iPhone 18 Pro vs iPhone Duo: I Know Which One I'd Actually Buy

The iPhone Duo is easily the more exciting gadget.

It folds. It opens into a much larger screen. It feels genuinely different from the iPhones we've been carrying for years. If you gave me both phones for an afternoon, I'd probably pick up the Duo first.

But if I had to spend my own money?

I'd buy the iPhone 18 Pro.

The reason is simple. Once the novelty of folding the Duo wears off, I need a phone that works for everything I actually do every day. The iPhone 18 Pro gives me the more interesting camera system, including that new variable-aperture main camera, without the extra thickness, weight and compromises that come with a foldable.

Then there's the price.

The Duo is the sort of gadget I desperately want to play with but would have difficulty justifying. You're paying a significant premium for that folding display, and I'm not yet convinced having a small tablet in my pocket would change my daily routine enough to justify it.

The 18 Pro is admittedly less exciting. Put it beside last year's iPhone and nobody across the room is going to ask what strange new gadget you're carrying.

But sometimes the gadget I want to play with and the gadget I'd actually buy are two different things.

I'd take the Duo on a weekend just to experiment with it. I'd open apps side by side, watch videos on the big screen, try the cameras and probably fold and unfold it far more times than necessary.

Then I'd reluctantly give it back.

And buy the iPhone 18 Pro.

The Duo wins the gadget geek part of my brain.

The 18 Pro wins my wallet.

Apple Finally Made a Foldable iPhone. I'm More Interested Than I Expected.

I've been watching foldable phones for years, and somehow I never felt a strong urge to own one. They were interesting gadgets, absolutely. Samsung kept improving the Galaxy Fold generation after generation, while Huawei, Honor, Oppo and others experimented with different shapes and increasingly thinner designs. I enjoyed looking at them, playing with them and reading about the engineering. But when it came to actually replacing my normal phone with one, I was never completely convinced.

Then Apple finally folded an iPhone.

The iPhone Duo is Apple's first foldable iPhone. Closed, you get a relatively compact 5.4-inch outer display. Open it and there's a 7.6-inch OLED display inside, the largest display Apple has ever put on an iPhone. Both screens support ProMotion up to 120Hz, and Apple has even added a nano-texture finish to the inner display to reduce reflections and make the crease less noticeable. (Apple)

None of that is particularly revolutionary if you've followed Android foldables. That's the funny thing about the iPhone Duo. Apple isn't arriving first. It isn't even arriving early. Samsung has been selling folding phones since 2019 and is already eight generations into the category. (Reuters)

But I'm more interested in the Duo than I expected to be.

Part of that is simply because iPhones have become very predictable. Faster processor. Better cameras. Brighter display. Better battery. Maybe a new button. All useful improvements, but after watching smartphones evolve for this long, annual upgrades rarely make me think, I really need to play with that.

The Duo does.

I'm particularly curious about what Apple does with the extra screen rather than the folding mechanism itself. The Duo runs a version of iOS 27 designed around the two displays, including side-by-side multitasking and interfaces that change depending on how the phone is positioned. Open it and suddenly an iPhone starts moving into small-tablet territory. Apple is even bringing USB-C Apple Pencil support to both displays later this year. (Apple)

There are also some wonderfully gadgety uses of the second screen. You can use the rear cameras for a selfie while seeing yourself on the outer display, show the person you're photographing a live preview, or partially fold the phone and use it without a tripod. Those are the kinds of features I want from a foldable. Not folding simply because the screen can fold, but doing something useful because there are now two sides to the device. (Apple)

Of course, there are compromises. At 254g and 11.3mm thick when closed, this isn't exactly an invisible object in your pocket. There's no telephoto camera either, despite this being an extremely expensive iPhone. (Apple)

And then there's the price.

The iPhone Duo starts at US$1,999. In Malaysia, pre-orders don't begin until 16 October, with availability from 23 October. (Reuters) That's serious money for a phone, foldable or otherwise.

Would I rush out and buy one?

Probably not.

Do I want to get my hands on one, fold it a hundred times, try the cameras, open two apps together and find out whether that big inner screen actually changes how I use an iPhone?

Absolutely.

And that's something I haven't been able to say about a new iPhone for a while.

Apple may be late to foldables. The iPhone Duo may not even be the most technically adventurous foldable on the market. But at least Apple has finally given gadget geeks something genuinely different to play with.

After years of increasingly predictable smartphones, I'll take that.

A Power Bank With Liquid Cooling? Gadget Makers Are Getting Weird Again

I thought power banks were basically finished.

Make them smaller. Give them more capacity. Add faster USB-C charging. Stick a screen on the side. Add magnetic wireless charging. Maybe build the cable into the body so I don't have to dig through my bag looking for one.

What else could you possibly do?

Apparently, put liquid cooling inside one.

UGREEN has introduced the MagFlow Pro Magnetic Power Bank, a 10,000mAh magnetic power bank with something called CryoPulse. This isn't just a fancy name for a metal heatsink either. There is an actual micro-pump circulating coolant inside the power bank, and UGREEN even added a transparent window so you can watch it moving. (IFA Exhibitor News)

I have been playing with gadgets long enough to remember when a power bank was basically a chunky battery with a USB-A port. Now we're talking about cooling systems that sound like they belong inside a gaming PC.

And I kind of love it.

