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iPhone Duo
- dmitrygr 27d agoLooking forward to reviews after a few months of use. So far all the foldables I've seen get destroyed quite fast.
- minimaxir 27d agoThe presentation went into extra detail about durability w/ a titanium construction, and the iPhone Air was indeed super durable with it. The hinge at-the-least looks like it could survive the dust test.
- makeitdouble 27d agoIt's a claim in a marketing presentation though. Apple also touts ultra durable screens in their presentation and people still shatter them regularly.
- minimaxir 27d ago"ultra durable" does not mean "indestructible."
- georgeburdell 27d agoApple has most likely stress tested its engineers to stress test this phone
- accrual 27d agoThey went over their multi-layer design to give it strength and flexibility, and noted over 100 components in the hinge alone. I'll be looking out for JerryRigEverything on YouTube to see how tough it really is!
- kllrnohj 27d agoJerryRigEverything won't tell you how easily the hinge gunks up or cruft gets stuck in places it's not supposed to be or how quickly crease marks show up and how bad they are. While Apple certainly looked at the competitors to see what problems they had, it's far from a given that Apple has managed to actually solve the durability issues, either, much less on their first attempt.
- fsuts 26d agoIt’s not their first attempt though? It’s their first public release. Imagine they have 100 previous versions as it’s been mooted to have been in development for years
- cubefox 27d ago> So far all the foldables I've seen get destroyed quite fast. I doubt you did see any from the last few years.
- joenot443 27d agoDid anybody want this?
- ceejayoz 27d agoI'm the sort of person to absentmindedly flex a metal fork enough times it snaps, so it's definitely not for me.
- jawngee 27d agoI do.
- zitterbewegung 27d agoYes, with a much bigger screen I can definitely see this making me more productive and it is in between an iPad that getting through even minimal productivity tasks would work and bigger screens help a lot. Even though $1999 only gives you 256GB at least you get that low of a price point. Would have to see it in person though especially about the crease and the camera(s). (EDIT) I have a Clicks power keyboard which I can use with this. Seems like I should clarify that I can use this where a regular laptop can't be used. And since more people are interested in what I can use email, calendar and codex / Claude code (in fact Claude codr is why I have the clicks power keyboard)
- sajithdilshan 27d agoLike what exact productivity tasks do you do on a phone for 2k USD that you cannot do as an example on a MacBook neo?
- zitterbewegung 27d agoYou can do a productivity task where you can't just have a MacBook Neo out.
- sajithdilshan 27d agoLike what? Do you do your office or schools work in your phones?
- yuhmahp 27d agoLooks like an Android. Couldn't frame it like the iconic notch / dynamic island. Not immediately recognizable. Arrived too late.
- mortsnort 27d agoI guess we'll find out of there's much of a market for $2k phones. For the price one could get a regular iPhone and a decent iPad.
- dionian 27d agoid rather buy both in a single device that i can carry in my pocket.
- rplnt 27d agoAnd have worse of both.
- windward 26d agoSmartphones are worse computing devices than laptops or desktops. Smartphones are also the most widely-used computing devices in the world, even by people sat at home with a better computing device on the other side of the room. History suggests worse just doesn't matter in the face of convenience.
- samgranieri 27d agoI'll pass on this. Less moving parts appeals to me. I'm sure the HW and SW engineers at Apple did a great job, but, i like the current form factor.
- yunwal 27d agoAnyone understand how cases will work for this?
- DamnInteresting 27d agoA stand-alone e-ink e-book reader in this form factor would be amazing.
- sajithdilshan 27d ago2300Euros in Germany. That’s a hard pass.
- sleight42 26d agoA $2000 phone. Read the room, Apple. Fuck off.
- retired 27d agoNo SIM slot. So I have to carry a mobile hotspot if I want to browse the internet outside my home. It’s like Apple forgets there is a world outside the US where eSIM is not a thing.
- selectodude 27d agoNo, they just don’t care. The TAM in countries that don’t support eSIM for $2500+ phones is probably a rounding error.
- thenthenthen 26d agolooks at China
- avidruntime 27d agoApple has been doing eSIM for something like 4 years now.
- retired 27d agoOn the international market iPhones have had SIM slots.
- avidruntime 27d agoAh. about 30 seconds ago they mentioned in the (still ongoing) keynote they said it was removed to recoup space for internals. I recall the 3.5mm jack removal being motivated along similar lines. I wonder, assuming the space where the SIM slot would've gone was filled with increased battery size, what that delta would in duration. I'm from the US, cursory reading about global eSIM adoption surprised me (only 30% and most of that 30% is in the US vs. my assumption of >50%). What prevents adoption elsewhere? Consumer demand for swapping? Curious to hear your POV on it.
- AlexandrB 27d agoeSIMs give a lot of control back to the carrier. My carrier does not allow transferring eSIMs between phones, but I can trivially move their physical SIM card.
- drunkonvinyl 27d agolooks nice, but if i still can't use terminal or closer to native cli, the pixel fold 10 with termux is still the right device for on-the-go development. termius is ok, but with termux i can run emacs on the pixel.
- nunez 27d ago- It works with the pencil! This is a big big deal. I can do whiteboarding with customers quickly without having to break out a separate device, for example. Definitely unfortunate for the reMarkable Move and devices like that. - They actually might have nailed the hinge and crease problems. - I've been excited for this release ever since the rumor of the iPhone Air being a prototype of sorts for this came out. Two iPhone Airs fit very comfortably in my hip pack (though I only ever have one at a time).
- nozzlegear 27d agoThe fact that it works with the pencil is a huge selling point for me. I wasn't really interested in a folding iPhone, but having something I can write on without also needing to carry an extra device or pocket notebook is really cool.
- WillAdams 26d agoYeah, I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+, Book 3 Pro 360, and a Kindle Scribe Colorsoft as well as a Wacom One attached to a MacBook and more styluses scattered around my house and bags than I could easily count, but this makes me at least a little curious about switching away from Wacom EMR.
- thenthenthen 25d agoThats actually cool. Wonder how the screen will hold up to the pencil tip
- tstrimple 25d agoMy interest in a folding iPhone depends on the form-factor of the most compact aspect ratio. Apple seems really reluctant to show the folded phone versus other models. I can see the appeal of the tranformation into a larger form factor, but I already have issues with the size of Apple phones. And I have big hands. My hands cramp on small handhelds like the Switch. But I'd also like to be able to single hand respond to things on my phone if it's possible.
- MrDunham 26d ago
- ronsor 27d agoI still don't get the fanfare over folding phones. They tend to be more fragile, and if I really need a larger screen, I'd much rather use a laptop or tablet.
- mostlysimilar 27d agoFor many people the phone is the only computing device they use. Keeping portability and offering a larger display is a compelling offering for those people. I tend to agree with you.
- bigfishrunning 27d ago> For many people the phone is the only computing device they use. I suspect the crossover area of the Venn diagram between people who spend what a foldable costs on a phone and people who have no other computing device is extremely small.
- mostlysimilar 27d agoWhy so? For most people a computer (in the traditional keyboard/mouse sense) isn't a leisure device, a phone is. They scroll social media feeds and watch YouTube or whatever. I'm sure most of us on HN use them for leisure, but for most people a computer is a device for work, not for play.
- nunez 27d agoI no longer need an iPad Mini in my bag with this thing...
- fishtoaster 27d agoI quite like the idea of a tablet I can keep in my pocket. If there was some sort of first-party attachable keyboard (a la the iPad magic keyboard), I'd be strongly considering getting this. In the age of AI and increasingly-mature cloud agents, I can get a lot of my work done from a setup like that.
- httpz 27d ago
- yesfitz 27d agoiPhone Duo is more like iPad Pocket. Touch ID + Apple Pencil Support coming later this year. It looks physically uncomfortable to hold. I was really hoping they were going to slap an Apple Watch screen on the back of an iPhone Air and fold that in half. I'll be waiting for an iPhone Duo Mini, I guess.
- downloadram 26d agoi'll be waiting right alongside. when i fold the phone i want it to be very small and preferably thin as possible. when i have the phone to my ear during a call i want it to be light as possible too. this is what lead me to get an early rehash of the razr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Razr_(2020) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Razr_(2020) but even that phone requires hand repositioning to reach the top of the screen when open. the 'chin' part allows it to be thinner but alas i wish it were thinner still, especially folded in a pocket. 6 years of use and i dont want a bigger phone, i want a smaller foldable but the product lines are doing the opposite! i hope apple give a duo mini a serious try. apple, the market segment might be smaller but like a restaurant that includes special dietary needs for one person, that brings the whole family along for dinner!
- haunter 27d agoThe new iPhone Duo in single screen mode is the same size (5.4") as the iPhone 13 mini but with a different aspect ratio https://photos.reportinglive.com/p/2026-09-09/f-bf86c6f5adb3411c82839319e493ceb7f03c3b4a.jpg https://photos.reportinglive.com/p/2026-09-09/f-bf86c6f5adb3...
- mrheosuper 27d agoIt's uglier than the z fold 8 imo. Idk why manufactures even bother with the corner curve. It look imbalance.
- AlexandrB 27d agoA smaller closed size than current phones would be the main appeal for me. Phone bloat has gotten out of hand.
- Cider9986 27d agoThat's why I'm interested in the Motorola flipping phones which seem to be really small folded up and will support GrapheneOS.
- snailmailman 27d agoInteresting that there seems to be no FaceID? They only mentioned TouchID. I assume it’s a limitation of the under-screen camera. They’ve been doing Touch ID instead of faceID with some of their products a few times, I think some of the iPad models? but unfortunately touchID has like a 20% success rate with my fingers. FaceID works 100% of the time for me. I’ve never had good luck with any fingerprint scanners. I hope they can someday solve the issues with FaceID under the screen. I wasn’t going to buy this product anyway. My current phone works and I have zero reason to upgrade. But if I was in the market, no facial recognition is honestly a dealbreaker.
- rootusrootus 27d agoThey need to just do both, honestly, whenever possible. Both methods have legions of fans and detractors.
- nozzlegear 27d agoI might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they mentioned both Face ID and Touch ID in the stream. They wanted to add Touch ID because of the various angles people might use the phones with. Also mentioned that it'll unlock with your Apple Watch, like the Mac does right now.
- wpm 27d agoHard agree but only because I think TouchID on the sleep/wake button sucks. The home button-less design and gestures introduced on the iPhone X were obviously designed in tandem and only work with FaceID. I have Touch ID disabled on all of my devices that have it because it's so damn annoying now.
- m3kw9 27d agoprob tech and UX issue. FaceID can't do side ways, and people opens side ways half the time. Maybe there are also functions unlockable wihtout clamshell opening. can't put 5 faceID on each side and facing every which way.
- snailmailman 27d ago
- ggcr 27d agoSeems like a big engineering feat by Apple, but for real, who asked for this? Edit: Is there that many demand for a foldable iPhone that justifies Apple making such engineering investment?
- nunez 27d agoEverybody since the Galaxy Fold?
- kenjackson 27d agoEveryone in my family wants one... assuming it works well. We spend a lot of time on our phones, and a lot watching video. This seems like the ideal device for that.
- mingus88 27d agoI have no doubts this device will be in demand and sell a ton of units But what are we even doing? $2000 for a device to watch videos on, to replace the $1200 device you watched videos on last year. I guess I’m lamenting the fact that none of this amazing technology is actually doing much for us any more. It wasn’t that long ago that every year we would get new devices that actually changed how we did our day-to-day
- speak_plainly 27d agoI think you're right. We're at the point where Apple is sort of out of steam in terms of hardware and software and their products are mature and the company has become more risk averse. They need gimmicks to get people to upgrade and I'm sure we will see more attempts like this in the future. These sorts of devices have limited use cases, like people who are on the road a lot for work or leisure, and of course this appeals to tech enthusiasts or the vanity tech crowd. It'll be a nice device for some, but I think we're at the stage where device upgrades are no longer going to be a yearly or even biennial thing with all things considered.
- swyx 27d agomeet more people man
- low_tech_punk 27d agoThis made history because Apple never copied Microsoft before. https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/ https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/
- rootusrootus 27d agoThey made a better version of a Microsoft product, this seems like par for the course.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- avidruntime 27d agoAlways loved the Surface Duo. I really liked the separation of the screens too; felt like dual monitors vs. ultrawide. It also forced the technology to focus the valueprop on multitasking versus more immersive/more bigger/more better. I'm curious about the iPhonr Duo; I have not been a huge fan of iPadOS or iOS, the former making me often wish for a macOS experience and the later having felt slower and less responsive over time (mostly due to animation speeds/aesthetic choices rather than a hardware defect).
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- kemotep 27d agoThe real trick is waiting to see if they make a iPhone Duo 3 or 4. Knowing they are committed to the form factor and it’s not another Mini would be nice to know. Also time to work out the hardware and software issues. Not trying to spend serious money on beta testing like a Vision Pro.
- mrheosuper 27d agoI think it will be like Apple Vision, a device that is more for developers than end user. $2000 for an iphone, just insane.
- selectodude 27d agoI will gladly bet you an iPhone Duo that they’ll be unobtanium deep into 2027 and that they’ll sell millions of them on day 0.
- akmarinov 27d agoYeah this will singlehandedly triple the percentage of foldables out there
- gonzalohm 26d agoYou can lease it. We don't own the software on our phones, may as well not own the phone itself
- ukd1 27d ago$1999
- nomel 27d agoFor comparison, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold is ~$1700. It's good to see Apple is taking the fold transition seriously. I have a Z Fold, and Samsung elegantly handles the app transition from fold to unfold by force closing and restarting the app for you, even if you fold it just a little. :D
- arkon_hn 26d agoThat only happens with a few bad apps that don't handle configuration changes properly for me on my Fold?
- 12345hn6789 24d agoThis was not my experience at all on the fold. Only a very few small selection of apps did this. All were video game related, which made sense. Changing the resolution forced a restart.
- lvl256 27d ago$1999 is ridiculous. Edit: Wow, I didn’t know Samsung foldable was priced similarly. It’s a lot of money to pay for something inherently fragile.
- jjice 27d agoWhile I won't pay it, it seems pretty comparable to other flagship foldable from Google and Samsung.
- raphinou 27d agoDoesn't make it less ridiculous, and that price for the other brands isn't less ridiculous either.
- chrocni380 27d ago> $1999 is ridiculous. Plenty of people on HN earn that much money in a single day after tax.
- alistairSH 27d agoIt's also more than the cost of an iPhone Pro + a MacBook Neo (or several other combinations). I'm just not seeing the value proposition for a $2000 phone. I already can't comfortably hold or type single-handed on the normal-sized Pro.
- wpm 27d agoThe correct price comparison is between an iPhone Pro and an iPad Mini, in the US that would be $1199 + $599. So for an extra $200 you don't have to carry and charge 2 devices. Not a terrible pitch.
- alistairSH 27d agoSure, I guess, but I don't have a Mini, or any tablet for that matter. I used to and found the form factor didn't meet my needs. I'm happier with a phone and a laptop.
- jedberg 27d agoMy wife's first question: Will this fit in a woman's hand?
- twalichiewicz 27d agoIt was clever that they used the reference point of a passport. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone complain about passports being unwieldy.
- wpm 27d agoJust like the iPod's "deck of cards".
- jedberg 27d agoPeople don't try to type on their passport though.
