Apple has finally entered the foldable phone market with the iPhone Duo, and after watching the announcement, I kept coming back to the same thought:
It feels like an iPhone… but at the same time, it doesn’t really feel like an iPhone.
That might sound strange, but Apple hasn’t simply taken an existing iPhone and added a folding screen.
The shape is different. The way you interact with it is different. And when you open it up, Apple starts blurring the line between an iPhone and an iPad.
That’s what makes the iPhone Duo so interesting to me.
Watch my full iPhone Duo first impressions below:
I Actually Like the iPhone Duo’s Shape
When closed, the iPhone Duo has a 5.4-inch outer display, but its proportions are very different from a normal iPhone.
It’s considerably wider.
And actually, I like that.
I’ve never been a massive fan of the really tall, narrow folding phones. I much prefer the shorter and wider style of foldable, similar to something like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 rather than the taller Fold8 Ultra.
When you open the Duo, those proportions make even more sense because the 7.6-inch inner display looks much closer to a small tablet.
There could be a trade-off, though.
I currently use an iPhone 17 Pro rather than the Pro Max, partly because I still want my phone to be manageable. I like being able to pull it out of my pocket, quickly do something with one hand and put it away again.
The iPhone Duo is 84.1mm wide when closed.
That is a wide phone.
Apple says it is comfortable to hold and easy to use one-handed, but that’s something I would really want to try before deciding whether it works for me.
Strangely, one of the things I like most about the design could also become one of its biggest compromises.
The 7.6-Inch Display Needs to Do More Than Just Look Impressive
Nobody is going to spend £1,999 on an iPhone Duo just to keep it closed.
The reason this product exists is that large inner display.
But the thing that interests me most isn’t actually the size.
It’s what Apple is doing with it.
I don’t want to unfold the Duo and find a massive version of the normal iPhone interface stretched across a bigger screen.
If I’m carrying around a 7.6-inch display, I want it to let me do more.
Thankfully, Apple appears to understand that.
The Duo can run two apps side-by-side, display two windows from the same app and save combinations of apps you regularly use together.
That starts feeling much more like an iPad.
And I think that’s exactly what Apple needed to do.
The iPhone Duo needs to be an iPhone when you want an iPhone, and something closer to an iPad when you need more screen space.
Could the iPhone Duo Replace Some of My iPad Usage?
This is probably the biggest question for me.
I already own an iPhone, an iPad and a Mac.
So if I bought an iPhone Duo, which one of those devices would I actually start using less?
Maybe I’m sitting on a train and want Safari open alongside Notes.
Maybe I’m travelling and want a larger display for watching something without taking my iPad.
Or maybe I’m working on something and simply need more space than my normal iPhone provides.
Those are all situations where I can see the Duo being genuinely useful.
But they’re also situations where, right now, I’d probably reach for my iPad.
That means one of the biggest tests of the Duo will be whether I eventually stop thinking:
“I’ll get my iPad.”
If that happens, then the Duo starts becoming much more interesting than simply an expensive iPhone with a hinge.
I’m Disappointed There’s No Apple Pencil Pro Support
Apple is taking the iPad-like experience further by bringing Apple Pencil support to the Duo.
Later this year, the USB-C Apple Pencil will work with either display.
I like that.
But I’m also slightly disappointed that Apple Pencil Pro isn’t supported.
I already use an Apple Pencil Pro with my iPad, and if Apple wants the Duo’s larger display to provide some of that iPad experience, I would have liked to see full Pencil Pro support as well.
There could be a sensible reason for that decision.
Apple Pencil Pro charges magnetically from a compatible iPad. If someone bought an iPhone Duo without already owning an iPad, how would they charge the Pencil Pro?
The USB-C Apple Pencil doesn’t have that problem because it can simply be charged independently over USB-C.
That’s only my theory — Apple hasn’t said that’s the reason — but it would make sense.
I still would have liked my existing Pencil Pro to work, though.
Apple Is Actually Making Use of the Folding Design
Some of the smaller features Apple showed were also interesting.
If you’re taking someone’s photo, they can see themselves on the outer display.
You can use the main cameras for selfies while previewing yourself on the opposite screen.
And because the phone folds, you can prop it up for video without needing a separate tripod.
None of those features individually justify spending £1,999.
But they show that Apple has thought about what having two displays actually allows you to do.
That matters.
The Duo can’t simply be an iPhone that folds.
It needs to be better at certain things because it folds.
Touch ID Is Back
Another unusual decision is the return of Touch ID.
Rather than Face ID, the iPhone Duo has Touch ID built into the side button.
After years of Face ID being standard on flagship iPhones, using a fingerprint sensor on an entirely new £1,999 iPhone is going to feel unusual.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worse.
I’m actually quite interested to see what it feels like using Touch ID on an iPhone again.
But it’s another example of Apple having to rethink some of the things we now associate with a normal iPhone in order to make this form factor work.
£1,999 Is Expensive — But I Expected Worse
The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the US and £1,999 in the UK with 256GB of storage.
That is obviously a huge amount of money for a phone.
But strangely, I expected Apple’s first foldable to cost even more.
This is a completely new category of iPhone with two displays, a precision hinge, titanium construction and the same A20 Pro chip used in the iPhone 18 Pro models.
I expected Apple to really push the price.
They have.
Just perhaps not quite as far as I thought they would.
The real question isn’t whether £1,999 is expensive.
It obviously is.
The question is whether combining an iPhone with some of the functionality I normally associate with an iPad could ever make that price feel justified.
That’s something we won’t know from a keynote.
Why the iPhone Duo Actually Excites Me
The more I’ve thought about the Duo, the more I’ve realised there’s another reason I’m interested in it.
It’s genuinely new.
For years we’ve talked about iPhones getting better cameras, faster processors, brighter displays and improved battery life.
Those improvements matter.
But fundamentally, the basic idea of an iPhone hasn’t changed that much.
The Duo does change it.
Apple is asking people to use an iPhone differently.
Maybe this first generation will be brilliant. Maybe it’ll be flawed. Maybe the £1,999 price will make it impossible to justify for most people.
But I like seeing Apple trying something genuinely different with the iPhone.
Would I Buy the iPhone Duo?
Right now?
I don’t know.
And that’s exactly why I want to try one.
I want to know whether its width becomes annoying when I’m using it as a normal phone.
I want to see how noticeable the crease is.
I want to experience Touch ID on an iPhone again.
And I want to know whether opening the Duo becomes something I naturally do throughout the day, or whether the novelty wears off and I simply keep using the outer display.
Most importantly, I want to know whether that 7.6-inch screen genuinely changes what I can do with my phone.
Because if I still reach for my iPad every time I want a larger screen, I’m not sure the Duo makes sense for me.
But if I don’t?
Then Apple may have created something much more interesting than an iPhone that folds.
It might have changed what I expect an iPhone to be.
You can watch my full iPhone Duo first impressions here:
What do you think about the iPhone Duo? Would you spend £1,999 on one, and could you see it replacing some of the things you currently use an iPad for?