There is a real reason behind the madness. Wireless charging generates heat, and faster wireless charging generates even more of it. The MagFlow Pro supports Qi2 25W wireless charging, so managing that heat becomes increasingly important if you want charging speeds to remain consistent instead of throttling as temperatures rise. (UGREEN US)

UGREEN claims its cooling system can reduce peak temperatures by as much as 10°C compared with its stated industry reference. Those are manufacturer testing figures, so I'd want to see independent testing before getting too excited about the numbers. But the engineering idea itself makes sense. (IFA Exhibitor News)

The rest of the power bank is fairly serious too. There's a 10,000mAh battery, up to 45W wired output, a built-in USB-C cable that doubles as a carrying strap, and a display showing charging information. (UGREEN Official Site)

But nobody is going to talk about the strap.

They're going to talk about the tiny liquid-cooling system inside their power bank.

And this is what I find interesting about gadgets right now.

For a while, consumer technology started becoming a little predictable. Phones became rectangles with better cameras. Chargers became smaller. Power banks became thinner. Every year brought improvements, but fewer things made me stop and say, wait, they actually built that?

A liquid-cooled power bank does.

Is it necessary for everyone? Probably not.

Is it slightly ridiculous? Absolutely.

But I'd rather see manufacturers experimenting with strange engineering ideas than another power bank whose biggest innovation is being 3mm thinner.

After 20 years of playing with gadgets, the weird stuff is often what makes technology fun again.

More weird gadgets, please.

Reference: UGREEN MagFlow Pro and CryoPulse technology

I Have Enough USB-C Chargers. Somehow I Still Keep Buying Better Ones.

I don't need another USB-C charger.

I know this.

There are chargers beside my bed. Chargers near the sofa. Chargers on my desk. Chargers inside bags. I'm fairly certain there's at least one hiding in a drawer that I haven't opened for months.

And yet, show me a smaller 100W GaN charger with three USB-C ports and suddenly I'm interested.

This makes absolutely no sense.

Welcome to being a gadget geek.

USB-C Was Supposed to Solve This

I remember when charging gadgets was considerably more annoying.

Different phones had different connectors. Cameras had their own chargers. Laptops came with massive power bricks. Buy a new device and there was a good chance you'd add another cable and charger to the collection.

USB-C was supposed to bring order to all of this.

And to be fair, it mostly has.

My phone can use USB-C. My tablet uses it. My Nintendo Switch uses it. Cameras increasingly use it. Power banks use it. Even laptops that once required proprietary power bricks can now often charge over USB-C.

One good charger can potentially power half the gadgets I travel with.

Brilliant.

So why do I own so many chargers?

Because Chargers Became Gadgets

That's my theory.

The humble charger used to be something you didn't think about. It came in the box, you plugged it into the wall, and that was basically the end of the relationship.

Now I actually compare them.

How many watts?

How many ports?

USB-C only, or does it still have USB-A?

Does it support USB Power Delivery?

PPS?

How does it divide power when three devices are connected?

And perhaps the most dangerous phrase for people like me:

GaN charger.

Gallium nitride helped manufacturers make powerful chargers significantly smaller.

Suddenly a charger capable of powering a laptop doesn't necessarily need to look like a brick.

That's when chargers stopped being boring.

65W Was Enough. Then I Wanted 100W.

This is how it happens.

You buy a compact 30W charger for your phone.

Then you realise 65W would also charge your laptop.

Excellent.

One charger instead of two.

Then you discover a 100W charger with multiple ports.

Now you can charge the laptop, phone and power bank together.

Obviously that's better.

Then somebody releases an even smaller one.

Or one with better power distribution.

Or a tiny display showing exactly how much power your devices are drawing.

Do I need to know that my laptop is currently pulling 63 watts?

No.

Do I want to know?

Apparently yes.

The Best Charger Is the One That Makes Me Carry Less

These days, that's really how I judge them.

I'm less impressed by enormous wattage numbers than I am by whether one charger can replace three others in my bag.

For travelling, that's genuinely useful.

A good multi-port USB-C charger means I can potentially leave the phone charger, tablet charger and laptop power brick at home.

Add a couple of decent USB-C cables and suddenly the entire charging setup becomes much simpler.

That's the part of modern charging technology I genuinely appreciate.

The irony, of course, is that I've bought several chargers while searching for the perfect charger that means I won't need several chargers.

Nobody said being a gadget geek had to be financially logical.

USB-C Still Isn't Quite as Simple as It Looks

There's also a reason I hesitate when someone says, "USB-C is USB-C."

The connector might look identical.

The capabilities aren't.

Different cables can support different charging speeds. Devices negotiate different power levels. Some chargers divide their available power differently depending on which ports you're using.

Plug the wrong cable into the right charger and you might wonder why your expensive new gadget isn't charging as quickly as expected.

The universal connector solved one problem.

Behind that connector, things can still get surprisingly geeky.

And perhaps that's why I keep finding chargers interesting.

MY TAKE

I already own enough USB-C chargers to survive a minor electrical emergency.

I don't need another one.

But I also know exactly what's going to happen.

Someone will release a charger that's smaller than mine, delivers more power, handles multiple devices better and somehow weighs 30 grams less.

I'll look at the charger I already own.

I'll look at the new one.

Then I'll say the sentence every gadget enthusiast has used at some point:

"This one is actually better."

And that's probably how another USB-C charger ends up in my drawer.