- accrual 27d agoThey briefly showed the Duo opened partway like a laptop, and even had a keyboard displayed on the lower portion. Maybe it would be kind of like a smaller GPD Mini but with touchscreen instead of physical keys.
- twalichiewicz 27d agoTrue, but passports are one of the few readable objects I can think of that regularly get used in both vertical and horizontal orientations.
- Insanity 27d agoYou hold your passport a few times a year, for maybe a few minutes. Probably less than 1 hour total per year. Many people will 5x that usage-time in just a day.
- twalichiewicz 27d ago[dead]
- minimaxir 27d agoI'll give John Ternus credit: the demos are interesting and fun. Maybe not $2k fun + inherent risk with buying the first generation of an Apple product particularly after the Apple Vision Pro, but still.
- behnamoh 27d agoThey're still as cringe as they've been for years; with fake hand movements and marketing-pilled bs postures.
- basisword 27d agoI wish these posts came with a demo video of you doing it better.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- nozzlegear 27d ago> with fake hand movements I don't get this complaint. People talk with their hands, it'd look more fake if they just stood there all stiff and wooden.
- slantedview 26d agoHand movements are fine, but the comment is right that these come off as incredibly fake.
- 72deluxe 26d agoEmphatic gestures are one thing and descriptive gestures are another. But gesturing for the sake of gesturing is the irritating part. You see it a lot on YouTube videos where people are talking to the camera and they're waving their hands around all over the place and pointing for no discernible reason. It doesn't change the information they're presenting, nor does it add to it. In fact, it just distracts you with someone waving their hands around. So the same applies to presentations from a company. If you watched two people talking in a park, you wouldn't see this many gestures.
- kaikayy 27d agoSo excited to see if the "apple adoption delay" holds true here. Like more durability and actual long term software support.
- floturcocantsee 27d agoThey were very evasive on what the inner screen was made of. I'm going to assume its the same plastic all the other folding phones are made of.
- mrexroad 27d agoEvasive? They literally discussed the layers of materials, with the outer being a polymer.
- adamwk 27d agoThey went in pretty extensive detail for the internal parts of the folding screen?
- layer8 27d agoModern foldables use ultra-thin glass (UTG). There’s a factory-installed screen protector layer on top which can make it feel plasticy.
- LoganDark 27d agoDoesn't removing the "screen protector" destroy the pixels? Or was that just some early Samsungs? (that made an important built-in layer look like a screen protector)
- layer8 27d agoYea, it’s not supposed to be removed.
- LoganDark 27d agoI was hopeful that the Apple foldable would use glass as the top layer so it doesn't get scratched. Plastic does not inspire confidence; no coating can actually protect it from damage because it can still simply get plastically squished.
- fckgw 27d ago
- behnamoh 27d agoSteve Jobs would roll in his grave due to lack of symmetry in this.
- jedberg 27d agoActually I think he would appreciate the beauty in using 1:1.4, the same as metric paper, to maintain the ratio.
- billti 27d agoYeah. It's more Jony Ive who will be rolling in his Bentley.
- t1234s 27d agoHaving watched the original iPhone event live, bringing the pencil to the iphone would make him roll over in his grave.
- juiceland 27d agoThe original admonition was against requiring a stylus, not enabling one.
- ndarray 27d agoWould probably push the engineers to deliver three-way foldables like the Huawei Mate XT from two years ago. The two-way folding phones are wasting a screen and will go down in history as an abomination. The weird 1:1.4 width:height ratio wouldn't be necessary if you could 3x the screen size instead of only 2x. At 3x, the ratio could be 1:1.73 folded, giving you 3:1.73 unfolded (which equals 1.73:1). 1.73 is much closer to 16:9 (1.77) than 1.4 is.
- thepasswordis 27d agoI'm interested to see what cases for this will look like.
- WaltPurvis 26d agohttps://www.apple.com/shop/product/mkr94zm/a/iphone-duo-case-sand https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mkr94zm/a/iphone-duo-case... https://www.spigen.com/collections/iphone-duo-cases https://www.spigen.com/collections/iphone-duo-cases
- jedberg 27d agoOne thing I love about metric paper is the beauty of the simplicity: When you fold it, it maintains its ratio. This is because it is 1:1.41, aka 1:sqrt(2) When I saw that this new phone is 1:1.4, I instantly appreciated why it is that way. Metric paper wins again!
- jascha_eng 27d agoBut it makes it really weird to type one handed I think.
- fragmede 27d agoApple's submarine introduction of A* papersizes to the US.
- jedberg 27d agoOh man if this is what got the US to adopt metric paper I would be so happy.
- cyberpunk 26d ago… wait you don’t use A* paper sizes? wtf do you use then?
- jedberg 26d agoLetter, Legal, Tabloid, and Ledger: https://papersizes.io/us https://papersizes.io/us It's bizarre and makes no logical sense.
- cyberpunk 26d agoI always thought when people mentioned a “legal pad” in us tv shows they were referring to the colour which always for some inexplicable reason seemed to be… yellow or blue… now i know…
- accrual 27d ago
- t1234s 27d agoI was thinking it would be priced cheaper than an 18 pro and an ipad mini
- baalimago 27d agoI suspect I would get greater value by simply duct-taping two iPhones together into a fold.
- canucker2016 27d agoThe two batteries inside the Duo will allow longer usage. from the Duo page: - Up to 31 hours video playback when using the inner display - Up to 44 hours video playback when using the outer display
- asdff 27d agoYou can run one iphone at a time and lap the duo. 64gb iphone SE is going for $140 at best buy right now. I could tape up 10 of them into a jacobs ladder then I'd have 640gb of storage and maybe 10x the battery life of the duo, and money to spare for future expansion iphones.
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- zamadatix 26d agoYou could tape 10 Ford Fiestas together but it doesn't mean it laps a Mustang it means you were fine with what the Fiesta could do which, honestly, most people probably (very reasonably) are.
- asdff 26d agoIf apple wasn't so scared of letting people get out of the walled garden, I'd be able to do the equivalent of taking those 10 ford fiesta engines and rigging them into a single 40 cylinder monster.
- zamadatix 26d agoI was a bit disappointed in these numbers because, despite having two batteries and the outer display being smaller, the Duo still has 1 less hour of video playback on the outer display than the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
- skunkworker 27d agoI'll be curious to see how the hinge holds up against wear, tear and small particle intrusion over time. If people get to 2 years and it's still going great. Then I may pick up a Duo 3. But my adoption really comes down to the problems around the hinge.
- hingler36 26d agoThis is what it comes down to for me as well. If Apple has somehow magically solved the reliability issues this will be fantastic, if they are just fad chasing it'll be DOA
- retired 27d agoNo SIM slot. Seems like Apple is only thinking of the US market. Will not be getting the Duo as I will not be able to browse the web outside my home. Edit: Rate limited so can't reply to the comments. I live in Spain, can't switch to eSIM. I know that the US has 100% integration of eSIM across all providers but outside the US it's not that great. I use eSIM and SIM a lot, have lots of cards and subscriptions. For my main subscription I can't switch to eSIM (yet).
- ladberg 27d agoWhere do you live that eSIM isn't an option?
- riffraff 27d agoDon't your country telcos have esims? Even mainstream operators in my country have those these days, so you can sign up online without getting to a shop.
- owldown 27d agoWhy do you think eSIM is a US only thing? Common in Western Europe and Japan and South Korea and Mexico and Canada and Australia and Thailand as well. China and India are the big outliers, but that can change.
- corvad 27d agoSurprised it was not named iPhone 18 Duo.
- SkeuomorphicBee 27d agoNaming it like that would subjectively tie them to the release schedule of the main Iphone line, while I imagine such a niche device will have a much slower schedule between new versions. If that is the case, they would want to continue selling this device alongside the Iphone 19 (and maybe 20, or even 21) without the name implying it is an old model.
- nish__ 27d agoBeen using a galaxy fold for years now. This is the future.
- cubefox 27d agoWhat's your take on the aspect ratio question?
- m3kw9 27d agoApp developers gonna have extra work
- didip 27d agoIt looks very useful with all the software integrations. Now the price tag however... Without financing it would be hard for majority of buyers to justify.
- basisword 27d agoDoesn’t almost everyone finance their phone anyway? You pay a carrier x a month and get a phone and service for a few years. Maybe they’ll push the plan out from 2 years standard to 3 so it’s just as affordable for people?
- charamis 27d agoI’d like a comeback of the live events at some point. Especially now that there is a new CEO.
- cubefox 27d agoThey are addicted to teleprompters. Steve Jobs didn't use them.
- thesuitonym 27d agoWe keep putting more powerful chips into phones, and giving them bigger screens, but we never turn them into useful computers. Why is this?
- GuinansEyebrows 27d agoArtificial limitations open many new avenues for new and exciting revenue streams.
- jddj 27d agoYou can get something quite useable these days by plugging a pixel into a USB dock with a monitor and a keyboard + mouse
- armadyl 27d agoAndroid Desktop mode looks so promising, it just needs to support higher resolutions/refresh rates but this is probably a side effect of at least the Pixel having weaker performance versus other flagships. Although I can’t wait for the more powerful Motorolas with GOS to release. Maybe that’d be enough to make a phone my sole computing device.
- beAbU 27d agoThe moment apple ship MacOS on their iPads, sales for their macbooks will all but collapse.
- tripdout 27d agoIt looks very wide in the unfolded configuration.
- xdavidliu 27d agosame thought. I'm wondering how I'm gonna fit that in my pocket.
- bartvk 27d agoWhat do you mean? Would you want to unfold it, then put it in your pocket?
- xdavidliu 26d agoi mean that even when folded up, it looks really wide, and perhaps wouldn't fit well into my pocket
- bartvk 26d agoI thought you were joking but that's interesting, I hadn't realized it was so wide. So I looked it up; closed, it's 84 mm while my 14 Pro is 72mm. That's quite a difference.
- rvz 27d agoAnother status symbol has been created. But once again as I said before [0][1], don't buy the first version of an Apple product. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23638202 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23638202 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26361985 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26361985
- ladberg 27d agoWait a sec, you're quoting yourself for proof but you were pretty much objectively wrong in that case? HN unanimously agrees that the M1 was the biggest jump in capabilities and has had many many years of usability since launch.
- rvz 27d agoExcept what they didn't tell you was that the software was not optimized and did not work correctly for the M1 and you had to wait it to be ready; especially in the case for developers. That means, users (especially pro users / developers) lost months of productivity and had to wait for a year for the software to catch up with the hardware. In that time-frame, you might as well have waited and bought an M2 or above. Nice try though.
- ladberg 26d agoAs an early adopter there was zero software I used previously that I couldn't run, and I believe most were in a similar boat
- rvz 23d agoYou might need to talk to the power users both here and beyond HN. Developers who use Docker on Mac, Android Studio, homebrew usage and usage on embedded devices all had persistent issues and had to wait months for the ecosystem to improve for full stable support without Rosetta, instead of workarounds that break on another update. Musicians that use DAWs such as Ableton reported that their plugins did not work and had to stay on Intel Macs. Same with those who have hardware for their instruments that need device drivers for their instrument setups also had to wait several months. So it only made sense for power users to wait for the M2 and higher until the software was fully supported on Apple Silicon.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- sdcfgy 27d agoCan’t wait until my colleague who DMed me mid presentation to get one and break it like he did with his two Samsung ones.
- doctoboggan 27d agoJust a reminder to everyone, always buy the second version of any new product category, even from Apple. The first duo will look primitive in a few refresh cycles. It does look really cool though!
- batmenace 27d agoListen, I'm not saying you're wrong, but I will say I hope I'll at least get to update this comment down the line while holding that gorgeous looking phone in my hand
- 1123581321 27d agoI get the sensibility of that advice but isn't that the case no matter when you buy it? I mean, they announced a nice iPhone Pro, optimized over multiple generations, and then immediately made it look primitive with the Duo. :)
- doctoboggan 27d agov1 to v2 is the biggest leap, and each leap after that is smaller and smaller. Just look at the difference between the 17 pro and 18 pro.
- 1123581321 27d agoI'm drawing a different conclusion than you about that upgrade. Sorry! I definitely understand your advice; it's especially the best option when you are financially risk-adverse or pessimistic about technology but need to participate.
- piperswe 26d agoM1 -> M2 wasn't a big leap, iPhone -> iPhone 3G wasn't _that_ big a leap (though 3G was nice to have) what products _did_ have big leaps from v1 to v2?
- grvbck 26d ago
- gtadesktop1 27d ago[flagged]
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- low_tech_punk 27d agoiPhace Duo https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/ https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/
- corvad 27d agoLooking back now it was quite ahead of its time.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- sccxy 27d agoAugust 12, 2020
- ramses0 27d agoActually kindof awesome! ...but when I saw the phone call at the end my mind immediately went back to "Taco-Talkin' w/ the Nokia N-Gage"! => https://sidetalkin.com/original/ https://sidetalkin.com/original/
- kvuj 27d agoThe main problems from that Duo was that Microsoft didn't believe in it. This lead them to use a garbage CPU and support it for something like 2 years. Apple has the balls to keep updating the vision pro even after it flopped and it will probably get 7 years.
- testfrequency 27d agoStill use mine! I will say it was a pain in the ass to open and answer calls though when you were busy doing things.
- jabroni_salad 27d agoThe fedex driver that delivers to my office is still maining one of these. Its so cool.
- precompute 26d agoZune'd
- bellowsgulch 27d agoI want it, but for $2,000, I want to be able to do so much more.
- octernion 27d agowill buy it for the kid cue feature alone; what a neat idea. i mainly use my iphone for reading books and taking pictures of my kids so the format will be perfect for me.
- Insanity 27d agoReading might be the one use-case for a foldable phone when you're on the go. Even so, a basic Kindle fits in a purse / fanny-pack just fine and is much more comfortable on the eyes.
- octernion 27d agoagreed about the kindle being more comfortable, but, the best reading device (+ camera) is one you always have on you.
- percentcer 27d agoDespite what the marketing material would have you believe you can always see the fold. Even when it's fully open. Folding screens have been a solution in search of problem for like a decade now
- nailuj 27d agoI like folding phones that go from half to full size. Fits in my pocket and I still get a big screen when I want.
- wpm 27d agoHow do you know? Have you seen a Duo?
- bel8 26d agotheir screen are made by Samsung so the tech is known.
- azan_ 27d ago> Folding screens have been a solution in search of problem for like a decade now The problem is I want to have small phone that can be expanded to have large screen when needed, glad I’ve solved this decade long conundrum!
- nofunsir 27d ago[dead]
- rudyp_dev 27d agoI'm a little worried about the buttons moving up along the side, since I use my phone with my left hand... Hopefully there is more information about whether the OS supports moving the controls to the left, or even keeping them at the bottom.
- kursus 26d agoThe ability to switch software controls hasn't been communicated but the device will definitely be best suited for right hand handling (just opening it from left hand requires wrist twisting).
- t1234s 27d agoA terminal app would be cool where the bottom half is a decent keyboard with arrow/pg keys
- antics9 27d agoI’ll not buy a new iPhone until they release a new mini. No, this duo is not worth it.
- makeitdouble 27d agoAre the on screen controls fixed to the right ? The curved right side makes me think so, but it sound like a pain for people using their phone left hand dominantly.
- aurareturn 27d agoI wonder if the side bar controls can be moved to the left side. I always hold my phone using my left hand.
