iPhone Duo hands-on review: Is Apple’s new device worth the hype?

The iPhone Duo is the most hyped and anticipated iPhone since the original.

Heading into its 20th year, it’s the first major change to iPhone since the company introduced the large-screen iPhone 6 Plus, or perhaps the iPhone X, which moved to a full-screen design. So, is the iPhone Duo worth the $3499 starting price?

Priced from $3499 to $5899, this is the most expensive smartphone we’ve ever used. The iPhone Duo is also quite possibly the best device we’ve seen all year.

Heading into its 20th year, it’s the first major change to iPhone since the company introduced the large-screen iPhone 6 Plus, or perhaps the iPhone X, which moved to a full-screen design.

So, is the iPhone Duo worth the $3499 starting price?

I’ve used the iPhone Duo as my daily device for the last week, and one thing is for sure: the engineering behind this device is top-notch because there’s nothing about this that feels “first generation”.

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Samsung has been building foldable phones for seven years, and reflecting on those designs and the hinge mechanism that allows the fold to occur, there’s little doubt the early years were learning years. Today, though, Samsung offers three different foldable form factors to Apple’s one.

For the iPhone Duo Apple chose a smaller “passport-shaped” phone. The larger 7.6-inch screen on the inside of the device is in fact the exact same aspect ratio as the 5.4-inch screen on the outside, and that’s not by sheer luck.

Apple wanted things that can be shown on the outer screen and apps that display there to be just as easy for a user or developer to display on the inner screen.

The 1:√2 aspect ratio is exactly the same as our standard paper sizes, and just like when an A4 sheet of paper is folded in half, you get A5 and could print the exact same thing just smaller, the same is true of the iPhone Duo.

Mechanically, the hinge on the iPhone Duo could easily be described as “stiff”. This means it doesn’t just flip open randomly, but it does require perhaps more force than you’d expect to open it.

Fascinatingly, many people I witnessed struggled at first to close the device. I needed to assure them that you can just push your finger on the middle of the frame or even the screen – then it snaps shut with ease. All of that is intentional; it makes it feel strong and sturdy. It also allows the Duo to sit partially open at almost any angle you need.

Critically, that can be a huge advantage to app developers. Netflix, for example, is perhaps one of the top three examples of adapting an app to iPhone Duo. Sit the device flat with the “front screen” on the table and the other side pointing up at any angle to suit your viewing, and Netflix plays in that upper open half of the screen. But what really matters is that the app shows the controls for play or skip and other buttons on the bottom flat screen.

If all the biggest apps in the world put this much attention to detail into design, then the iPhone Duo could revolutionise the smartphone game.

However, if they don’t, we’re left with a poor experience.

There are three types of apps you’ll encounter once you’ve set up your iPhone Duo. Immaculate apps built as if for iPhone Duo and nothing else. You can see these right away because their tabs or menu items appear on the right-hand side of the screen under the new battery/Wi-Fi/mobile status indicator.

Apps that were built more recently but not with Duo interaction in mind might show as full screen but without that navigation style, and without the “list on one side, view on the other” style “inbox” look we’re familiar with on larger PC or tablet apps.

Then there’s the rest, and sadly, it’s the majority right now: apps built for a traditional candy-bar smartphone and nothing else. These are a horrible experience on iPhone Duo. On the inner screen, you can double their size to stretch them to cover more of the screen, but you can’t just make them work on the full width of the inner screen, landscape or portrait.

It’s like the first time you installed an iPhone app like Instagram on your iPad – it looked ridiculous then, and still does now.

It’s not enough to make me dislike this device – I love it – but it’s a poor experience. Fortunately, apps are being approved with updates every single day, so perhaps all this will be moot by the time the bulk of buyers get their iPhone Duo devices in their hands.

Essentially, the Duo is the cart before the app horse.

Speaking of apps, I’ve been fortunate to try a couple of apps made for Duo, and it felt like a time machine going back to the launch of the first iPhone and the original App Store. Remember the Zippo lighter?

Or perhaps the virtual beer glass that used the sensors in the phone to show a level beer as you “drank” from the phone. Well, I present to you Deck-Man and Toastie. They are both silly and fun, and serve no true purpose but to show off the Duo’s two form factors.

Toastie is a game which asks you to make toasted cheese sandwiches to order. When done, the sandwich goes on the grill and you close the lid of the “sandwich press”. Don’t close it for too long, or you’ll burn it. Peek in on your cooking toastie by popping open the iPhone Duo. So silly – I’m addicted.

Deck-Man is an old-school Walkman. Load a cassette from your Apple Music album library and shut the Duo to listen. Play, fast forward and rewind all work as a classic Walkman might.

