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.