This is what the iPhone Duo feels like
My first impression of Apple's foldable smartphone is mixed. The mechanics feel excellent, but the matte display starts to annoy me after just a few hours.
So here it is, the most expensive mainstream smartphone of all time: The iPhone Duo costs at least 1999 Swiss francs or 2299 euros. That's quite a lot of money. Is it worth it in everyday life? For most people, probably not. But I will be testing it extensively over the next few weeks. In this article, I'll start with my first impressions of the hardware.
I am particularly interested in the hinge and the display. Apple intends to use these, among other things, to set itself apart from other foldables. The iPhone Duo is supposed to be more robust and feel particularly satisfying thanks to the variable resistance of the hinge. Furthermore, the manufacturer promises a flat display with an invisible crease, even when unfolded.
Hinge: pure engineering
According to Apple, the hinge consists of over 100 individual parts – and they are worth it: the folding experience is magnificent. When I open or close the iPhone Duo, it snaps shut decisively thanks to magnets. In between, the display also holds in any desired tilted position. I find this balancing act impressive.
It also feels robust. Nothing wobbles or creaks. Whether this will remain the case in the long term will only become apparent after months and years. Tech journalist Joanna Stern provides a first positive indication. She folded the iPhone Duo 32,000 times using a robot and found no difference afterward. A measurement showed that the hinge did not loosen, but actually became slightly stiffer.
Two further technical achievements: Firstly, the hinge (and thus the entire iPhone Duo) is water and dust resistant according to IP68. It can therefore withstand immersion in at least one meter of fresh water for at least 30 minutes. Secondly, a flexible graphite tube runs through the hinge, distributing waste heat from the chip and display to both halves of the device. This way, heat is dissipated via the back of the smartphone even when it is closed.
Display: flat, but never clean
The strong hinge also ensures that the inner display is truly flat when opened. The crease is a traditional weak point in foldables. I can see and feel it on the iPhone Duo too if I look for it – but less so than on competing models. It is so subtle that I will hardly notice it in everyday use.
A main reason for this is the matte display surface. I am already familiar with this "nanotexture" from Apple's monitors, laptops, and tablets. It diffuses the reflections that expose every unevenness on the mirrored displays of other foldables. In this way, the Duo skillfully hides its crease.
Whether you like the nanotexture otherwise is a matter of taste. It can be pleasant in bright environments when things are no longer sharply reflected in the display. However, you sacrifice some screen sharpness and a lot of contrast for it, as the matte surface degrades black levels. All in all, I therefore prefer glossy displays.
There is another reason for this besides image quality: cleaning the nanotexture is a nightmare! With monitors, this doesn't play a big role because I don't get them dirty. But I touch a smartphone all the time and leave grease marks. I can simply wipe a glossy display on my T-shirt. The iPhone Duo, not so much. Here, I need a microfiber cloth and preferably a display cleaner. Otherwise, I can't get the grease residues off completely. As someone who likes to keep their displays clean, this drives me crazy after just a few hours.
Aside from the surface, both displays impress me across the board. They are in no way inferior to that of the iPhone 18 Pro and are significantly better than the LED display of the iPad mini (of which an OLED version is also expected soon). With a peak brightness of 3000 nits, they are easy to read even in bright light. The colors are also excellent.
Materials: heavy artillery
The frame of the iPhone Duo is made of titanium. It is intended to make the foldable stable despite its thin profile, as is already the case with the iPhone Air. It works well there, and the Duo also feels robust and torsion-resistant. The matte glass back contributes to this.
The disadvantage of the stability is the high weight of the iPhone Duo. It weighs 254 grams. When unfolded, this is fine, as one is even more accustomed to this from tablets. But when folded, the Duo feels like a small brick. It is 38 grams heavier than the iPhone 18 Pro. That sounds like a small difference, but because the display is smaller at the same time, it feels like a lot.
"Other foldables feel cheap and inferior," says Apple CEO John Ternus in an interview with "Time". Perhaps. But other foldables that contain more plastic are also lighter. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 weighs 201 grams, the Xiaomi 18 Fold 219 grams, and the larger Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold 239 grams. Apple is falling into the same trap here as with the AirPods Max and the Vision Pro: glass and metal are beautiful, but all in all, they are not necessarily better for the user experience.
A detailed review of the iPhone Duo will follow in a few weeks. If you don't want to miss it, you can follow me as an author. We also talk about our first experiences with Apple's foldable in the latest episode of the Angefressen podcast:
My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.
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