- kittikitti 27d agoI'm really happy about this new form factor. Things were becoming too conformist where everyone needed to adopt the lowest common denominator in order to fit in. It seemed like anything different was met with significantly more skepticism than curiosity. I embrace informed skepticism but most of it is ignorant. I think people will still be skeptical about the foldable iPhone but mainly out of ignorance of this form factor. This phone will suck for the concern trolls who are best described as deeply conservative but will try their best pointing out concerns while masquerading as whatever will convince people.
- stasomatic 26d agoI embrace informed skepticism but most of it is ignorant. If you read that back to yourself, you don't throw up in your mouth just a tiny bit? No? Tell me your secret! Skepticism you agree with is "informed" and the rest of us plebs are just "ignorant." Gotcha.
- w10-1 27d agoWhat about left-handed people? Will the controls line up on the left?
- owldown 27d agoI'm right-handed but I always keep my phone in my left pocket and use it with my left hand (keys have always been in my right pocket). I'm also pretty curious about the answer to this.
- factorialboy 27d agoIt's priced identical to the Samsung Fold 8. The dimensions are also close. From a visual aesthetics perspective, I prefer the square edges of the Samsung Fold 8. Eager to check out the reviews of the software capabilities of the iPhone Duo. And I'm not sure about the inner screen's selfie camera. The under-screen camera has failed in previous devices, especially for zoom calls, it was abysmal. Excited for the nano texture displays though. For far too long, Samsung had beaten Apple with non-reflective displays.
- layer8 27d ago> It's priced identical to the Samsung Fold 8. The Fold8 is $1,899.99 (street price significantly lower as usual), the Duo is $1999.
- factorialboy 27d agoThat may be right, I was referring to list price, which is identical between Apple and Samsung. (I'm located in EU) With Samsung, they're going to heavily discount it over the holiday season. With Apple, the device is actually going to retain its value in the second hand market. So there's this value argument that can swing both ways.
- layer8 27d agoThe list price is different in the US. Apple may be trading off lower margins in the EU to keep it below the psychological 2000 mark.
- juujian 27d agoI suspect there are plenty of people out there who habitually buy the most expensive of what Apple has to offer in any category. I guess Apple was leaving money on the table by not having anything in this price range in the first place.
- MBCook 27d agoI trust Apple likely did better, though they’ve made bad decisions before (Studio Display camera). My biggest worry is the lack of Face ID. I love Face ID so much. I know I can do the Apple Watch unlock, but I don’t want to. I just want my phone to immediately look unlocked to me. and Face ID did that the vast majority of the time. So I’m very curious to hear what the hands-on impressions from people are. Is the screen good? Can you notice or feel the crease? Is there anything else wrong? Is not having Face ID as annoying as I suspect? At least there’s something really interesting this year. It’s more than just faster and better cameras, which is nice. And having actual aperture blades on the pro is great. But this is more interesting.
- ivraatiems 27d ago$2,000 for a phone? Holy price point, Batman. No thanks. I assume the people who would buy something like this have enough money not to care, and also would not care about the second part of my comment, because they want New Thing or use their phones enough for it to be useful. I guess it might be the case that the only way to make the folding screen thing even remotely work is a very, very expensive manufacturing process. But as is often the case, I don't see how it's worth it? I want my phones smaller and with Touch ID, not enormous and wrinkly.
- rootusrootus 27d ago> $2,000 for a phone? Holy price point, Batman. No thanks. Isn't that basically in line with the competition? Cheaper, even, than some of the competition?
- ivraatiems 27d agoGood god, is it? My current phone is an iPhone SE 3rd Gen and I paid $250 for it on eBay.
- spacedcowboy 27d agohave you considered that you might just not be the target market ? :)
- sajithdilshan 27d agoWho exactly is the target market? Millionaires?
- MiSeRyDeee 27d agoPretty sure Apple and other manufacturers do market research before pouring tons of resources into it.
- 27d ago
- comandillos 27d agoWhat's the value of using one of these phones running iOS? iOS is great for media consumption and not so much for productivity... so I don't understand very well the use cases... apart from watching Netflix I guess?
- fckgw 27d agoiOS runs plenty of productivity software, many which run great on larger screen devices like this or iPads. What does "productivity" mean to you? Or is it just terminals and coding?
- ktallett 27d agoThat is a huge market that they are ignoring.
- comandillos 27d agoI might be a weirdo, but even the mail client on iOS has serious deficiencies. Just getting an email with a zip attachment where I have to edit / sign a document with a certificate / something, rezip and send back is a hell in iOS, while it simply feels natural in Android.
- alistairSH 27d agoSlightly better for documents and spreadsheets? Although I have a laptop for those, so... I guess I'm not the target audience.
- basisword 27d agoMost people aren’t doing productivity. They’re watching videos and playing games. This would mean I don’t need my iPad on flights or when travelling. And when I’m travelling I don’t need to be doing productive things.
- mentos 27d agoI’m curious to see how using Windows Remote Desktop iOS App will feel at this size if I can be productive or not. My previous thought was to use XReal glasses with my existing iPhone but that’s not realistic in an office environment.
- gshakir 27d agoIs it thicker than iPhone pro when folded? I want it more thinner!!
- Insanity 27d agoHonestly don't see the appeal of foldable phones. I don't use my phone a lot, but the form factor even as a small tablet is not something useful for my phone use-cases. When I'm at home, I can just use my iPad. When I'm on the road, I don't need to be watching content on a slightly larger screen. I get that I'm not the target audience, but it's still confusing to me why people like foldable phones.
- omikun 27d agoI know right. I don’t get it either. How could other people have different preferences?
- pagade 27d agoWas there a reference to using AI to decide where to place the hinges?
- aurareturn 27d agoYes I thought that was weird and forced.
- leduyquang753 27d agoIt's about finding best matching hinges and phone frames.
- neom 27d agoThink I'll just wait for the rumored iPhone Air 2. iPhone Air is for sure the best phone I've ever owned, the battery life doesn't bother me but the camera isn't ideal at all. Duo looks cool but I'm not sure I need a device that will encourage me to "play" on my phone more than I already shouldn't.
- kombine 27d agoThe hardware is probably stellar and it must be an incredible reading device, but it's 2026 and I refuse to buy a device with a proprietary locked down software ecosystem.
- thomasjeff1 27d agoExactly my feelings. I want something with custom ROM.
- ocdtrekkie 27d agoConsidering only two major mobile platforms exist and both are proprietary locked down software ecosystems, I assume you have a PinePhone or something?
- derac 27d agoThe pixel bootloader can be unlocked, also Android is significantly more of an open platform than iOS. I mean, stuff like Morphe exists on Android.
- hyperhello 27d agoI sympathize but you're literally looking at something an hour old and demanding that the economic and political realities that produced it change entirely.
- Lord-Jobo 27d agoI agree with the sentiment and hopefully am using my last phone like that right now, but I’m also really hoping for very big advances for Linux phones before it comes time to upgrade. Right now they all seem to have serious drawbacks
- wmichelin 27d agoVery brave take about Apple /s
- LeoPanthera 27d agoI too have nothing to contribute to this post.
- GeekyBear 27d agoAfter four years of watching the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel snap Google's foldable phones in half at the same spot along the antenna lines, I'm looking forward to seeing how well this holds up. Something this expensive should not be that fragile year after year.
- tills13 27d agonew foldables are surprisingly strong along the spine. Not impossible to snap or damage but would support being accidentally sat on without it being catastrophic, for example.
- GeekyBear 27d ago> new foldables are surprisingly strong along the spine Have you seen the video in question from two weeks ago? > GOOGLE MADE A MISTAKE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUT3rUZGqLA& https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUT3rUZGqLA&
- tills13 26d agoGoogle is not a serious player in this space. They make benchmark phones for their industry partners.
- starky 26d agoJerryRigEverything drives me absolutely nuts as someone that works in product design. His tests have zero basis in reality and don't actually test whether a product will survive daily use. I wouldn't take anything from his videos as an indication of whether a device is fragile.
- xxs 26d agoThe only thing that matters about tests - if they are fair, it's up to you to decide if the tests apply to your case.
- 23d ago
- mhh__ 27d agoThe folding phones are genuinely interesting although all the cool demos I've seen people do irl have been quite reliant on android being quite liberal as to what software you can run
- joshstrange 27d ago$2K starting price is rough. I’ve upgraded my iPhone every year since my first phone, the 3GS. It’s one of a few “splurge”-type things I allow myself. It’s a hobby and just fun to play with the new hotness. This year might break the cycle. I don’t care for the 18 Pro colors, I still love my orange 17 Pro, and I’m not sold on the Duo (functionality or price). I might still end up with a Duo but I’m very much on the fence. I’ll tell myself it’s for development/testing reasons, or just to play with the newest offering but I’m just not sure. I worry this will suffer from the same lack of developer interest as the AVP did. Yes, it’s very different from the AVP and SwiftUI will almost certainly make this process easier but I’m still not sure.
- MBCook 27d agoI like that blue though.
- basisword 27d agoI don’t think it’ll face the developer interest problem. Devs go where the money is and consumers seem to love foldables.
- Hamuko 27d agoI don't know, $1999 seems almost kinda reasonable considering how much an iPhone Pro costs and how utterly fucked the current memory prices are.
- cromka 26d agoBut the display prices are very low, in comparison, so this and some mechanical engineering cannot possibly cost 900 USD.
- newman314 27d agoYou could do the leasing route if you upgrade every year. Might pinch less.
- beAbU 27d ago
- tiahura 27d ago$2000 and they can’t give you the full display? What stupid design document from 1985 says people want the corners of their screen cut off?
- cubefox 27d agoI'm at a loss why anyone thought this asymmetrical design looks good.
- noodlesUK 27d agoI really hope that in the coming years we will be able to get smaller phones back into the market. Apple compared this to the size of a passport. A passport seems even bigger than a normal iPhone, even when folded. A number of people (especially women with smaller hands) I know are holding onto their iPhone Minis for as long as possible. I’d love a phone that was roughly normal iphone sized when unfolded but was a flip phone à la Motorola razrs in years gone by. I wouldn’t even need a screen on the outside. I know it’s hard for a company like Apple to be able to market “less phone” as a good thing, and I know the iPhone mini didn’t do great commercially but there’s a small cohort of users clamoring to have something for them.
- HaloZero 27d agoI think you’re out of luck. If Apple can’t sell the mini I don’t know who will enter the market.
- MBCook 27d agoThey could. I think it would be nice if they would choose to. I doubt they lost money on it. I’m guessing they just “didn’t make enough“ and decided it would be more profitable to spend that money elsewhere. I will say as a software developer it was rough getting things working on that tiny screen. But I know people loved it. I have family members who did. And I totally get it. But it just doesn’t seem to be a big enough part of the market for any of the big players to care at all.
- nxc18 27d agoApple sold plenty of minis. It just wasn’t a blockbuster. They also didn’t sell many pluses. They also didn’t sell many Airs. For context, Apple sold 6 million minis, most Android manufacturers (other than Samsung and Google) can only dream of that volume. Apple can do it, they just choose not to. It’s not like AVP is a roaring sales success.
- dyauspitr 27d agoThey came out with the AVP saying it was niche production and made very few of them to begin with. They expected not to sell very many of them.
- randusername 27d agoWell "kid cue" is pretty uncomfortable for some reason
- me_online 27d agoAgreed. Disturbing.
- juiceland 27d agoI don't have kids -- what's wrong with this feature?
- randusername 27d agoIt's a vague ick. Both parent and child are now mediating their experience through technology with the parent blaring recognizable intellectual property at the child to psychologically manipulate them into a better photo.
- juiceland 26d agoI mean, I remember having a guy squeak a rubber ducky at me when we took family photos... that part isn't new. What difference does it make that it's recognizable IP? It's Snoopy. Kids like Snoopy.
- 1970-01-01 27d agoGoogle and Samsung have been at this for years. Nothing here is actual innovation, is it?
- rootusrootus 27d agoDepends on if it starts to get a crease after using it a while. I tend to assume that this is why Apple chose not to adopt folding screens as quickly as Android phones did.
- omikun 27d agoJust like the first iPod and iPhone.
- 1970-01-01 27d agoWhat iPods could make a phone call and browse the Web in 2007 that weren't made by Apple?
- doom2 27d agoIt's a shame there isn't the kind of competition in the US when it comes to mobile phones as there is in China. Many HN users would likely never buy a Chinese OEM device, but if you look at the variety of devices offered by Chinese brands, they're trying all sorts of approaches. Kind of like their EV market. Meanwhile, your choices in the US are Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google, and that's pretty much it. I wouldn't say there's a ton of innovation between them...kind of like the large US automakers.
- fsflover 26d agoYou forgot about one of the most innovative phone in recent time, Librem 5: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/docs/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#15-how-innovative-is-the-librem-5 https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/docs/community-wiki/-/wikis/F...
- asdff 27d agoI mean that is the business. These companies are in the business of ordering parts from components vendors and leasing floor space to assemble them after all. Folding screen is probably something you can order from many companies in shenzen at scale right now (or whichever chinese city is the "cell phone screen" hub, might not be shenzen).
- newman314 27d agoI was quite surprised to see the under display camera. Wasn't expecting that. Other than that, looks like there are some nice Duo specific features on iOS. $1999 is also surprising given that news outlets were reporting up to $2500. Plus it's price competitive with other foldables in the market.
- corvad 27d ago$2K is quite a lot.
- corvad 27d agoJohn Ternus as CEO seems to be good.
- jerf 27d agoSo, just in general, I've been seeing more and more foldable phones like this. How well are they holding up now? Having Apple use one seems to be at least somewhat of a vote of confidence that the tech has reached some level of acceptable maturity, so I assume "not trash", but I don't know how good that represents. I'm a compulsive fiddler so I'm not really in the market for a phone I can fiddle to death without even consciously realizing it, but I'm at least curious if the tech is reaching the point where one might expect a more normal user to casually expect them to last 2+ years with normal use.
- MBCook 27d agoI know the early ones were really bad. My impression is I’ve stopped hearing about them failing all the time, so I assume they’ve gotten decent.
- brap 27d agoFolded phones are the essence of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”
- exabrial 27d agoshit, I'd take this form factor but with a physical keyboard.
- surfingdino 27d agoI'm still waiting for Apple to rediscover the Psion 3a or 5 format and Applefi it. when they do, I'm in.
- achow 27d agoI cannot believe that the central crease could disappear altogether! Suspiciously could not see reviews of it yet - usually bloggers like mkbhd get their hands on early, and they release the reviews moment the embargo is off, usually when live event is over. This time nothing.
- fckgw 27d agoIt doesn't come out until October. There won't be anything to review until then.
- kristofferR 27d agoThat's not true, the journalists are hands on with it right now. Here's a live stream of the popular obnoxious streamer, he held it a few minutes ago (also talked with MKBHD). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CPAtEmHAio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CPAtEmHAio
- vulk 27d agoI might be a minority but I never had interested in this foldable phone trend where you get just a bigger screen. I can't even consider dual display smartphone as a foldable phone. The benchmark for a foldable phone was Motorola Razr V3. I am not sure where they are going they really need some new people with some fresh ideas and vision. Sooner or later someone is going to start eating their lunch.
- bluepeter 27d agoSandy ant video intro is good. Love the whimsical fun music, whatever it is.
- fishtoaster 27d agoThe weight is interesting: 8.96 ounces (254 grams). Not much more than the 18 pro max - 8.78 ounces (249 grams). The Duo sure looks chonky, but that's not the end of the world.
