iPhone Duo Duo is beautiful

[scott99]

I think it is beautiful, and does things regular iphones cant do. It’s like if iPad and iPhone has a baby. I just got an iPhone 17 Pro Max in 2025, so i usually wait 24 months before I trade in my phone for a new one. I also want to see how the crease looks, the way Apple showed it, you cant see the crease, so I wanna see it up close. I love how the FaceTime camera works, it’s only on when you use it, disappears to give you a full screen when not using it.

But seriously, Apple can sell ice to an Eskimo, watching their presentation on the Duo makes me want one NOW !

 

[MallardDuck]

Not for me, but it's vastly more impressive than I expected. No case is a deal breaker, and I know I'd close it on something and ruin the screen the first week (and it's bigger than my pockets).

But for someone who doesn't also want an ipad, it's a good hybrid. I would pick it over the max, that's for sure.

I worry about touchID though, that's a really small sensor.

 

[Michaelhuisman]

all in all I thought - oh wow... that turned out nice. just under 2.5 grand in euros (France).

saw comment that it has MagSafe because *really* wondered about that... no way I'm surrendering that.

at end of event, what I thought was... 2nd year of this is going to come out alongside whatever the 20 year iPhone model is - and I will delay making a decision until then.

enough other Apple products I have to update this year (4x AppleTVs, presumably HomePods and more). Too bad these weren't announced. Not on the store site either so the wait continues.

 

[chabig]

The number of small inside this thing is and the ability to manufacture it is impressive. The iFixit teardown will be feature length.

 

[Theninjagecko]

It's a great-looking phone and came together way better as a whole than the sum of the leaked parts leading up to it. The software and hardware working together is fantastic and I love the little details.

I would love to get it but the lack of telephoto lense on the back is a gamestopper for me. I travel and take too many photos with the different lenses on the Pro to lose the telephoto one.

This. If it had a telephoto it would be day one.

 

[Ipadfever]

Beautiful is a very subjective word. Apple is always behind the ball in releasing new products that have already been on the market for awhile so they had time to really think this out. Let’s just go with it’s an ok phone and does what it needs to do.

 

[ArchEtech]

Im prepared to have to get the 2tb if I have to but am settled on the 512 haha! Design is like I expected, very thought out and tested by the failures of other innovators...then made better most likely.

 

[Webcat86]

I’ve decided not to get it. The one-handed form factor is a deal breaker, and it only makes sense to me if it replaced my phone AND iPad. But the screen size isn’t replacing an M4 Pro.

Not for me, but it's vastly more impressive than I expected. No case is a deal breaker, and I know I'd close it on something and ruin the screen the first week (and it's bigger than my pockets).

But for someone who doesn't also want an ipad, it's a good hybrid. I would pick it over the max, that's for sure.

I worry about touchID though, that's a really small sensor.

They showed it with a case

 

[WilliamG]

My biggest concern with the Duo is that Apple didn't tout scratch resistance on that inner display. Is it going to be like the new Pixel foldable where a fingernail scratches it? What if a tiny piece of grit is on the display when you close it. Just need to know these things...

 

[ResolutionNZ]

Waiting on durability testing, but it looks promising. They did mention scratch resistance for the internal display. They are cautious in their language about the appearance of a crease in the display with use.

 

[Eso]

My biggest concern with the Duo is that Apple didn't tout scratch resistance on that inner display. Is it going to be like the new Pixel foldable where a fingernail scratches it? What if a tiny piece of grit is on the display when you close it. Just need to know these things...

Absolutely a fingernail will deform it. It's plastic so it's more of a dent than a scratch.

 

[alia]

My biggest concern with the Duo is that Apple didn't tout scratch resistance on that inner display. Is it going to be like the new Pixel foldable where a fingernail scratches it? What if a tiny piece of grit is on the display when you close it. Just need to know these things...

They specifically talked about this a bit on the announcement. A summary...

The interior protection system consists of:

• • The Scratch-Resistant Coating: An Apple-engineered hard finish layered on top to deflect direct scratches. [1, 2]
  • A Custom Polymer Cover Layer: Sits directly underneath the coating and features a nano-texture finish that reduces glare, eliminates reflections, and visually minimizes the screen crease. Apple notes this custom polymer has up to 40% higher stiffness than competing materials used across the foldable industry. [1, 2]
  • Gliding Glass & Adhesives: High-strength glass layers sit above and below the folding OLED panel. They are held together by custom adhesives that allow the layers to slightly glide past one another—similar to pages in a book—to relieve bend stress and prevent the screen from distorting over time. [1, 2]

 

[Goodison]

It's a great-looking phone and came together way better as a whole than the sum of the leaked parts leading up to it. The software and hardware working together is fantastic and I love the little details.

I would love to get it but the lack of telephoto lense on the back is a gamestopper for me. I travel and take too many photos with the different lenses on the Pro to lose the telephoto one.

It’s the telephoto and lack of Face ID that is stopping me also. It would be perfect if those two were incorporated. I travel a lot by train to watch my football team four or five times a year, eight hour round trips.

To have a pocketable phone that I can open up to watch films on the train and browse the web/social media would have been absolutely perfect for me but those two omissions mentioned earlier is certainly holding me back.

