iPhone Duo Review: First Generation Fun! | Marques Brownlee

The Gist

The iPhone Duo is Apple's first foldable phone, offering a polished software experience and an iPad Mini format in your pocket, despite being thicker, heavier, and missing Face ID.

Quick Overview

Apple has finally entered the folding smartphone market with the iPhone Duo, an expensive device that balances a sleek exterior finish with a thick and heavy core. Reviewing the first-generation foldable reveals impressive opening and closing animations, a durable variable-weight hinge, and seamless app continuity, though it lacks Face ID and high-end pro camera features.

Key Points: The iPhone Duo features a 4,883 mAh combined battery split between two sides that comfortably lasts a full day of mixed use. The outer display is a standard iPhone screen, while the inner 7.6-inch OLED display boasts a 120Hz refresh rate and a nanotexture finish. Hardware additions include titanium side rails, an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, and a unique variable-weight hinge mechanism. The camera setup consists of a 48-megapixel standard sensor and an ultra-wide sensor, omitting optical zoom and professional video formats. Apple priced the iPhone Duo at over two thousand dollars, targeting productivity and entertainment users rather than mobile filmmakers. The software introduces a clever app continuity system and split-screen multitasking that lets users run two apps side by side. Biometric security relies on a power button fingerprint reader instead of Face ID, introducing a slight unlock delay.

Context: Folding phones have dominated the Android market for years, and Apple is finally joining the race with its first-generation device, aiming to prove that its deliberate design approach can refine the foldable form factor.

Detailed Analysis

Marques Brownlee provides a comprehensive look at the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone. The device costs over two thousand dollars and offers a 7.6-inch inner OLED display paired with an outer screen. While the hardware feels polished on the outside, it suffers from a thick and heavy chassis. The camera system lacks professional logging features and optical zoom, but the software successfully adapts iOS elements like the Dynamic Island and split-screen multitasking to the folding form factor. Despite a few bugs and a slower fingerprint reader, it stands as an admirable first attempt at an Apple foldable.