Apple's iPhone Duo Is an Ambitious First Foldable, but Hard to Love at $2,000

Apple has finally entered the foldable market, and it has not copied the design that most rivals have settled on. Instead of a single panel that folds in half, the iPhone Duo gives its owner two screens, each built around a different way of using the phone. The idea is that one device can serve two moods, one compact and pocketable and the other more expansive. On paper, it is an interesting pitch. In practice, our reviewer came away with mixed feelings.

The review's tone is respectful rather than dismissive. Apple tends to take its time with new categories, and the Duo carries that hallmark of a company trying to get the basics right on a first attempt. The reviewer gives credit for the ambition and for the effort to make two displays feel like one product. But the verdict stops short of enthusiasm, and the reasoning behind it suggests the dual-screen concept asks more of the buyer than it gives back.

Price is the other big question. At around $2,000, the Duo sits at the top of the market, where shoppers have plenty of established foldables to choose from, many of them from companies with several generations of experience. Anyone considering the Duo will need to decide whether the second screen earns its place in their daily routine, and the review leaves that decision with the reader.

For now, the Duo reads as a credible opening move and a clear sign that Apple is serious about foldables. It is not, by the reviewer's account, a device that wins people over on first contact. Shoppers who want a foldable at the lower end of the price range, or who would rather wait for a second generation, have reasonable grounds to do exactly that.