Maybe sit tight and see what the second version brings next year?

 

[ArchEtech]

Good points on how scratch resistant the inner screen is. This will make or break the success of the phone. I know that was an issue on the early Samsung folding phones, I don't know about the newer models.

 

[ISignedUpToAskThis]

I was surprised Apple didn't show even a hint of a crease when unfolded in any of the marketing/video clips. Have they mentioned it somewhere in smallprint that there may be a visible crease? I can see some customer buying and finding there is a crease and not being too happy about that considering the price and Apple's images.

 

[mattopotamus]

I was surprised Apple didn't show even a hint of a crease when unfolded in any of the marketing/video clips. Have they mentioned it somewhere in smallprint that there may be a visible crease? I can see some customer buying and finding there is a crease and not being too happy about that considering the price and Apple's images.

Every single video looked like a render, so I doubt it's that clean.

 

[ISignedUpToAskThis]

Every single video looked like a render, so I doubt it's that clean.

Agree, I don't remember seeing any of the real people using it where it showed it completely opened up. Just surprised Apple haven't played it safe by showing even a hint of it or mentioning it in small print. I'm sure we'll find out very soon when the influencer crowd upload their videos soon.

 

[macduke]

I was mostly set on getting the new iPhone Pro until I saw it. It's truly beautiful, and the software integration and UX is beyond what I expected.

This feels like the first true complete redesign of the iPhone. I've owned nearly every generation.

I love all of the different ways you can use it. Gave me a lot of ideas for app development, so I really want one to have an actual device to use for testing and UX during development.

My iPhone Upgrade Program cost is currently $57/mo for my 256GB iPhone 17 Pro. The Apple Upgrade Program cost is $57.99/mo for the iPhone Duo. 256GB is plenty for storage for me. Add on top of that I was planning to upgrade my M1 iPad Pro in the next year, and this does that as well for less, albeit with a smaller screen than the 11" I was targeting, and less powerful hardware. But then again, I'll always have it in my pocket which is a huge advantage over the iPad, and I don't have to manage multiple devices. It just works. And with the iPad, you don't really need the M-series chip. It's not like a Mac, it's pretty limited still. I'm also fine with upgrading every two years instead of every year. The pace of hardware development has slowed, outside of this leap to iPhone Duo, and I had already been considering switching to a two year upgrade cycle.

Agreed. Was dead set against one originally but it looks superb. Just not a big fan of the closed form factor

I actually prefer the closed form factor, because I hate how tall and unpocketable iPhone has become, so this should be easier to reach up to the top to swipe down now. I also think it will be better for texting since the keyboard should be a bit wider. And then you open it up and it's a friggin iPad mini, with an under-display camera.

I'm so surprised they were able to achieve the under display camera, but it makes sense why the outer camera isn't hidden: The inner camera is mainly for video, so it doesn't have to be as high-quality as the outer camera. They're probably using a lot of AI processing to clean it up. Actually, in their marketing materials, they don't even list a MP count for the inner camera, and just say it's a FaceTime camera, so it's probably not even meant for stills. Interesting.

 

[Hamsterhjulet]

Looking at the early hands-on it seems like crease actually is non-existent or at least not visible.

 

[mattopotamus]

Agree, I don't remember seeing any of the real people using it where it showed it completely opened up. Just surprised Apple haven't played it safe by showing even a hint of it or mentioning it in small print. I'm sure we'll find out very soon when the influencer crowd upload their videos soon.

I was really surprised they showed "judder" on the interface. When the multitask window (where you see your open apps) was displayed, it lagged big time.

 

[Henry762]

Touch ID is a deal breaker for me. I have sweaty hands and Touch ID has never worked reliably for me on any iPhone or iPad. I know I’m in the minority, but Face ID works flawlessly for me and I could never go back.

I'm the opposite. Sounds like you have a legit issue, but people with hands that are too dry also have issues w/TouchID.
personally; I HATE face ID. It seems to ask me for my password far, FAR more frequently & often than TouchID devices ever did (do - my mini 6 works fine).

So..that alone might help me justify the new device.... 😂

But we'll see.

 

[hovscorpion12]

10/10, coming from someone who owns the Fold 8. Also, defiantly an iPhone I would treat as an iPad. Upgrade every 2-years instead of yearly.

 

[Fumblerooskie]

The camera is honestly the one hang up I have. For the price point, I wish it had the top of the line camera as well.

It has the same Fusion Main camera spec, just without the variable aperture, right?

I see your point, but I also believe that the variable aperture lens isn’t going to be a huge factor on such a small sensor, and that there will still be a ton of computational photography intervention to achieve bokeh and depth of field.

Really need to get a proper camera with a FF or at least an APSC sensor with an f2.0-2.8 lens if you want to do it right.

 

[Applfan81]

Really sexy phone, but i will pass this year. Do not feel like being a (potential) beta tester with 1 gen stuff. + i would like to see the second hand value for this if i were to sell it. (Both the value and how it will hold up from wear and tear)

 

[CodeSpyder]

Wow! It is quite impressive! I wasn't going to go for it, but I've changed my mind after the event.