Apple centric, which is why I had two phones. My other phone is an iPhone Air. I love the thinness, just as I love the thinness of the Z Fold 8. It looks like the iPhone Duo is basically the same thickness, roughly, though a little thicker. But because I can use Messages on a Duo, that two phones thing will be history. I’ll have my foldable and my iPhone. I’ve been waiting for this every since I had my Z Fold 4.
The areas addressed that people dislike about the Z Fold 8 are:
1) Camera in the center top on the outer screen that sticks out like a sore thumb when watching videos. No more.
2) Phone won’t stay propped up with phone snapping fully open too easily, forcing Samsung to eliminate Flex mode. Apple’s gives us their Flex mode equivalent
3) Camera is invisible until needed on the inside screen. No word on quality of photos, but maybe it’s not needed, since they call that a FaceTime camera. If you don’t FaceTime, that camera probably never shows itself.
4) Apple Pencil support is here. Samsung removed S-pen support in the Z Fold 7 and it’s still gone
5) Duo has IP68 rating while every Samsung fold has little resistance to dirt and dust with IP48 rating. How’d Apple do that when Samsung hasn’t been able to for eight iterations?
6) Duo likely wobbles less with horizontal camera layout versus vertical layout on Samsung
7) Duo won’t suffer the problem the Z Fold 8 has of a finger covering the bottom camera by accident
8) No Z Fold has ever had MagSafe, requiring a case to provide it. Duo has MagSafe, so no case for me, making it thinner than a Z Fold, and probably similar weight. Note I haven’t had a case since the iPhone 6, and that was a belt case. I even had no case for the iPhone 7 piano black version and it was pristine after a year when I got the iPhone X.
The things Samsung does better:
1) Z Fold 8 is lighter at 201g versus Apple’s 258g, though I won’t need a case for the Duo
2) The outside is symmetrical instead of flat on left and round on right
3) You can open 3 apps simultaneously. Duo apparently does not have SlideOver mode the iPads have. This is software, so it could come in iOS 28 or later.
4) DeX mode. Personally I hate DeX since I call it a kluge to make phone apps look better on a tablet. But a lot of other people love it.
Despite the problems, the Z Fold 8 is selling like hotcakes. I’ve no doubt the iPhone Duo will sell even better since iPhones sell by over an order of magnitude more than the Galaxy series. Samsung outsells Apple only because of phones outside of their flagship lines, e.g. the A-series of phones.
Having a Z Fold 8, I’m very much going to buy an iPhone Duo. I’m glad a lot of you aren’t, so that’ll make it easier for me to get one, or actually two. I showed my Z Fold 8 to my wife and told her about the upcoming iPhone “Ultra”, and after one look at the size of the inside screen, she said, “Get me one!” Foldables have a bigger appeal than many of you think. You wonder why the iPhone mini died. It was too small for most people. “Bigger screens!” That’s what people want. A foldable gives a bigger screen without adding bulk. It really is having an iPad mini that fits in your pocket.
For those wondering why a foldable, I said years ago on these pages that I’m not interested in a foldable phone like the Z Flip series. But I’d be very interested in a foldable iPad. With Samsung offering a great trade-in deal, I got a Z Fold 4 just to see how close it was to an iPad, and was hooked. It basically was a badly shaped iPad mini that’s nearly square. Even then it was pretty good. The Z Fold 8 is awesome with its 4:3 aspect ratio. The iPhone Duo really is a foldable iPad mini. That’s why i will 100% get the Duo… and one for my wife as well. I barely use my iPhone because the screen is pathetic, even on the iPhone Pro Max models. You can’t do anything on screens that small and narrow. Web sites look awful, videos are too small. Even grocery lists look terrible. The Z Fold 4 and up fixed all that.
My household is Apple centric, which is why I had two phones. My other phone is an iPhone Air. I love the thinness, just as I love the thinness of the Z Fold 8. It looks like the iPhone Duo is basically the same thickness, roughly, though a little thicker. But because I can use Messages on a Duo, that two phones thing will be history. I’ll have my foldable and my iPhone. I’ve been waiting for this every since I had my Z Fold 4.
GuilleA
macrumors 6502
Will Co
macrumors 6502a
Possibly. FaceID for me isn’t just about unlocking the phone. It’s also about unlocking anything that’s protected, such as certain apps. FaceID is so slick in that regard, you barely even notice it happen and crucially it’s fast and hands free. If I have to touch a button on my watch for unlocking apps - assuming that’s even supported - then I might as well just use TouchID on the phone. However, if any security dialog that would normally be dealt with by FaceID can also be instantly dealt with by “watch ID” without having to touch anything, then that would be a really good mitigation of the missing FaceID on the Duo. And it might just make me reconsider my “nope” decision.
BSDnostalgia
macrumors 6502a
I admit that the Duo is more interesting than I thought. I like the hinge approach. Not something I would personally buy, but, it could be fun for suburban parents with enough money to spend on a device that would be most at home at family events. From a technical perspective, they put an impressive array of thoughtful evolutionary technology into it.
N0ughtsAndCr0sses
macrumors 6502a
I only like the dedicated iOS.
HOWEVER
It is too expensive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That black pro tho 🤩
HOWEVER
It is too expensive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That black pro tho 🤩
my dream device, but at AU$3500, its tipped itself over the edge of putting the preorder date in my calendar to do I really need it - to which the answer is a rational no [and we are definitely in the higher bracket of earners]
gloss
macrumors 601
I assume Watch to Unlock works like it does on a Mac, where a nearby authenticated Watch automatically unlocks the device without further input. I suppose we'll have to see.
I wouldn't mind right-side touch ID for stuff like Apple Pay, since my handedness is less of a bother in those situations.
lifeinhd
macrumors 65816
madrigal77
macrumors 6502a
I don't know if I can stomach paying $3k CAD on a phone, but I'm extremely tempted. This is after mocking foldable for years like yourself lol.
Seems it has Magsafe charging
From Apple store specs
MagSafe wireless charging up to
25W with 30W adapter or higher<a href="https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/#footnote-11">11</a>
Y'all have fun with the Duo, I'm 18 Pro Max ALL the way. It was worth skipping the 17 Pro Max discounts.
xxFoxtail
macrumors 65816
I believe the A18 Pro MacBook Neo can handle an external display too. So Apple probably could have added it if they wanted to.
I’m curious how it would look mirrored to an external display though. On my iPad, I usually only use two apps at most together. A keyboard and mouse with this might still work well for me.
MagSafe wireless charging up to
25W with 30W adapter or higher<a href="https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/#footnote-11">11</a>
AncTreat5358
macrumors newbie
I wonder how the Dynamic Island will be implemented on the Duo when there is no notch to anchor it?
Rogifan
macrumors Penryn
Once again, I feel like this is a case where Apple is missing Steve Jobs storytelling. With this product, we got the what and the how, but we didn’t really get the why. Maybe John Ternus thinks it’s self explanatory. Steve Jobs would’ve explained why Apple created this product and why you would want it. Nobody really did that today. Does Apple think this is the future of iPhones? Or is this just where everyone else is going, and Apple thinks it needs to go there too?
Good catch. That makes perfect sense.
I suppose the person soending $1999+ isn't going to flinch at an extra $79 for the USB Pencil. If you're complaining about needing to buy a different Pencil for this, it's probably out of your budget anyway.
You sound like the idiot that didn’t like the first iPhone. Who needs email on a phone? Who would ever need to browse the Internet on a phone? Right. Just stick with your Nokia flip phone