If you’re taking photos of kids, the “Kid Cue” camera option is a bunch of fun to get them smiling.  What you do is hold the iPhone Duo open and point it at the kids, enable Kid Cue and the outer screen of the iPhone will show cartoon animations of Snoopy being a goose to try and get the kids to smile or giggle.  The other option for the outer display is called “Duo Preview” which allows the person you’re filming or taking a photo of to compose themselves in the frame.

There are a couple of niggly things that might get to you early. Firstly, this device is so wide it won’t fit in a regular cup holder. I don’t know about you, but that’s where my phone lives!

And then there’s the return of Touch ID. I longed for Touch ID on the iPhone, only now to realise Face ID is a million times better. You accidentally touch the sensor so much that you’re asked for your device PIN regularly to authenticate yourself. And the action of hitting the Touch ID sensor is just unfamiliar in this form factor.

I recommend you enable a fingerprint read for the middle finger of your phone-holding hand – it can easily reach to tap when apps need authentication.

Same goes for your index finger: when holding the iPhone Duo open and in portrait orientation, that finger can easily tap to authenticate.

My final issue is the camera. I like my photos to be widescreen, 16:9 aspect ratio. So yes, you can set that. Yes, that introduces “letterbox” black bars top and bottom. No issue for me. But if you’re taking a photo holding the phone open in landscape mode, a 16:9 image is “tall” – like shooting an Instagram Reel. It’s strange, and I don’t know why it doesn’t rotate to show me the picture – big!

Perhaps it’s just me.

Battery life is impressive, certainly an all-day device - better than the iPhone Air but perhaps not quite what you’d get from the iPhone 18 Pro Max.  On a busy day with the phone at 100% at 3am, I was showing 16% still remaining at 9pm that night.  And here’s something Samsung owners won’t tell you - Apple iPhone works with MagSafe - those magnetic charging mounts, something Samsung has yet to pull off on any flagship phone!

Overall, you’re going to love the iPhone Duo. From the moment you set it up, it’s impressive. And that’s something Samsung has lacked a little. Last year’s incredibly thin Galaxy Fold 7 was that, for sure, but Apple’s deep control of both hardware and software has allowed them to do far more than Samsung has with Android.

Just the animation of the app screen or Home Screen when opening the device is remarkable. It just feels like another level of attention to detail.

But we need more apps, more apps to function for the Duo, not just work on the iPhone Duo.

Priced from $3,499 to $5,899, this is the most expensive smartphone we’ve ever used. The iPhone Duo is also quite possibly the best device we’ve seen all year.

Heading into its 20th year, it’s the first major change to iPhone since the company introduced the large-screen iPhone 6 Plus, or perhaps the iPhone X, which moved to a full-screen design.

So, is the iPhone Duo worth the $3499 starting price?

I’ve used the iPhone Duo as my daily device for the last week, and one thing is for sure: the engineering behind this device is top-notch because there’s nothing about this that feels “first generation”.

Samsung has been building foldable phones for seven years, and reflecting on those designs and the hinge mechanism that allows the fold to occur, there’s little doubt the early years were learning years. Today, though, Samsung offers three different foldable form factors to Apple’s one.

For the iPhone Duo Apple chose a smaller “passport-shaped” phone. The larger 7.6-inch screen on the inside of the device is in fact the exact same aspect ratio as the 5.4-inch screen on the outside, and that’s not by sheer luck.

Apple wanted things that can be shown on the outer screen and apps that display there to be just as easy for a user or developer to display on the inner screen.

The 1:√2 aspect ratio is exactly the same as our standard paper sizes, and just like when an A4 sheet of paper is folded in half, you get A5 and could print the exact same thing just smaller, the same is true of the iPhone Duo.

Mechanically, the hinge on the iPhone Duo could easily be described as “stiff”. This means it doesn’t just flip open randomly, but it does require perhaps more force than you’d expect to open it.

Fascinatingly, many people I witnessed struggled at first to close the device. I needed to assure them that you can just push your finger on the middle of the frame or even the screen – then it snaps shut with ease. All of that is intentional; it makes it feel strong and sturdy. It also allows the Duo to sit partially open at almost any angle you need.

Critically, that can be a huge advantage to app developers. Netflix, for example, is perhaps one of the top three examples of adapting an app to iPhone Duo. Sit the device flat with the “front screen” on the table and the other side pointing up at any angle to suit your viewing, and Netflix plays in that upper open half of the screen. But what really matters is that the app shows the controls for play or skip and other buttons on the bottom flat screen.

If all the biggest apps in the world put this much attention to detail into design, then the iPhone Duo could revolutionise the smartphone game.

