“Uh-oh,” said Nicole Nguyen in The Wall Street Journal. “Am I about to spend $1,999 on a phone?” Foldable smartphones have existed in the U.S. since 2019, but like many people, I’ve never been interested. They tend to be fragile and awkward to use and, when folded open to function like a tablet, have an annoying crease bisecting the two screens. But for its debut foldable, the iPhone Duo, which was announced earlier this month, “Apple—in its very Apple way— has also come up with some hardware and software trickery” to minimize those problems. When I watched Netflix on the Duo’s folded-out screen, which is just 0.7 inches smaller than an iPad Mini’s, the center crease “was barely visible.” The Duo has the same battery life and dust and water resistance as the iPhone 18 Pro. “There are trade-offs, for sure”: 2x camera zoom versus 8x for the 18 Pro, and the Duo costs $800 more. But when it goes on sale next month, I just might bite.
“It’s the biggest physical change to the iPhone’s design in nearly two decades,” said Brian X. Chen in The New York Times. Why now? The Duo is “meant to stand out in a sea of standard-issue, if-you’ve-seen-one-you’ve-seen-them-all smartphones.” Most people don’t care to splurge for each new iPhone: The improvements are marginal, and the prices “have skyrocketed.” Thanks to “an industry-wide memory chip shortage driven by the artificial intelligence boom,” new Macs and iPads are “as much as 29%” more expensive than last year. It takes something splashy to justify those prices. And comparing the Duo with other foldables on the market, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, Apple’s is more durable and offers better performance, said Mark Spoonauer in Tom’s Guide. The inner display is “breathtaking,” plus it will support a stylus that magnetically attaches to the side. The downside? It’s a bit “heavier and thicker than I was hoping for.” And it’s not cheap.
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