Apple launched the iPhone Duo on 23 October, marking its first foldable phone. The device features a 7.6-inch display with a special nano texture to stop reflections. While the screen looks brilliant, the heavy phone is hard to use with one hand. Many apps now work well with this new design.

Summary

After holding out for years, Apple has finally launced a foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. It is a refined device with a brilliant screen, animations and hinge system. But is it worth the hefty price tag?

The Apple iPhone Duo marks many firsts for Apple: the company's long-delayed entry into foldables, its first new iPhone in two decades, and first new hardware design since the Vision Pro headset three years ago. For new Apple chief John Ternus the Duo is vital as it's the first bit of hardware launched in his watch. The Duo is also the first mainstream smartphone that can cost up to ₹5 lakh in India.

It's fair to say that there's much riding on the phone's hinged shoulders.

For this reviewer, a week into using it as a primary device, it is clear that the iPhone Duo can achieve much for Apple in the long term.

Best displays in the business

With the Duo, Apple has tried to get two things right -- ergonomics and versatility. The iPhone Duo takes a shape that more closely resembles a wallet or a passport, things that can be held and used with one hand. In reality, Duo's one-handed use is difficult due to its weight.

When unfolded, the Duo looks very similar to the 8.5 inch iPad Mini. The Duo offers a 7.6-inch display that looks impressive in every way. Apple has not only used an OLED panel with 120 hertz (Hz) fast motion capabilities, but has also applied a nano texture on top. This means that once unfolded, there are no reflections. Apple first showcased this nano texture in its M5 MacBook Pro laptops, and the iPhone Duo is the first phone to get it. The display is super crisp, produces excellent contrast levels, and by all means is one of the very best in the business today.

The larger display is so gorgeous that, coupled with a fantastic hinge mechanism, it would make users want to use the inside panel more often than not. This, though, means considerably higher battery usage.

New habits take time

Display aside, has the software experience evolved to keep pace? Apple is aware of this question, which is is why, on launch day on 23 October, the company shared a list of 54 apps that have conformed to make the most of Apple's new design layouts on the foldable smartphone.

Beyond these chosen apps though, the experience is currently hit-or-miss. Most Google apps are yet to customize their app functionalities to the new screen layout, including Gmail, Google Docs and YouTube -- three of the most-used everyday apps on phones today. The same is also true for most games right now, which haven't yet made the jump to the big screen's unusual 4.3:3 aspect ratio.

Apps that have adopted the custom design needs of the iPhone Duo feel distinctly unique, while those that haven't -- including a major app like Spotify -- feel like stretched versions of the regular iPhone apps. The result isn't seamless, and can feel jarring.

But this will certainly change for the better soon. After all, if there's one company that holds immense sway over developers it's Apple. What can be more of a switch for loyal Apple users, will be the shift to new habits that the iPhone Duo necessitates.

For starters, there's no Face ID, which now makes way for Touch ID integrated into the slim fingerprint sensor on the right edge. On any other iPhone, simply lifting it can unlock the device and open to the last-used screen. The iPhone Duo, however, needs users to tap on the fingerprint sensor and hold for a second, making the experience look and feel a bit less seamless than it should have.

Then comes getting used to the screen dimensions. The external display, though as crisp and sharp as on any flagship iPhone, is only 5.4-inch in size. Moreover, the display comes at an aspect ratio of about 13:9, as against the global mainstream video aspect ratio standard of 16:9. This means that the outer display is more of a square than the rectangular dimensions that people are used to. This means that most apps don't adapt to this layout naturally, creating inconsistencies such as unusable or cropped buttons.

Case in point: in an app as popular as Google Pay, the 'submit' button of entering the security PIN for a transaction is almost cropped out of the external display. There are many more such instances as of right now.

But, all said, there's no denying that apps that work well do look quite wonderful, and when it works, Apple's purpose-built screen animations and a smooth flow-over between the two displays is something that others, namely Google's Pixel Pro Fold and Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold lineups, simply do not offer today.

Cameras and performance

The other big question about the iPhone Duo is if all this versatility of the two screens makes life tangibly better for any subset of users. Thinking of 'pro' or power users, the proposition is difficult to determine.

Most creators would still want the iPhone 18 Pro (or Pro Max) simply because of how much better the Pro cameras are. Though the iPhone Duo has a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera that was sorely missed in the single-camera iPhone Air of 2025, many 'pro' features remain missing. Of course, this argument may prove to be futile, for the iPhone Duo is imagined more for a top executive juggling spreadsheets and Zoom calls -- and not necessarily taking photos all the way.

That, though, does not mean the iPhone Duo lacks firepower. It is powered by Apple's custom A20 Pro chip, which is among the best, if not the very best, in smartphones today. Its chops are seen in serious video editing: The larger display, coupled with the A20 Pro, makes light work of 2-minute edit of a 4K video for social media.

Then there's the battery, which should last a full day for most users. With the heavy workload of journalists too, the iPhone Duo lasts easily until late evening on a full charge -- with an Apple Watch and a pair of AirPods paired and used extensively.

The right audience

There's no denying that the iPhone Duo has a certain charm that most smartphones have not offered in a long, long time. It feels like a new device to learn about, with a hinge that can stop at practically any angle.

There's also the social charisma that the iPhone Duo -- it is a deeply aspirational device.

And therein lies the customer base for the Duo -- people who don't mind the obvious splurge, and are thrilled to be among the first to own Apple's foray into foldable phones. Five years from today, the first Duo could very well become a rare collectible.