- 00ze 27d agoUgh; folding screens are so failure prone these things just exacerbate e-waste problems Would rather ditch my phone size thing and be able to pair a cellular Watch to iPad Mini size thing that also has "50% more screen" than iPhone Max Gen AI could take telemetry like GPS from Watch and recreate most adventures without need of all the pictures; I don't care if every little thing like a day hike is captured "for real" Would still hire a photographer for actual meaningful moments like weddings and graduations
- roarkeful 27d agoWhat an amazingly soulless way to think
- 00ze 27d agoOh noes; from the other side of an obvious Gulf of Information Assymetry an internet random unaware I am fluent on 3 musical instruments, have won awards for poetry, charcoal drawings and grow 1/4-1/3 of my vegetables each year... believes I have no soul If you're only capable of reducing the entire comment to a single piece of it you would be wise to sit and meditate on comments first rather than vomit copy pasta opinions; the whole knee jerk copy pasta approach to social media discourse is soulless in its own way
- roarkeful 26d agoFinding AI-generated images of locations to be an acceptable alternative to a real photo is soulless. Being good at instruments doesn't change that.
- officeplant 27d agoApple: Every one else does folding wrong! Also Apple: We've done it the exact way Samsung and Microsoft did it! We even used the same Duo name as Microsoft!
- overfeed 27d agoThis comic from 14 years ago remains evergreen https://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/ https://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/
- internet2000 26d agoSamsung had 7 generations of the wrong way, then one of the right way after they learned what Apple was doing. Microsoft literally does not have a product like this.
- officeplant 26d ago>Microsoft literally does not have a product like this. Well yes their product like this is so old its already been discontinued. The Surface Duo targeted the same unfolded layout / passport sized folded device the iPhone Duo is, but opted for different folding methods and screen solutions.
- internet2000 25d agoMicrosoft had one with a different folding method and screen, but it was equivalent to a product in which the key differentiators are the folding method and screen?
- well_ackshually 27d agoWatching my iOS colleagues tear their hair out with SwiftUI's lack of proper support of foldables for the next... Two years about will be highly entertaining.
- napolux 27d agof*ck you if you’re left-handed like me
- james_marks 27d agoFirst iPhone I've actually wanted in a long time.
- codingisfreedom 27d ago“The largest iPhone display ever” Gosh I hate that idiotic marketing.
- 3pm 27d agoDuo screen: 7.6" vs iPad mini: 8.3". Duo will support Apple Pencil later. I wonder if many people with iPhone+iPad combination can now replace it with one device.
- ktallett 27d agoI never trust the later with Apple. Too often have they failed to deliver. Why release this without the obvious benefit?
- DamnInteresting 27d agoIn the FAQ it says "Yes. iPhone Duo will work with Apple Pencil (USB-C). Coming later this year." It kinda sounds like it's a new model of the Apple Pencil coming soon (rather than support coming soon), and older Pencil and Pencil Pros will not work at all. Which, if true, boo.
- hankbond 27d agoAt some point these phones are powerful enough that we need to be able go get a desktop experience that can run macOS. Why is a 600 dollar neo more capable for productivity than a 2000 dollar iphone with a much beefier chip?
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- spiralpolitik 27d agoThis is Apple's Achilles heel. If another company could release something like the Duo that seamlessly switches between phone, tablet, and desktop experience and make it Apple quality then Apple are in trouble. The technology is all there since the days of Ubuntu Touch. Sadly I don't think there is a company in a position to build such a device that could compete.
- MBCook 27d agoI don’t think Apple will ever do it. I personally would like to see the phones behave like iPads when connected to screens and mice and such. I don’t need it to pretend to be a full Mac. But we all know they’re on the same OS at this point. iOS and iPadOS are completely identical, and this only makes it more obvious.
- armadyl 27d agoThis is what I want. If the Duo did something like convert into an iPadOS-like environment I’d buy it day one and sell my non-fold iPhone and iPad. But I don’t want macOS on an iPhone/iPad. If I wanted a device with poorer hardware security that ran an OS with a fundamentally weaker security model I’d just buy a MacBook and be done with it.
- MBCook 26d ago
- tripdout 27d agoIt looks very wide in the unfolded configuration.
- ClimaxGravely 27d agoI guess it's not cool but if i had a fold phone I'd much prefer it be like the nintendo DS with 2 separate screens (taking up the whole space though). If they can make it foldable they should be able to have 2 screens without a bezel
- xlayn 27d agounleashes unparallel, unrivaled, totally new, amazing, exciting new ways of interacting with the MOST POW3RFUL!!!!! then all the photos either what's on the inside it's repeated whats on the outside, or... and hold your breath... you can show on one side the calendar and on the other side the clock... now you can breath... Meh, another 2 or 3$k gadget that does the same as the previous one?
- poly2it 27d agoI'm looking forward to doing code review on the go on a phone like this! Once a GrapheneOS-compatible brand copies it, that is.
- rdm_blackhole 27d agoI don't see the appeal of this or the Phone 18 for the matter. I have an (old) iPhone 15 Pro that just works so the upgrade just doesnt seem worth it. Also I think it would be quite bulky to carry the Duo in a pocket all day long.
- varispeed 27d agoIt looks meh. Seems like Apple is following, no longer leading. Samsung feels more polished.
- jumploops 27d agoIt felt very "un-Apple" when they called it a foldable phone _before_ revealing it. The folding part is the thing the tech journalists say; done right, it shouldn't matter whether it's foldable or not. Bigger screen, pencil support, nano-glass, etc. The foldable part is obvious, why say it?
- NamTaf 27d agoAll this so people can watch The Odyssey as Nolan intended whilst on the go. More seriously though, now do just the front screen on a non-folding device. It can even remain as thick as this thing when it's folded.
- spiralpolitik 27d agoDefinitely a v1 product but it's an interesting device. Apple is rarely first to market, but they definitely produce the device that indicates the point where there is a market. You can also see where they are going. In a couple of years, assuming it sells well there will be a Pro model with a 3x fold and better camera system. I'm guessing to make in thinner they will have to drop USB-C and come up with a flat charging/data connector. The EU won't like that. The final interesting thing is this is the first Apple product that I can think of since the iPod era that they've released a product that will cannibalize another Apple product. If you were looking at getting a high end iPad Mini this replaces both phone and tablet.
- __aru 27d ago> Apple is rarely first to market, but they definitely produce the device that indicates the point where there is a market. There's been a proven market for years already, but it's been less obvious in Western markets. In East Asian markets, foldables have had a very sizable market presence, especially in China. There's other trends that are less obvious to US and western markets, such as phone crossbody straps (which are also very big in East Asia).
- layer8 27d agoThis has some interesting features, but also a number of questionable decisions. The inner front camera placement is awkward for non-camera use, because despite being under-display won’t be completely invisible (as some shots in the presentation show). The on-screen unfolding transition is cringy and distracting. Apps and multitasking behaving differently on the inner screen depending on whether the hinge is flat or bent creates complexity and trade-offs, like when bending then phone so that it can stand on its own, or lie on an uneven surface. On the front screen, reserving the edge for special controls reduces the thumb reach for general content (like the app icons on the home screen).
- MisterCrabs 27d ago[dead]
- post_break 27d agoSomewhat related, Apple snuck in a $100 price increase on the regular iPhone 17.
- gib444 26d agoAll existing iPhones: https://www.macworld.com/article/3229342/iphone-price-increases.html https://www.macworld.com/article/3229342/iphone-price-increa...
- green-salt 27d agoTouchID only is an interesting choice, very interested in the 2nd iteration after we see the crease and hinge wear after a few thousand actuations.
- TMWNN 27d agoIf I had a choice of only Touch ID or Face ID, but not both, I would take Touch ID every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
- MPSimmons 27d agoWhy do they insist on every new phone being bigger than the phones before them? I don't mind folding. I think it's cool, and a nice way to get a useful space. But I have big hands, and I can't use my iphone 17 now without two hands. This is even wider before unfolding. Who wants bigger phones? Who is like, "damn I wish I had a tablet that I could fold up and still barely fit in my pocket"? I want smaller phones. The width of the iPhone 4 was nearly perfect imo. If they would take modern display technology with approximately that width and expand it to 16:9, I think it would kill, even if it were relatively underpowered compared to the modern top of the line.
- layer8 27d agoThe Duo is also pretty heavy at 254 grams (almost 9 ounces). The Fold8 is only 201 grams.
- calebm 27d agoI'm still on the iPhone 12 mini for this reason.
- dominotw 27d agoi do. i do reading and watching on my ipad mini. i can stop using that if i can get two in one device like this.
- nikanj 27d agoThey released a number of small iphones over the years, and those always failed to reach meaningful sales numbers. Stated vs revealed preference I guess? People keep picking the larger model, so the models keep getting larger
- nonethewiser 27d agoSame with phones with replaceable batteries.
- eddieroger 27d agoAnd headphone jacks.
- Yhippa 27d agoI've had two folding phones and I am not going back until the issues are resolved. Here were my problems: 1. After a while, I think dust would inevitably get in the hinges and wouldn't fold flat. I've seen demos in stores of newer gen Samsung foldable phones and it looks like those wouldn't fold flat 2. The inner screen protector eventually lifted off the screen, causing catastrophic damage, and requiring repair (under warranty thankfully) 3. The aspect ratios were weird. I ended up using native app sizes, making the extra space kind of a waste One thing I did like about the Samsung foldables was that when they were folded and using the front screen, I finally had a phone that fit my smaller hands! It was nice being able to use my thumb to reach the other side of the screen. Will be interesting to see how this works out because it looks decidedly wider.
- __aru 27d ago> After a while, I think dust would inevitably get in the hinges and wouldn't fold flat. I've seen demos in stores of newer gen Samsung foldable phones and it looks like those wouldn't fold flat For your first point, the iPhone duo is rated IP 68 Dust and Water protection. Literally none of Samsung's book foldables so far have achieved this IP rating.
- haltcatchfire 26d agoThe Pixel Fold 10 (and 11) is IP68 rated
- dansquizsoft 26d agoThat must be useful for the 5 - 10 people that have bought it!
- cesarvarela 26d agoI trust Apple to do better here; for example, after about ten years, no one has caught up to Face ID yet.
- FireBeyond 26d ago
- nerdjon 27d agoWith some of what they showed, I wish they never separated iOS and iPadOS. The duo seems to be bringing more of the iPad features and if they could position this as one device to replace both (and the price point sure reflects that) it could be interesting. But without that, I don't see the use for myself. Though I also rock a 13" iPad Pro so even with that it would be a hard sell to replace both. I still am not sold on the entire idea of a foldable, there is some interesting things here and I will be interested to see how they position it over the next few generations.
- LoganDark 27d agoI wish that too. Too many convenience features on both sides that are accidentally or intentionally not making it over, even when they would apply to both. I wish it had to be an explicit decision to lock functionality to only iPad or iPhone, rather than it having to be an explicit decision to make functionality available to both. Make the more likely decision the default.
- BatFastard 27d agoGo Apple, bring up the rear! Can they even do anything new?
- LeoPanthera 27d agoApple has had the "perfect existing technology" business model for FIFTY years and people are still surprised.
- BatFastard 27d agoI can't argue with that model, but in the past they actually did new and interesting things! The M series processor, the iPhone. Lets hope new CEO who is more of an engineer then the last one was ramps things up.
- austinthetaco 27d agomost of their innovations are in stuff that would be boring to go into detail with. They talked about the advancements in their A series processors (but you left that out), they talk about their complex layering to prevent a crease from forming, they talk about the dynamic audio. Love em or hate em but you cant say they arent doing new things.
- IAmNotACellist 27d ago[flagged]
- ocdtrekkie 27d agoApple has almost never been first to anything, but usually goes for "best at it" once it enters the market. I'm assuming you'll see four times as many foldables next year as a bunch of people start to consider it no longer an experiment. And obviously there's a lot of people who simply couldn't consider a foldable before because they were only available with Android.
- DarmokTanagra 27d ago[dead]
- MPSimmons 27d agoWhy do they insist on every new phone being bigger than the phones before them? I don't mind folding. I think it's cool, and a nice way to get a useful space. But I have big hands, and I can't use my iphone 17 now without two hands. This is even wider before unfolding. Who wants bigger phones? Who is like, "damn I wish I had a tablet that I could fold up and still barely fit in my pocket"? I want smaller phones. The width of the iPhone 4 was nearly perfect imo. If they would take modern display technology with approximately that width and expand it to 16:9, I think it would kill, even if it were relatively underpowered compared to the modern top of the line.
- MBCook 27d agoLots of people. There’s a reason folding phones have been a big story for years. Maybe they only sell to 5% of users but they sell and at top prices, meaning more possible profit. And you can’t grow the iPhone at the current sizes. Everyone who once wants at one of those sizes already has one. You either have to convince them to upgrade or switch, and those are both hard. However, if you give them a choice of something they haven’t had before, it’s way easier. Get the people who wanted to fold and went to android and would like to come back. Get the people who have a max and want something bigger. Get the people with an iPhone 13 who are simply curious enough to do the upgrade, but otherwise would’ve stood still. Gotta sell.
- nenddnndnn 26d agoI think they could get 0.1 to 1 percent increase in sales by fixing family/ screentime. It doesn't work flawlessly and a teenager is basically the same as a hacker and there are too many workarounds and it is very hard to harden either iPhone or Mac. It also needs a kill switch. (Non parents will judge I am sure) The device with good parental controls will be the go to for many parents regardless of practically anything else.
- ex-aws-dude 27d agoHow many times do HN users have to be told they are not the majority? If you look at phone sales Pro Max out-sells the regular Pro Regular people like big phones
- vrosas 27d agoYou're going to look very silly taking a call on that.
- halflife 27d agoIt’s marked ip68, I wonder how they made the hinge water and dust proof
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- r0fl 27d agoOnly duo thousand dollars Great branding by the new CEO
- ElijahLynn 27d agoI've been out of the loop on foldable phones, and this is question is not related to specifically the iPhone Duo. How does it work that it doesn't show a crease in the middle? What's the breakthrough technology there? Or is there a visible crease?
- hkpack 27d agoOn other phones it is visible, here we’ll see soon.
- RattlesnakeJake 27d agoWe'll find out when the hands-on reviews start coming in. Right now, we're seeing Apple's carefully-curated press photos & renderings
- well_ackshually 27d agoThere will inevitably be a crease after a few weeks/months, as every folding phone has had. Apple is relying on Samsung's display tech, and Apple doesn't have better solutions than Samsung. The reason it doesn't actively crease is because it's not like a piece of paper you press on to fold: the screen "rounds" itself, and as long as it doesn't go past a breakpoint (which is what the body of the phone prevents), it'll restore.
- tedd4u 27d agoProbably true but they might have a better hinge, i.e. crease takes longer to appear due to superior folded geometry.
- ghostly_s 27d agothe lcd is flexible, it doesn't fold in a sharp crease but uses a complicated hinge to roll it into a loose bend when closed. But maintaining a "crease-free" appearance after many use cycles seems to be a major challenge in this market.
- ElijahLynn 26d ago
- mark_l_watson 27d agoI am 75, and have a ton of computer gear. I can imagine myself as an old man later in life, not wanting to do any programming, and just wanting a single digital device like a future version of this product. Let’s see what Apple has available in 10 years.