However, if they don’t, we’re left with a poor experience.

There are three types of apps you’ll encounter once you’ve set up your iPhone Duo. Immaculate apps built as if for iPhone Duo and nothing else. You can see these right away because their tabs or menu items appear on the right-hand side of the screen under the new battery/Wi-Fi/mobile status indicator.

Apps that were built more recently but not with Duo interaction in mind might show as full screen but without that navigation style, and without the “list on one side, view on the other” style “inbox” look we’re familiar with on larger PC or tablet apps.

Then there’s the rest, and sadly, it’s the majority right now: apps built for a traditional candy-bar smartphone and nothing else. These are a horrible experience on iPhone Duo. On the inner screen, you can double their size to stretch them to cover more of the screen, but you can’t just make them work on the full width of the inner screen, landscape or portrait.

It’s like the first time you installed an iPhone app like Instagram on your iPad – it looked ridiculous then, and still does now.

It’s not enough to make me dislike this device – I love it – but it’s a poor experience. Fortunately, apps are being approved with updates every single day, so perhaps all this will be moot by the time the bulk of buyers get their iPhone Duo devices in their hands.

Essentially, the Duo is the cart before the app horse.

Speaking of apps, I’ve been fortunate to try a couple of apps made for Duo, and it felt like a time machine going back to the launch of the first iPhone and the original App Store. Remember the Zippo lighter?

Or perhaps the virtual beer glass that used the sensors in the phone to show a level beer as you “drank” from the phone. Well, I present to you Deck-Man and Toastie. They are both silly and fun, and serve no true purpose but to show off the Duo’s two form factors.

Toastie is a game which asks you to make toasted cheese sandwiches to order. When done, the sandwich goes on the grill and you close the lid of the “sandwich press”. Don’t close it for too long, or you’ll burn it. Peek in on your cooking toastie by popping open the iPhone Duo. So silly – I’m addicted.

Deck-Man is an old-school Walkman. Load a cassette from your Apple Music album library and shut the Duo to listen. Play, fast forward and rewind all work as a classic Walkman might.

If you’re taking photos of kids, the “Kid Cue” camera option is a bunch of fun to get them smiling.  What you do is hold the iPhone Duo open and point it at the kids, enable Kid Cue and the outer screen of the iPhone will show cartoon animations of Snoopy being a goose to try and get the kids to smile or giggle.  The other option for the outer display is called “Duo Preview” which allows the person you’re filming or taking a photo of to compose themselves in the frame.

There are a couple of niggly things that might get to you early. Firstly, this device is so wide it won’t fit in a regular cup holder. I don’t know about you, but that’s where my phone lives!

And then there’s the return of Touch ID. I longed for Touch ID on the iPhone, only now to realise Face ID is a million times better. You accidentally touch the sensor so much that you’re asked for your device PIN regularly to authenticate yourself. And the action of hitting the Touch ID sensor is just unfamiliar in this form factor.

I recommend you enable a fingerprint read for the middle finger of your phone-holding hand – it can easily reach to tap when apps need authentication.

Same goes for your index finger: when holding the iPhone Duo open and in portrait orientation, that finger can easily tap to authenticate.

My final issue is the camera. I like my photos to be widescreen, 16:9 aspect ratio. So yes, you can set that. Yes, that introduces “letterbox” black bars top and bottom. No issue for me. But if you’re taking a photo holding the phone open in landscape mode, a 16:9 image is “tall” – like shooting an Instagram Reel. It’s strange, and I don’t know why it doesn’t rotate to show me the picture – big!

Perhaps it’s just me.

Battery life is impressive, certainly an all-day device - better than the iPhone Air but perhaps not quite what you’d get from the iPhone 18 Pro Max.  On a busy day with the phone at 100% at 3am, I was showing 16% still remaining at 9pm that night.  And here’s something Samsung owners won’t tell you - Apple iPhone works with MagSafe - those magnetic charging mounts, something Samsung has yet to pull off on any flagship phone!

Overall, you’re going to love the iPhone Duo. From the moment you set it up, it’s impressive. And that’s something Samsung has lacked a little. Last year’s incredibly thin Galaxy Fold 7 was that, for sure, but Apple’s deep control of both hardware and software has allowed them to do far more than Samsung has with Android.

Just the animation of the app screen or Home Screen when opening the device is remarkable. It just feels like another level of attention to detail.

But we need more apps, more apps to function for the Duo, not just work on the iPhone Duo.

Priced from $3,499 to $5,899, this is the most expensive smartphone we’ve ever used. The iPhone Duo is also quite possibly the best device we’ve seen all year.