- lvl256 27d agoI take it this is a joke? I am in my 50s and don’t see myself staring at screens for too long, let alone coding. Edit: I don’t know of anyone 75 still coding outside of retired professors here and there. I am not trying to be an ageist. I just don’t think I will be physically capable when I am 75.
- ericmay 27d agoIt doesn't seem like a joke?
- FpUser 27d ago>"I am in my 50s and don’t see myself staring at screens for too long, let alone coding." I am 65 and still enjoy software development (not coding in particular) but decomposing business idea into software architecture and functionality. Decomposing is the part I really enjoy, the rest is a necessity but with AI that rest takes way less of my time than it used to. I do not work for someone though. I develop products for clients or for my own business, was doing it all my life and was doing it from my own office for last 26 years. Not overworked either. Have enough time to enjoy life. Al in all very happy
- FpUser 27d agoin 10 years any phone should be able to wirelessly stream it to any monitor / tv and plenty of those will be everywhere
- varjag 27d agoI mean you kinda can do that now.
- a_paddy 27d agoThe top right selfie camera is a "courageous" choice.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- docdeek 27d agoHow do you put a case on a foldable phone? Or do you not put one on, rely on the ceramic to protect the screen, and pay for Apple Care for cheap replacement screens?
- MBCook 27d agoThey had two. One it appears to snap on magnetically, I think the other might have had too small hinges on it, but I didn’t look very hard, and it wasn’t on screen long.
- layer8 27d agoIt’s in the article: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/09/apple-unveils-iphone-duo/article/Apple-iPhone-Duo-Case-sand-260909_big.jpg.medium_2x.jpg https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/09/apple-unveils-...
- docdeek 27d agoThanks, I missed it on the event presentation.
- nkotov 27d agoIt was interesting to see no shots of the iPhone Duo being used as an actual phone and I think because it probably will look silly. That being said, this is the device I always wanted. Something between an iPad and iPhone.
- saaaaaam 27d agoDoes anyone use their phone “like an actual phone” anymore, as in held to their ear? Most people I see out and about are either using face time, or inexplicably speaking in speakerphone and holding the flat, face up, with the bottom of the phone towards to their mouth in a weird awkward way, or they are using headphones, wired or wireless.
- an0malous 27d agoCalling people is my least favorite feature of phones
- Philip-J-Fry 27d agoThe folding/unfolding animation is one of the coolest I've seen from a foldable. So slick.
- MBCook 27d agoThat impressed me too. Be if those “Apple touches” of yore. I kind of wonder how well it works in person, but it’s nice that it’s there at all.
- ck2 27d agoI find the new watches more interesting * https://www.wired.com/story/apple-watch-series-12-apple-watch-ultra-4/ https://www.wired.com/story/apple-watch-series-12-apple-watc... it's a mistake though to demand an iphone to own the watch (can't configure it otherwise) always held me back from ever buying an apple watch, don't want an iphone or ipad
- pjerem 27d agoHonestly I have owned two Apple Watches and you are missing nothing. They do look nice if that’s your taste, but they are extremely locked down and are pretty useless without an iPhone. I cannot cite even one application that is a killer app on the Apple Watch. Most apps are just a companion for the iOS part of the app.
- LoganDark 27d agoYMMV, but I have a Watch for: - checking the time (obviously) - sleep tracking - high heart rate warnings - sleep and heart rate trends over time - reviewing notifications or declining calls without grabbing phone None of these are "killer apps" but they're conveniences. I like having an accurate source of time that I don't have to pick something up for. I like being able to track my sleep schedule and duration over time. I like to know when my heart rate is high so I can take steps to quiet down. I don't use many of the other features, maybe some sparingly, but I've never really used the Watch for its apps anyway. And I think only the last feature on my list, maybe the last two, needs iPhone. I've had to go without my Watch for the better part of half a year because it's refurbished and I've been trying to diagnose an Apple Developer Program enrollment issue, and Apple won't tell me which device was previously used so I have to rule out everything I didn't purchase brand new, etc., but I still constantly feel its absence. It's just a convenience but it was a welcome one. Note that the Watch did previously require an iPhone for initial setup, but it does not anymore.
- pjerem 27d agoOh but I agree that the Apple Watch does all of that very well, I myself use it mostly for this. I was just answering to gp : the Apple Watch pretty much only make sense if you own an iPhone. Else, you’d better buy any other smartwatch brand which will allow you to do much more than an Apple Watch without an iPhone.
- IAmNotACellist 27d agoSo brave of Apple to make the world's first foldable phone
- pjerem 27d agoOh wow. That looks extremely boring and unexciting. It doesn’t look like it’s Apple, it looks like Xiaoco Fold Z Duo 16.
- ActionHank 27d agoIf pasteurized-vanilla-milk-toast-paste was a product.
- daseiner1 27d ago*Xiaomi apple is always "late to the party" and regularly takes existing tech, polishes it to a high standard of UX, and introduces a new paradigm for consumer tech products. if xiaomi has ever done that please let me know. not to mention that chinese consumer goods companies are largely siloed to the east anyways
- pjerem 27d agoI agree but that’s still my point. The thing looks totally unpolished. The corners are horrible, the UX looks subpar. It’s the first time I feel like Apple totally rushed a new product without any real vision. *Xiaoco, I invented this ref.
- qlte 27d agoYeah I posted in another comment, but I'm quite confused by the corners. It's described like they solved some giant UX pain point on other foldables, but as far as I can tell it's a solution to a problem they created to make the corners have like a 50% radius? The screen is still so small I don't understand why that's desirable but maybe I'm missing the purpose.
- crooked-v 26d agoIt's to be distinctive in public from the square foldables. That's it. That's the reason.
- deleted 26d ago
- sbdaman 27d ago[flagged]
- password54321 27d agoThere has always been snark but I swear it has been really excessive lately.
- s3r3nity 27d ago[flagged]
- avidruntime 27d agoThere's also just a growing number of the simple contrarian perspective mixed with the growing "anything new is bad" cultural lens.
- bigyabai 27d agoTim Cook burned goodwill kissing Trump's ass like Elon and Zuck did. The old "Apple is different!" attitude was replaced with a police state.
- Dlemlo 27d agoIts brutally expensive and probably doesn't fit in a pocket well. Do you expect hn being an uncritical apple fanclub?
- threetonesun 27d agoBoth could be said of the iPhone Pro as well, which continues to sell and sell well. It's obvious to me there's a market for this stuff I'm not part of, same as the Vision Pro, and that's fine.
- Dlemlo 27d agoYou can still critisis it and not just accept free advertising from apple on hn.
- igmn 27d agoWorse in most ways than every other iPhone, more expensive, gets permanently (sometimes deathly) damaged by fingernails, keys, sand, plastic and literally anything that's harder than about a fingernail. All the supposedly unique usecases can be resolved by a $1 kickstand, a $50 speaker, or a $500 iPad plus a non-foldable phone. You can get a whole MacBook too. So, no thanks.
- 8by3 27d agoI'm so happy I stopped caring about new phones about five years ago, since then I've spent about $200 on phones – for a used pixel 8 that I installed GrapheneOS on. Consumerism is mad.
- asdff 27d agoOnly 5 years ago? I feel like they stopped getting interesting and started getting increasingly worse like 5 years in. I'm still pissed off about the headphone jack. 5s/SE1 is still peak iPhone for me. I pull that thing out of the drawer every now and then and just marvel and the size and weight and how it is barely noticeable in my pocket even compared to my (ginormous in comparison) SE2.
- 8by3 26d agoWhenever the 12 mini came out, that was the last new phone I bought, and it still works great, although I prefer to use Graphene than iOS.
- n42 27d agoI am really quite disappointed this was not taken as an opportunity to make the default form factor smaller. Instead it seems like the folded mode is larger than a pro max, which is insane. I guess I'll just continue with the normal phones. It seems they are segmenting the market on creator vs consumer between the pro and the duo, and betting the consumers want this form factor.
- sroussey 27d agoThe pro max is like 6.9” screen and the duo is 5.4”? How is that bigger? Perhaps wider, but the thumb should have better reach and coverage of the screen.
- n42 27d agoiPhone 18 Pro: 2.83 inches wide iPhone 18 Pro Max: 3.07 inches wide iPhone Duo: 3.31 inches wide my issue with phone sizes has never been their height, and has always been about resting in my palm. https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/ https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/
- sroussey 26d agoFor me, I can never reach the bottom or top. Sideways has never been an issue. I would like a non-foldable version of this phone. Call it the iPhone Wide or IPhone Mini Wide or whatever.
- cyberax 27d agoThe rounded corners look ridiculous on this phone. They also cut off a non-trivial part of the displayed content now.
- joemi 27d agoWhy is that area non-trivial? Do you use anything that has important content in the very corners? I've never seen anything that has important content in the areas this cuts off. I'm really curious about your use of corners!
- cyberax 27d agoIt makes this area unusable if you want to show a page in a book reader, for example. Or a movie/video. I also like to spectate games on Twitch/Youtube, and corners are often used for important stats.
- joemi 27d agoThe corners aren't rounded enough to impact those things though.
- cyberax 27d agoThey absolutely are. Or they make things uncomfortably cramped, e.g.: https://www.apple.com/v/iphone-duo/a/images/overview/product-stories/versatility/media__ccpeh3rqgupe_large_2x.jpg https://www.apple.com/v/iphone-duo/a/images/overview/product... You can look at other examples of controls that are way too close to the edge because they need to work around the bloated corners.
- joemi 26d agoI don't think I agree that anything's cramped in the photo you linked to. If you were attempting to point out down at the bottom where it says "Size" that's not a fixed control. That's a webpage, and that's scrollable content on the screen. And if you were attempting to point out the little orange circle in the top-right corner, it's closer to the edge than other things, sure, but that very much looks like it was intentionally put there, not like they put it there because they had nowhere else for it. I've looked at other photos too and haven't seen things that are "way too close to edge", unless it's scrollable content that by its very nature goes right the edge when scrolling (or any phone that doesn't have a software bezel, mind you, not just this one).
- wazzap 27d ago[flagged]
- sgallant 27d agowhy is Apple releasing new products when Siri is falling so short compared to the industry. Make Siri amazing would improve every apple product immensely.
- LoganDark 27d agoSiri is slowly getting better, but Apple's never been about matching the industry. They've always been about being the best Apple they can be. (They haven't followed this perfectly, but they keep re-learning it's the way, every time someone tries to mess with the formula.)
- saaaaaam 27d agoI’m sure I read something about NEW SIRI somewhere. Siri isn’t just falling short, it seems to be getting actively and progressively more useless. My HomePod speakers take about 10 seconds to respond now and often get things wrong.
- toufka 27d agoThe new iOS rebrands Gemini as Siri - and from all accounts of the public beta, it's pretty decent, and an enormous upgrade from the current/old Siri.
- Maken 26d agoI don't think the people working on new hardware is the same that the one working on Siri.
- omidggmh 27d ago[dead]
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- jimt1234 27d agoNot available in US: https://consumer.huawei.com/my/phones/mate-xt-ultimate-design/ https://consumer.huawei.com/my/phones/mate-xt-ultimate-desig...
- bob1029 27d agoThat hinge mechanism looks like some pretty wild engineering to me.
- semiinfinitely 27d agoif only it ran linux
- eddieroger 27d agoIt runs Unix but somehow I bet that doesn't really change anything.
- andrewmlevy 27d agoLove the FaceTime camera behind the display
- arjie 27d agoGenuinely bonkers. I never thought they’d do this. Just seems so like a Xiaomi Xi7 Super Max Fold Z or something. But I have to say that when I used one of those Android folding phones it was quite cool to end up with a big screen in your pocket. Just didn’t feel it was an Appleish product.
- ex-aws-dude 27d agoI don't think the price is that crazy considering how often you use your phone What other item do you own that you spend so many hours using
- nk_kolja 27d agoReminds me of the windows fold phone. ‘‘Twas the best of phones, but out of my price range at the time. Now I have nostalgia of windows phone, the best phone os that never was. Even though I like the form factor I doubt I’d cash out 2k for it, seems like a waste just to spend more time on another screen.
- improgrammer007 27d agoI love my iPhone SE 3rd gen. Perfect form factor. Neither too big nor too small to be able to do useful things on it. My hands and arms hurt using large phones. I am so used to using one hand to operate phones. My previous was iPhone SE 1st gen. Why do people need such a large phone in day to day life usage? Carry an iPad/tablet if you really need one.
- InsideOutSanta 27d agoThe people at Microsoft who made the Surface Duo must be feeling pretty weird seeing this. The name, the aspect ratio, the way the UI works, the gestures for setting up split-screen, the "use it as a tiny laptop" mode... It's all things they pioneered. Not that that's a bad thing. I absolutely loved the Surface Duo, it was my favorite phone until it stopped working correctly, and I hope other Android manufacturers take note of this, not just Samsung. It's just wild to see how similar this new Duo is to the original Duo.
- omidggmh 27d ago[dead]
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 27d agoDid we forget about the vaporware Courier? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmFM9l5RJSg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmFM9l5RJSg
- kllrnohj 27d ago> the "use it as a tiny laptop" mode... It's all things they pioneered. This feature is also standard in existing folding phones. It's a pretty obvious feature tbh.
- LeoPanthera 27d agoI thought the Pixel Fold didn't support this? No landscape keyboard?
- kllrnohj 26d agoPixel Fold has had it for a few years, it's called "tabletop mode". Beyond just the keyboard "mini laptop" style, different apps also have special UIs for it, too. Like youtube puts playback controls on it.
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- tamimio 27d agoIf there was an iPhone like a pen in form factor (like nokia 7280) I would buy it in a heartbeat.
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- throw03172019 27d agoHow will a case work on this thing?
- tcmart14 27d agohttps://www.apple.com/shop/product/mkr64zm/a/iphone-duo-folio-with-kickstand-taupe https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mkr64zm/a/iphone-duo-foli... Addition for anyone scrolling: Link to a case on Apple's website for this. Another addition: Another case without the kickstand https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mkr94zm/a/iphone-duo-case-sand https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mkr94zm/a/iphone-duo-case...
- bartvk 27d agoOh gosh, it leaves the edge exposed. Crazy. I would not, under any circumstance, use that official case. My experience; I walked with an iPad Pro in my hand and I went to an interview, so I was a bit nervous. I let the iPad slip out of my hand. It had the official Apple cover, which leaves the edge exposed. So it falls, and drops such that it dents the side. This in turn cracks the display. I learned that Apple will not replace a display when the frame is damaged.
- throw03172019 26d agoSorry to hear that. I hope you got the job at least.
- leptons 27d agoDo you think this is the first folding phone that ever existed? There are plenty of cases for folding phones, they've been around for many years already. Cases for this phone will likely work exactly the same.
- maitola 27d agoSteve Jobs is folding in his grave.
- bottlepalm 27d agoThis. He would have never approved a foldable phone, the iPhone Air, or the Vision Pro. Apple is back to throwing shit at the wall like they were in the 90s. Directionless. Visionless.
- ishtanbul 27d agoHe launched the macbook air. Iphone air seems right up his alley.
- samdixon 27d agonow that the duo is out, the air seems like a tech demo they needed to validate sold to the public
- antaviana 27d agoWhat are the drawbacks of the Air? Genuinely asking, as that is the one that seems more appealing to me if I had to buy one now.
- hapticmonkey 26d agoAs an iPhone Air owner here’s my honest take: Build quality, screen, and performance are all fantastic. No compromises there. Compromises are battery, no additional camera lenses. Single speaker. Some niche USB limits. Battery life is fine overall but on days of heavy use/travel it’s noticeable. Single camera lens is ok but I do miss the telephoto on occasion. Single speaker gets made fun of online, but for any serious listening you’re going to use headphones anyway. Charge speed via USB is lower than the pros and you can’t do video-out over USB.
- butlike 26d ago
- dyauspitr 27d agoWhat I am most interested in is what the fold line looks like and I guess we won’t know until we start getting YouTube reviews.
- rudyp_dev 27d agoReally want information about if there is a left-handed software setting for the new side-oriented buttons
- sroussey 27d agoRight handed women (which is a giant market) are going to love this thing.
- reaperducer 27d agoThey do it for the watch, so it should be on their radar.
- accrual 27d agoYes, I also was curious about left-handed users watching the demo, it seems very right-hand oriented at this time. Maybe there will be a toggle in Settings to switch some of the UI around, kind of like how Apple Watch asks which wrist it's wrapped around.
- willis936 27d agoIt makes the worst part of the iphone: text entry, even worse. I love the idea of a more capable PDA, but typing is more important than ever and it must be improved. Keyboards need to be a focus. Use eye tracking, use finger tracking, add physical buttons, just try something. Also, please fix the swiped keyboard software. It's unbearable. Admit it, fix it, quickly please.
- llmslave 27d agoBuying this immediately and getting rid of my laptop, going full AI native to do all my work. Never sitting in front of a laptop again.
- jldugger 27d agoCongratulations on your self promotion into management.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- SJMG 27d agoWow coming apple pencil support! That will be pretty awesome.
- cloud8421 27d agoI thought so as well, but where do you put it when the phone is folded?
- xutopia 27d agoI get excited about this but that's because I want this... not because I need it. What I actually need might be less of an iPhone and more of a nano than a duo. Something small and portable that doesn't make me spend every spare second on the phone.
- kursus 26d agoA dumb phone (or a glorified apple watch) that unfolds into an iphone, I would pay for this.
- pier25 27d agoFoldables seem like Homer's car to me. It's a worse phone and a worse tablet all in one. For reference: https://media.wired.com/photos/593252a1edfced5820d0fa07/3:2/w_2240,c_limit/the-homer-inline4.jpg https://media.wired.com/photos/593252a1edfced5820d0fa07/3:2/...
- gruez 27d agoJust like people complaining about "phablets" a decade ago right? "more bulky than a phone, smaller than a tablet"?
- noncoml 26d agoDid the “phablets” take over the world?
- bigstrat2003 26d agoI mean kinda, yeah. Since that's literally the only kind of smartphone you can get nowadays.
- MattDamonSpace 26d ago100% there’s no “normal size” iPhones anymore
- pier25 26d agothe iPhone 16e is normal although I concede it's an exception
- mock-possum 26d agoThe SE is the closest you can get
- kursus 26d agoSE isn't sold anymore, and just like the Mini most of the NOS found today is actually refurbished.
- TSiege 27d agoFoldable gimmicks aside the new materials and components sound really cool. How they have the screen layers that move freely seems innovative. The new ceramic they’re using for the outer shell/screen sounds great and I hope we see it in more of their devices: “Ceramic Shield 2 on the outer display reduces glare and provides 3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation”
- neovive 27d agoI wonder if there's a practical way to protect the phone with a case, given that it folds and the dual screen is a big selling point. It feels like one accidental drop on concrete or a ceramic floor would cause a lot of damage.
- Someone1234 27d agoIt actually looks really nice; and I'd consider myself their target demographic conceptually. My last iPhone was a Pro for context. But at a $2K starting price, plus likely another $200 for the storage size they really expect people to purchase, in this economy, it is so far outside of my price range it is dead to me. Which is to say: Cool tech, but I've already dismissed it as something I want evaluate for my next phone just based on price alone. That's maybe the real death-nail for folding phones: Price hasn't yet shifted to allow them to be mass market rather than enthusiast phones.
- user43928 27d agoIn my location I can order the Z Fold 8 for cheaper than the 18 Pro Max, and I can see in the price history that it has also been available for cheaper than the regular 18 Pro. If I wouldn't at the moment focus on developing iOS apps, the Z Fold 8 would be very tempting.
- groundzeros2015 26d agoThat’s why these comparisons are silly. Ok sure there is a cool Samsung phone. Are you going to switch ecosystems for it? Probably not.
- anon7000 25d ago> But at a $2K starting price, plus likely another $200 for the storage size they really expect people to purchase Idk why I’d need a lot of storage on the phone. Photos/videos get backed up elsewhere. The only thing that eats storage like that is downloading a lot of offline movies, or taking lots of videos. But this doesn’t have the same camera chops as the iPhone pro.
- erelong 27d agointeresting design, would like a phone that opens up with a touch-typeable keyboard / nub mouse (to be like a pocket laptop / umpc)
- FpUser 27d ago>"breakthrough foldable design" - and what exact part of it is "breakthrough"? Do they have "invisible fold"?
- miramba 27d agoI want the hardware, but with Linux! SteamOS or bazzite would be a good start..
- Krastan 27d agoI'm surprised they weren't able to figure out face id and had to go back to touch id.
- Game_Ender 27d agoApple often aggressively cuts scope like this on first generation products and then brings back the features in the future updates. Maybe it’s to provide a reason to upgrade, maybe it’s just good project management but iPhone Duo 2 having “dual FaceID” sounds like something Apple would do. Look at the low end iPhone’s slowing getting better screens, TouchID, and then FaceID.
- MattDamonSpace 27d agoPhone’s already expensive enough and unless they have inner and outer faceid then they need touchid anyway
- amiga-workbench 27d agoThey would have had to make an even larger section of the OLED translucent and traded internal space for an IR dot projector and a second camera beside the main one. It would have made an even larger splotch of the screen look odd.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- thih9 27d agoI'm surprised people like Face ID so much, it very often doesn't work for me. I frequently want to unlock a phone when I'm not looking at it or my face is not visible. Having Touch ID is a feature for me.
- dude250711 27d agoThis would have been quite impressive just 5 years ago.
- meetpateltech 27d agoAnyone noticed the headline has two "Hello"s for a phone that folds in two? John Ternus' first tweet was just "hello" and he opened the event the same way. This has to be on purpose.
- dermacentor 25d agoIt's not that deep.
- b3ing 27d agoI wonder if you can hook it up to a monitor and use it like macOS. That would be the killer phone and killer laptop, then you just need to connect a mouse in and display or tv and work wherever. But I doubt Apple will ever do that, I don’t think they are bold enough to cannibalize their laptops. Imagine being able to hook up a small slab to a keyboard or mouse Bluetooth then connect to a monitor, tablet or hotel tv, like the Samsung Dex can do. And run full laptop/desktop applications. One can dream
- TYPE_FASTER 27d agoHuh, I kinda like the form factor of the folded Duo...don't even need to unfold it...
- a_e_k 27d ago$2000! I really don't get why people spend so much on flagship phones! I tend to aim for $200 Motos for me and my family, and it feels like it's a 90%+ solution at a tenth of the price. I can still browse the web, text with people, make calls, listen to music, and take pictures. They still last for years, and if they get dropped and the screen cracks, it just means its time to upgrade. What am I missing here?
- BryantD 27d agoI'm not getting a first generation of these things but if I could replace my iPad and my iPhone with this, the economics start to make more sense. Not for everyone, of course, but it'd be within my budget for replacing both devices. I'm not sure the unfolded version will be big enough to truly replace my iPad Pro, though.
- cyberpunk 27d agoThe camera, mostly.
- matroxmemories 27d agoPeople spend $30k extra to buy an Audi A6 instead of a Honda Accord daily. So spending $1800 extra on a nice experience is still better than $30k extra.
- danielbln 27d agoWell, this one folds, so you get a much larger screen surface that still fits in your pocket. And $200 won't get you that from any vendor. And while the low end phones have gotten amazingly good, a flag ship will still have a much better camera, better screen, better battery etc. If that's worth the price is a decision everyone has to make for themselves. Sidenote, I've not had a single one of my smartphones crack a screen since 2008 when I got my first smartphone, take that for what it's worth.
- theokrueger 27d agoyou're missing blue bubbles, computational photography, and FOMO. re: nothing actually important. many people have a phone as their only device though, so great screens and cameras and everything else are easily rationalized behind the managable cost of carrier plan's indirect loan.
- techteach00 27d agoA foldable iPad that can make phone calls?
- accrual 27d agoSeems that way! Small detail, but I liked that the front display can be used for taking selfies with the main camera. Opens the door for slightly nicer selfies with the self or friends, versus stuck with front camera or shooting blind.
- thenthenthen 26d agoInfluencers…
- MYEUHD 27d agoIt took them only 7 years to catch up to Samsung! 10 years from now people will claim Apple invented folding smartphones or made them mainstream, just like they claim the same thing now about smartwatches.
- perching_aix 27d agoI'm not sure whether this counts substantive enough, but WOW that thing looks absolutely comical, lol Naturally, I can already see people deeming it to be the most beautiful thing ever though. Truly, I'll never understand Apple, nor their design language.
- andrewla 27d agoAnnoying that they gave this thing touch id but not the non-folding version. Restoring Touch ID is one of the things that might make me upgrade my existing iPhone before its time.
- heisenbit 27d agoLet's wait and see how well this Touch ID works. My alarm bells went off when it was mentioned in conjunction with the Apple Watch also being able to unlock it.
- andrewla 26d agoThey have a side-button based Touch ID on the iPads already. I've used it there and it works great. Not as nice as the old button iPhone (RIP) but totally usable.
- zuInnp 27d agoI tried the Samsung one with the same form factor in a store , and that is pretty nice. As someone traveling via plane or train, I can easily see myself using this and not carrying my tablet with me. However, just too expensive for my taste. I get a lot of new batteries for my current 12 pro for that price .
- throwaway13337 27d agoIt's so close to the "her" wallet thing that the main character pulls out to look at photos. It's just too big, and too metal. The form factor is good. I hope things move this direction. More broadly, it's interesting that the movie has a beautiful future aesthetic that influenced tech most in the recent years. The muted colors with natural materials mixed with ubiquitous tech that was in the background of a human in a humane world where people mostly walk places. I feel like the AI company aesthetic barrowed a lot from that movie. Right down to their office furniture. Now we just need to make a phone OS to put something like that on that isn't locked down. Forget the year of desktop linux. I am waiting for the year of phone linux. Android doesn't count.
- ClarityJones 27d agoI see some iPhone Pro Max buyers getting this simply because they paid around $1200 last year, then after trade-in ($885 for a 17PM), they could get into the Duo for $1,200. If someone had that amount of disposable income last year, they might have it to throw at another upgrade this year.
- fudged71 27d agoA 2.39:1 cinematic movie occupies about 16.13 in² on Duo and 16.26 in² on 18 Pro Max
- alfanick 27d agoIt's made for viewing 70mm IMAX /s
- Game_Ender 27d agoiPhone Duo 2 with working dual FaceID cameras will be a headline feature for sure.
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- parasxos 27d agoThis will be another flop just like the iPhone Air. $2000 is f**ing crazy. A MacBook Pro is the same price haha. The storage is also shit 256gb??
- accrual 27d agoI wonder if the iPhone Air was something like a pilot or beta test for the Duo. Getting things as thin as possible and shipping it before attaching two of them together. FWIW I feel there's more demand for foldables (Google/Samsung/Microsoft have demonstrated some) than there is for ultra thin phones with the tradeoffs those entail.
- MattDamonSpace 27d agoAir’s the best iPhone they’ve ever made imo
- LoganDark 27d agoI see the nano-texture is non-negotiable -- you won't get a clear screen with the Duo. I'm incredibly skeptical of this, and I'll have to check it out once it's in-store to see if that's even something I could tolerate in daily use. When I checked out a Studio Display with nano-texture, I could not stand it because of the shimmery rainbow grain, somewhat like staring through Scotch tape, and the general fuzziness of text. Not sure if that's improved, since Apple doesn't address flaws in their past products.
- timpera 27d agoPanos Panay must be so vindicated right now. The Surface Duo truly was ahead of its time.
- MattDamonSpace 27d agoThe right idea at the wrong time is the wrong idea
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- rsync 27d ago"Short everything this guy has ever touched ..."
- minimaxir 27d agoHere's the Tech Specs page, which is slightly more hidden: https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/ Notably, the inner screen has a nano‑texture finish (which Apple normally upcharges significantly for), which implies it is glass.
- guyzero 27d agoin the keynote they explicitly said it was a polymer. Apple materials technology is really good, but it's not "folding glass" good.
- torgoguys 27d agoVery strange how in the middle of a specs page for the device they a pitch there suggesting you get an Apple Card (formatted on the spec page as if it was actually a spec of this device) before continuing on with the rest of the specs/features. I haven't looked, but am guessing the probably exists on other Apple specs pages.
- likelybot 27d ago[dead]
- toxik 27d ago$2000 is crazy talk
- fsuts 26d agoIt’s a status symbol Think how much some people spend for the watch on their wrist or on jewellery.
- krttherealest 27d agosamsung fold lookalike
- jey 27d agoPersonally I love this concept. I’d be able to stop carrying my laptop around and just monitor/respond to things via SSH from my phone.
- artmanja111 27d agoI’m not the target market for this phone at all, but I have to wonder how many people are going to take the 256 GB option for $1,999. It feels like that option only exists so they could show a starting price under $2,000. The 512 GB version for $2,199 seems like option you’d really want as a minimum, and then you’d need to add AppleCare on top of that. Pricey!
- bilsbie 27d agoDo you think this would work well for coding?
- adrianmonk 27d agohttps://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/ It took me a while to figure out I had to click "Explore" to get to the specs, so I'm saving you the trouble. As long as I'm griping about the web site... Apple, when you introduce a phone with a new and different form factor, please just tell me the dimensions straightaway. This one is shorter and wider than most phones. Is it too wide to fit in my pocket? I need the dimensions to answer that question.
- user43928 27d agoIt's a bit disappointing that it's 50g heavier than the Z Fold 8, and similar to the Pixel 9 Pro fold in weight and thickness, at 254 g / 5.2 mm / 11.3 mm.
- 2001zhaozhao 26d agoI guess that's the tradeoff for Pencil support and the under screen camera. I'm still salty these were removed from Samsung folds after the Fold 6, but having a thinner phone is nice too.
- cesarvarela 27d agoThe transition effect from closed to open is so chef's kiss; the little things that set Apple apart.
- oliv__ 27d agoI feel bad for iOS developers... Good luck supporting yet another format for your apps
- mc3301 26d agoI'll just use something like flutter's um... MediaQuery.of(context).isFolded ? BuildHalfApp() ? BuildWholeApp();
- ksec 27d agoI think the Duo looks great. And from the few hands on video I have seen I think the Apple presentation actually doesn't do it justice. There is no crease at all! [1] On the note on this year's keynote. I can't be the only one who feels the whole vibe of the keynote changed. This isn't Tim Cook style keynote and John Ternus wasted no time to try and changed a few things already. I can't wait for John to further shake things up at Apple. But everything so far, all the small minor details suggest they are in the right direction. [1] https://x.com/mweinbach/status/2097753099159138631?s=46 https://x.com/mweinbach/status/2097753099159138631?s=46
- callumprentice 27d agoAgreed. I am excited to see what changes appear. I did enjoy the "One more thing" + smirk bit too.
- hatsunearu 27d agoThe crease appears after months of use on other phones, so I'm curious what it would look like after a little bit of wear.
- testfrequency 27d agoBased on rumours Samsung finally cracked the secret on removing creases…iPhone is just the latest model on the market with the technology from them. That said..I believe I’ve also seen some Chinese models ready claim this.
- kasabali 26d ago> Based on rumours Samsung finally cracked the secret on removing creases… That's every year since it's introduction
- zimpenfish 27d agoYeah, I'm interested but I'll definitely give it a year or two for other people to discover any durability problems before committing (plus it's missing a lens option compared to the 18 Pro but that's a minor quibble.)
- dramm 27d agoThis is the kind of product the make all out lives better. I mean the pure entertainment value it will bring being able to watch eager Apple fan bois new iPhone Duo screen crack, or the hinges start grinding, or ...
- vonStackelberg 27d agoI have not much to say about the device, probably great. But the image selection for showcasing the camera improvements seems odd. As a non US person, i have the impression it tries to tailor its branding the most cliche type of peer groups. The result seems quite ridiculous
- rafram 27d agoI don’t see anything that odd about them. They’re young models of various ethnicities - basically the same people you’d see modeling the clothes at a store like Target. And they’re wearing/doing things that seem relatable to Apple’s core upper-middle-class customer base.
- k__ 27d agoNice form factor. I have a Samsung Fold 4. The front screen is too narrow and the folding screen doesn't open all the way anymore. Not what I expected from a 1400€ phone.
- TYPE_FASTER 27d agoHuh, I kinda like the form factor of the folded Duo...don't even need to unfold it...
- roundabout-host 27d agoInteresting, but of no use as I can't replace its OS.
- dinkleberg 27d agoIt looks quite well done, though I'm definitely not in the target demographic for this. I'm happy with my high-end desktop devices and shittier mobile devices. The last thing I want is for my phone to be more capable and incentivize me to use it more lol. I use mine to call, text, listen to music, check email, use the map, track workouts, and basic web browsing. I don't need more than that.
- RistrettoMike 27d agoI'm in the exact same boat. I already gave Apple a bunch of money for something with a hinge this summer, and it's a Mac that can actually run a terminal, a proper desktop browser, or even something wacky like x86 games through a compatibility layer, etc. No way I prioritize that kind of cash on something that only runs mobile-tier software.
- jonathanlb 27d agoMy hope is that Apple getting in on this design will influence eBook makers to jump on the bandwagon.
- hypfer 27d agoWhy do these things exist? I mean I do understand the appeal of the idea of folding smartphones, but I did not hear about any miracle material breakthroughs lately. So.. how can this exist? Why does it say that it is durable, when it has to be made out of materials that cannot be durable or else they wouldn't fold. Did something change there and I'm just using stale data for that assessment, or is "durability" just not as valuable to the target audience?
- crooked-v 27d agoSo where's the add-on that adds a thumbstick and some buttons so I can play DS games on it?
- gib444 27d agoIn practice, it'll just be for TikTok (or other shorts) permanently on one side, right? I guess people spend more money than even this on other addictions
- altern8 27d agoI feel like the aspect ratio is a lot better than existing phones. It's basically a tablet.
- dzonga 27d agofor a first foldable iteration - apple has hit it out the park compared to other foldables on the market. when the google & Samsung ones first came out they were plagued with problems. but I think apple should've also had a foldable in the form of a razr ultra since they already have an iPhone air.
- bee_rider 27d agoUsually Apple waits for other companies to work out the low-hanging-fruit problems, so they don’t have to release a device with a bunch of low-hanging-fruit mistakes. As a result, you shouldn’t grade them on the “first iteration” scale. They intentionally waited for other companies to work out the details and now their device gets to compete with the developed offerings of those companies. It still looks quite decent though.
- JohnHaugeland 27d agomy beloved surface duo has returned <3
- cute_boi 27d agoWhats the point of big screen when we can't even install the app we want. Sideloading works for 7 days and there is artificial limitation of 7-8 App Ids which sucks.
- mrcwinn 27d agoWhat is it about Hacker News that draws only criticism and negativity? Is it even possible to build a community that's optimistic?
- lbreakjai 27d agoIt looks beautiful, but it’s definitely not something I’d buy in its first generation. I'd really want to wait and see how it fares after a year of real life usage.
- teekert 27d agoLooking forward to the first broken screens, and Apple's official reply: "You're folding it wrong."
- emacdona 27d agoI used to be one of those people that would countdown the hours to Apple's launch events and tune in for the live stream. I was never someone who updated my iPhone every year, but I _did_ update my iPhone every two years. Now, I can't even remember what version iPhone I have. I just remember that I bought it after my last one stopped working (after maybe 5 or 6 years of having it). I won't lie: part of the reason is that I'm just getting older and care less about these things. But a bigger part is that new tech just isn't fun anymore... I _hate_ using my current iPhone for surfing the web... because I can't run the full suite of ad-blocking software that I run on my computer (Firefox + uBlock, sponsor block; Little Snitch with tons of block lists). I hate that all that ad-blocking software is necessary... but that's a totally different rant. I _hate_ that I'm being asked to spend $2000 on a device that will, by default, surveil me 24x7. I can spend HOURS trying to disable every feature designed to track me... and still not be certain that somewhere in the TOS that I've still given permission for them to vacuum up SOME piece of information about me. And I _hate_ that Apple is now an ad company. And yes, I acknowledge that with respect to privacy, Apple is STILL the less bad choice (compared to Android). And yes, I acknowledge that there are other options. In fact, when this iPhone dies, I plan on getting a Pixel and putting GrapheneOS on it. I guess what I'm saying is... I hope that there are more people like me out there... who are sick of paying thousands of dollars for devices that, instead of serving me, serve those who want to collect my information so they can sell me stuff. edit: "because I can't" instead of "because can't"
- voidfunc 27d agoLol $2K. Fuck that.
- stock_toaster 27d agoGive me a single-screen phone the size of this thing closed, and use the extra space inside for more battery and not more displays. Aside: I'd also love it if it could be plugged into an external display and have a "desktop mode" (like a macos VM) that gets suspended/resumed on connect/disconnect instead of just expanding the "mobile mode" across the new screen. I realize this is probably a dream too far for most companies though, as it doesn't allow them to segment the market as much as requiring people to buy multiple devices.
- anonu 27d agojust buy this phone and don't open it up
- stock_toaster 26d agoNice. That's right up there with "pretty sure a macbook pro could fit into most cargo pants pockets".
- topranks 27d agoI remember Ubuntu were going for that “dock it and it’s a full computer” idea about 10 years back with their failed phone OS project.
- siddthesquid 27d agoI'm a bit biased here, but I feel like the more form factors we introduce, the worse apps are going to get as developers now have to account for it (and they won't, eg YouTube on ipad). Do people actually like foldable phones enough?
- jdprgm 27d ago$2,000 for a fucking phone. We really have collectively lost the plot.
- bee_rider 27d agoIt looks neat but I’m confused by the layout. It has a smaller screen on the “outside” and then a big foldable double screen on the “inside.” Why? Why not wrap around the outside? You’d get to use all of the screen real estate at once, and the fold would be around a larger radius. I’m sure there’s a good reason but what is it?
- skavi 27d agoThat design was explored years ago with earlier foldables. The market consolidated on the two screen design pretty early. not entirely sure why, but i’d guess there were durability concerns with the screen wrapping around the edge. might have also felt weird to hold. potentially the crease would be worse in unfolded mode as well.
- Jeremy1026 27d agoMy guess is the reason is, "how much screen would a user be willing to lose to the rear cameras?"
- DamnInteresting 27d agoFrom a mechanical perspective, a screen around the outside would create a wrinkle rather than a crease when opened, and that wrinkle would be substantial. The phone would need some sliding/rolling mechanism to pull the screen flat. Possibly doable, but finicky and fragile. Especially considering elements like cameras, touch ID, etc. From an experience perspective, I imagine it's just more satisfying to open it like a book. A screen on the outside would mean the inside is almost empty, just utilities like camera lenses.
- croes 27d agoDoes this hand look normal? https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/1/as-images.apple.com/is/iphone-duo-finish-unselect-gallery-4-202609_FMT_WHH https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/1/as-images.apple.co...
- fortran77 27d agoSee also: Microsoft Surface Duo https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/?msockid=23b070bbb5b7618f06fb67edb4c16020 https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/?msockid=23b070bbb5b76... Can Apple do anything original?
- ChrisMarshallNY 27d agoAbsolutely none of the announcements today, make me want to go out and get something. I am giving the Duo a year or two, to work out the bugs, and get more capability. The extra screen space isn't really interesting to me. The only ones I might consider, are the new base AirPods. I have never really warmed to the Pros (I have two pairs, but like the regular ones better). I am looking forward to iOS27. I'm interested in seeing how the simulator presents the Duo.
- arghtw 27d agoAm I the only one not interested in a folding phone?
- roshanabdullah1 27d agoThis looks like an IPAD in your hands. looks great <3
- officeplant 27d agoWill have to give it a fingernail test in the apple store so I'm not destroying my own $2000 phone.
- evan_ 27d agoJerryRigEverything will deploy his hardness pick test in short order I'm sure.
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- anonu 27d agoAs a recent Android foldable phone owner (Google Pixel), I'm excited that the Duo will get developers to actually design apps for foldables. Right now, some apps don't work at all and others are just stretched. I feel a better use of the screen space is around the corner for both Android foldable and Duo users.
- etchalon 27d agoDevelopers will design apps for Apple's foldables.
- bel8 27d agoCross-platform is a thing. If anyting, Apple stands to gain from what was already developed for Android. Like https://developer.android.com/phones-tablets-foldables https://developer.android.com/phones-tablets-foldables Which targets iOS also: https://kotlinlang.org/compose-multiplatform https://kotlinlang.org/compose-multiplatform
- balder1991 26d agoIt is a thing to some extent, but there’s also a correlation of companies that do cross-platform for simple apps being cheap on development, and making it work very well on some specific platform isn’t their priority.
- raydev 26d agoReact Native and Flutter are way more popular than KMM/CM, and yet both have struggled to support even small iOS visual changes in a timely fashion. This is ignoring the fact that developers who choose these cross-platform frameworks don't seem to care much about quality and general polish.
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- Danox 26d ago
- stillpointlab 27d agoThese threads are often amusing with people obliviously asking: why doesn't Apple make exactly what I want? And then stating with certainty how well their custom requirements would sell. I'll probably wait and see how this phone does over the next few years. If it is still highly regarded by version 3 then I could imagine making the switch to a folding phone. For now I will remain conservative since my phone is such a critical piece of tech.
- varispeed 27d agoBeing average person is like winning lottery. Everyone is making products for you.
- cromka 26d agoAlso you get most anonymity on the internet because they can't fingerprint you.
- mikestorrent 26d agoAll those John Smiths out there are laughing at me
- illiac786 26d agoEveryone is unique, even if average. They 100% can fingerprint anyone.
- Barbing 26d agoEspecially once you interact with a site. Who types, clicks, or swipes just like you?
- tencentshill 26d agoAn average person would ironically be quite unique. https://www.buildingtheelite.com/average-fails-everyone/ https://www.buildingtheelite.com/average-fails-everyone/
- SirFatty 27d agoThink different :-D
- hbarka 27d agoThere’s a standard for paper sizes called the ISO 216 international standard, aka A-series paper sizes. You may be familiar with it outside of the American 8.5”x11” letter size. The simplicity, for example, where an A3 sheet is exactly twice the area of A4. One A3 sheet folded in half becomes two A4 sheets. This is intentional: when you fold or divide an A-series sheet exactly in half, the resulting sheets have the same proportions as the prior. The aspect ratio is preserved across all A-series paper sizes. The iPhone Duo is designed with this in mind. The aspect ratio any way you view it, folded or open, is preserved. Apple design knows a thing or two.
- incognition 27d agoI mean, I wouldn't hate it if they got into cars
- butlike 26d agoAn Apple Miata is the dream. Take the design team from the MX-5 NA days and marry it to Apple's design team. Both are exemplar in engineering and the result has me drooling as I day dream here.
- vonStackelberg 27d agoOn a side note, the amount of text on the page is just crazy. I remember older releases of apple products being basically just a slide show. Now we have a wall of text and image carousels?
- justinator 27d agoNot sure if this new reimagining of the Apple Vision Pro is going to make it a hit.
- hackerbeat 27d agocool. now can we please get a 32 inch iMac next?
- wiradikusuma 27d ago"Seated. Set iPhone Duo down and watch a show or follow a workout at the perfect viewing angle — with easy access to the controls on the bottom." -- Is the outside screen REALLY that strong? Is it okay to put it on a rough surface like gravel?
- dionian 27d agocurrent iphone would have no issue with this as long as you dont apply pressure.
- happyopossum 26d ago> Is the outside screen REALLY that strong iPhone 17 pro glass is insanely strong
- deergomoo 26d agoI think the idea is the outside screen would be propped up, not on the ground. Though I do wonder if the outside-screen-down orientation is supported.
- jazzpush2 27d agoI would legitimately purchase a 'smart' phone that's just basically a 15-year old flip phone with maps and a modern battery + software stack. Awaiting the inevitable analog trend to kick back up so there are solid options here.
- alooPotato 27d agohonestly an apple watch + airpods is basically that.
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- realty_geek 27d agoCan you just use the 2 without a phone?
- 4lx87 27d agoHave you considered an Apple Watch Ultra? That way you can send/receive messages, calls, do maps and directions, listen to music, etc. but you can't mindlessly scroll media.
- zachlatta 27d agoI just got one of these (https://aiphor.com/products/bluefox-nx1-4-0-android-smartphone https://aiphor.com/products/bluefox-nx1-4-0-android-smartpho...) that I'm hoping to try and make my weekend phone. It's a small Android phone. It runs WhatsApp / Google Maps. I am going to set it up to forward my calls to it on the weekends. It just arrived, so I'm excited to try it out.
- wartywhoa23 27d agoLadies and gentlemen, unfold your planned obsolescence! Be right at the crease of the progress!
- superjan 27d agoThe phone shows a date of April 1 in several screenshots. I would guess that is to pretend that the images were for an april fools joke in case they leaked?
- deleted 27d ago[deleted]
- lofaszvanitt 27d agoBoooring. Apple stopped innovating. They just copy and integrate new things into their phones. Steve Jobs is turning in his grave.
- pipeline_peak 27d agoTotal e-waste product. Everyone knows how badly these things break with moderate use. You’re basically buying with the expectation you’ll have to replace it. Boring company, lost vision.
- digitaltrees 27d agoWhy not make it have equal corners. This forced rounded edges is insane. The lack of symmetry is absolutely bad design
- nvarsj 26d agoWhat's up with all the negativity? Apple is finally doing something radical (for them) again with the iPhone, their bread and butter. And I'm all here for it. 10 years of the same form factor was getting old. I'm gonna buy this on release, easiest decision ever.
- Danox 26d agoI have an 11 Pro iPhone, which I’ve had since 2019 now may be the time to upgrade.
- senordevnyc 26d agoAre you new to HN? There is literally nothing that the users on this site won't bitch and moan about.
- spartanatreyu 26d ago> What's up with all the negativity? It's the horrible form factor. I listed the 3 ways to make a folding phone (with examples) in my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49636355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49636355 If they had chose either of the other two folding formats, and reduced the amount of screen they cut off in the corners, they probably would have had gold on their hands and shifted the market towards foldables. Instead, they chose the bad one.
- nvarsj 26d agoTriple fold just seems awkward as heck, plus you have to design the UI for it around the fold section. I’m pretty bullish on the duo design. Hopefully we see some more unique designs in the future if this works out.
- spartanatreyu 25d ago> Triple fold just seems awkward as heck, plus you have to design the UI for it around the fold section. You don't have to design UI around the fold, it's seamless in regular use. It's just a tablet.
- hinkley 26d agoI feel like they should have started with a folding iPad.
- olalonde 26d agoLooks quite similar to the Huawei Pura X Max[0]. Funny how the cycle inverted. [0] https://consumer.huawei.com/cn/phones/pura-x-max/ https://consumer.huawei.com/cn/phones/pura-x-max/
- amelius 26d agoThis defeats the purpose. Even when folded it is too large! Fail.
- tiffanyh 26d agoI’m in a weird spot because my iPad is old and my iPhone old. So I’m in the market to buy new ones of each. So I’m now having to decide if I just buy the Duo … instead of a new phone and new iPad. But seems like a worse phone and worse iPad - than standalone. (it does look like the best foldable I’ve seen though)
- twalichiewicz 26d agoCurious to see all the new interaction paradigms people come up with now that we have something physical that can sense degrees of freedom. A dumb one off the top of my head: When reading a book with both screens open, have the outer display show the cover of the book, and closing and opening the screens together causes a page turn. (Unfortunately also a great way to rapidly wear out the hinge mechanism.)
- jw1224 26d agoThere are some amusing apps which read the MacBook's lid angle sensor. I remember one of them played a creaking noise through the speakers when you open or close it... Somehow I doubt App Store review will let that in for the Duo, but we can always hope.
- twalichiewicz 26d agoI still remember when people realized the MacBook had a sudden motion sensor and used it to make lightsaber noises: https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-a-lightsaber/ https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-...
- nazgulnarsil 26d ago9oz
- throwaway613746 26d ago[dead]
- zug_zug 26d ago$2000 are they serious?
- ModernMech 26d agoSPOILER WARNING: There is huge spoiler for Silo in this ad if anyone is watching the show. Don't view if you don't want to learn the ending to Season 1.
- kelvinjps10 26d agoLooks very similar to Samsung z fold
- Nevermark 26d agoJohn Ternus, and his co-presenters, still presented with the now institutionalized Apple-voice: obviously-rehearsed, emotionally-flat, robo-replay. They spent their time practicing to recite, instead of talk, to people. So hard to sit through. I had assumed that was a genuine, if not inspiring, reflection of Cook's controlled non-spontaneous personality. Relative to Steve's emotionally-rich casual-coded excited-to-share delivery.
- ardit33 26d agoGive him 6 months... usually it takes a bit to change things around (including marketing / pr presentations). But, he has been part of Apple for too long, and probably has internalized that style. Hope he brings good change though...
- tiffanyh 26d agoPeople under estimate how hard it is to talk naturally in front of a camera. There’s a reason why acting as a profession exists.
- ricardobeat 26d agoApple trying to make presenters 'act professionaly' is the problem, not the solution. Somehow it worked pre Apple campus?
- vegabook 26d agoInfinite Loop seems to have missed somehow. The old Apple with multiple dodgy buildings all over the show was perhaps a bit more chaotically creative. Now it all seems very rehearsed, architected. Too perfect, just like the campus.
- Nevermark 26d agoDo they? I think everyone knows how many hours they practiced and the depth of talent they could draw from. The inhuman consistency demonstrates a deliberate choice, that undermines their own message. Care about impact wasn't just a Steve quirk, it was the reason keynotes were worth having. Try saying "And one more thing..." in recent-Apple voice, without laughing or crying.
- erkt 26d agoWho even wants this?
- senordevnyc 26d agoIt's particularly funny that you posted this after literally 1000+ comments on this thread, many of whom are responding to this positively. This will sell great.
- ok_dad 26d agoI would be excited if they shrunk a full laptop into a smaller format for working, but I can’t be excited about another device to steal my attention. Give me a device that’s the size of a mini tablet that expands into a laptop, not this abomination that just wants my eyeballs on advertising.
- dataspencer 26d agoThe completely non-optional case situation for this is going to be a nightmare
- grant20 26d agoWhat is still missing is non foldable passport format. It is just great fit one hand operation
- piskov 26d agoI am left-handed (as is 1 in 10?), new UI really makes it unusable: dock and buttons are at the right side instead of being at the bottom. And given the selfie camera position, I really doubt there is an accessibility setting to mirror the UI.
- khernandezrt 26d agoTim Cook you sly dog!
- jessetemp 26d agoI would like to buy just the back half please. I’m not even joking. I couldn’t find the exact dimensions but at 5.4” diagonal, that would make it even easier to use one handed than the mini
- 2001zhaozhao 26d agoThe issue with this form factor is that the on-screen keyboard will take up half the screen on landscape with the phone open. Typing in portrait should be very nice, however.
- tripleee 26d agoThat starting $2000 price tag.. is this going to be another Vision Pro? Put MacOS on it and then we'll talk
- noncoml 26d ago> is this going to be another Vision Pro? 100% The market for a phone like this is extremely small and the price makes it even smaller.
- tty456 26d agoExact words were said numerous times in Apple's lineup over the years. I don't think this is like Vision Pro however
- zamadatix 26d agoI'd take a bet with you on this. Apple Vision Pro has sold something like ~600k units while the Fold7, one of ~a dozen foldables from Samsung, is estimated to have sold ~1.9 million units the first month of being available. The US launch price was also $1,999 for 256 GB.
- SkyeCA 26d agoI think I'm just getting old because I no longer see the appeal nor do I understand the hype of new phones. It bends? Wow a useless gimmick for 3000$, just what I need. I'm sure someone will love it, but it won't be me.
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- stronglikedan 26d agoA bigger screen is nice and all, but it doesn't solve the input problem. Touch inputs are just terrible compared to a keyboard with a pointing device that isn't a finger or stylus. I always thought I had a problem with the size of the screen until I tried a foldable, and that taught me that I simply hate touch inputs on any screen size.
- moooo99 26d agoI have never understood the appeal of foldables, but I guess with Apple launching them now, they're probably going to see significantly improved software support within the next few years
- nfgrep 26d agoThis is neat but feels like an uninspired shot in the dark. Apple’s been turning from industry leading to people pleasing in recent years. Not that its a bad thing entirely, but something is lost.
- hombre_fatal 26d agoThis is pretty cool as a next-gen mini replacement. The one downside of my iPhone 13 mini is the rare case where I do need more screen. I couldn't spend $2000 on a phone, but I don't mind the direction.
- blago 26d agoI had such high hopes for this phone, but now I know it won’t replace my 13 Mini. It looks so wide you can barely hold it comfortably, let alone use it one-handed — and that's the whole point of a small phone for me.
- gxs 26d agoHonestly not even touching on what the thing actually costs on its own, I don’t like the idea of signaling to people so clearly that I had 2k +tax to spend on a cell phone I’m not always in the best areas so this def comes up for me personally Outside of that I think I’d give this a shot
- JoeOfTexas 26d agoSteve Jobs is rolling in his grave at this atrocious design. Apple is lost without his vision. The hard corners when its folded is a huge design breaker. The whole thing is THICK when folded. Jobs only added the bezel because it competed with the cases wrapped on phones. I don't see how any case will work on this behemoth. I've seen what happens to the fold crease after a year, its a bit noticeable. It will degrade the prestigious quality of the brand. Lastly, this copies all other fold phones. I'm surprised is all.
- LoveMortuus 26d agoTo be honest, I'm still having a hard time believing that Apple would release a device that you can completely ruin with just your fingernail...
- philo23 26d agoI don't see the appeal of foldables personally but the way the screen animates during folding/unfolding is a very clever touch
- deepfriedchokes 26d agoThis is really nice for people who read books and want to ditch carrying around a mini tablet or e-reader, I just wish it had the camera array of the iPhone Pros.
- the_wolo 26d agoSteve Jobs would have hated it
- wayeq 26d agoCan I pay $1,000 and just take one of the smaller halves?
- ricardobeat 26d agoI would love that too. Dual-sided screen, 6mm thick.
- AuthAuth 26d agoThese scroll down websites are so bad on desktop.
- gste 26d agoYou know Steve Jobs would have said it's 2x too thick, 2x too big and way too asymmetrical
- bastard_op 26d agoI can't wait to see how bad the hinge does with ifixit.
- gigatexal 26d agobow howdy imma get one for me and the wife. I'm sold. gonna be expensive but this is a first gen product I could see a ton of use cases for me with.
- jbverschoor 26d agoWayyy too wide. it's wider than the 17Pro. So impossible to operate. It will sell out because it's new. But it will flop. More than the mini and the Air. They should've used the iPhone mini width, and adjust height to that. Super skip..
- tripleee 26d ago10% wider than a pro max. I can't imagine that's going to feel good in your pocket
- diogenescynic 26d ago100% agree. The market for this will be miniscule. Look at how small the market for the iPad mini is. This will be even worse because it's 3x the price and has to be carried as a main device. How many people are wearing pants that can even physically fit this? This device is almost certainly too big to be comfortable in your front pocket. And if you are wearing something like athletic pants it's going to be so heavy it will pull your pants down... It's just impractical.
- slantedview 26d agoVery cool, but yes, the form factor, which is the most crucial point, seems off.
- pattle 26d agoI actually disagree, I think this will be a massive hit. I've long thought that the aspect ratio of a normal phone just feels old fashioned now and sucks for most tasks. So many times I go to do something on my phone and reach for my laptop instead because I know it'll be easier. But with this I could do most things on it.
- steveBK123 26d agoAs someone approaching mid 40s.. Is Apple screen enlargement over the years just matching the aging eyes of their core demographics? Close focal vision degrades, hold phone further, bigger phone useful. Kind of like the stat how burning man is getting older every year cuz its mostly the same GenX cohort going since forever...
- drannex 26d agoScreen size would have always been big, absent production costs and marketing price. Over time display tech just got better and cheaper to finally do it.
- neilalexander 26d agoI would think it has far more to do with content consumption than it does eyesight.
- smilbandit 26d agoI saw it reported that it has a crease. personally I liked the surface duo better with it's 2 seperate screens.
- diogenescynic 26d agoI'm curious how large the market for this will be. I am a big guy and the Pro Max models are already huge in my pocket. How many people are really going to want a phone that is this big and bulky in their pockets? Will we see a rise in cargo pants?
- XorNot 26d agoHas anyone lived with a foldable phone for a while? I just can't believe that the actuated element isnt going to end up a bundle of dead pixels.
- abhinai 26d agoI am buying this.
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- pattle 26d agoI am seriously tempted to get this phone (or the next iteration) when the time comes to upgrade from my iPhone 13. I think the aspect ratio would be perfect for coding on the go which is always a bit painful on a standard phone. Although there's just some inherently uncool about a folding phone, like I'd think twice about getting it out of my pocket at a party
- adulion 26d agohow do i put the inevitable military-grade case on it so when I bounces it off the ground it wont smash?
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- najasapemapetil 26d agoHey Siri, what is "jumping the shark"?
- maxglute 26d agoWhat happened to faceid and island? Is this actually just a straight up Huawei clone.
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- kiriberty 26d agoOh gosh, Phone costs $2K to $3K now!
- user3939382 26d ago$2000-3,200 for a phone? My next phone is an e-ink Mudita Kompact with a hardware kill switch. I can run a service to bridge iMessage if I decide I care. With every year since they arrived in 2005 or so and especially accelerating since 2010, smartphone capability has grown with their creepiness. The expectation that you own one has almost turned into a demand. It's a total turn off. You don't need these capabilities, life goes on without it just fine. The drawbacks for your mental health and privacy are material.
- happyopossum 26d agolet's see, next year i'll be due for a new iPad mini and iPhone pro max. $1300 for one, $600 for the other (or $750 if I want cellular, which I actually do), and suddenly this doesn't look out of reach... if only I could use a stylus with it!
- ajmir 26d ago[flagged]
- cromka 26d agoThey never mentioned wireless charging so I assume there's none?
- kvnhn 26d agoPSA: Spoiler alert for the show Silo in some of the demo shots. Product demos spoiling TV shows… What a time to be alive.
- aryehof 26d agoAre the Silo shots too dark to see, like when attempting to watch it via an Apple sub?
- evoluketion 26d agoPrice is just pure insanity. 50% more than the Z Fold 8, and still several hundred dollars more than the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Who is this actually for? It's not for the average consumer that's for sure.
- dyarosla 26d agoA first gen product like this is for early adopters and wealthy individuals who status seek
- c0decracker 26d agoOne thing I always wondered about Apple specifically is how do they actually coordinate so many layers of integration -- materials, hardware of various kinds, manufacturing, software. How is that done on like day-to-day basis?
- fieldnote 26d agoThere is a reason that foldable is not taking off. The final test is this.
- butterisgood 26d agoIFF I can replace some of what I almost never use my iPad for with this, it _might_ be worth that price tag. I'm on the fence! I do like a bigger but not too big screen for movies on planes etc.
- Wojtkie 26d ago$2000?! I know this is mostly sticker shock, but I wasn't expecting this price. Looks like a cool device though.
- djfergus 26d agoI hope the tri—fold format catches on (Huawei mate xt 1&2, Samsung z trifold). If I’m going to carry around an insanely fragile and expensive device I want to maximise screen area and aspect ratio.
- mmahemoff 26d agoThe good news is Apple made a more practical dual-screen device than most previous attempts. The “big square” UI was awkward for both reading and video. Apple not only made it rectangular but kept it in the magic aspect ratio that’s able to be shared by single and dual screens. I had written off dual screen when the square layouts were the norm, but I think Apple has struck a good balance here between screen size and price+chunkiness+serviceability. I won’t be holding my breath for an iPhone Trio. (Not to be confused with Palm Treo.)
- bhelkey 26d agoThe two fold format is much more popular than the three fold format. Samsung actual discontinued the Samsung z trifold [1]. Making the first folding iPhone a two fold format is a very prudent decision. [1] https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-z-trifold/ https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-z-trifold/
- wangxili1997 26d agowo,good
- kimseungyong 26d agoFinally, the foldable iPhone is out It’s too expensive for me to even dare to have, but I do want to use it But if there’s no particular improvement in the user experience, I would prefer the base model of the iPhone 18 coming out next year above all What I’m most looking forward to on a foldable iPhone is viewing photos I really love that sharp, fresh feel when viewing photos on the iPad, and I’m excited because I think I’ll be able to experience a similar feeling on this foldable iPhone as well.
- wangxin199 26d agoisgood
- fHr 26d agoonly 5 years or so late? How is this different then Samsungs foldable?
- cush 26d agoI just want a smaller phone
- xyst 26d agoDid anybody else notice the choppiness when the guy was texting on duo? Imagine buying a 3000 phone but typing on a screen like it’s 2015. So much for Apple doing it better than competition despite being years late to the party.
- chrismsimpson 26d agoSomething, something.. rolling in his grave..
- gnarlouse 26d agoHideous
- namuol 26d ago$2000. $2000.
- qwertytyyuu 26d ago"Because it’s an iPhone, it holds its value longer than other smartphones." Never expected this to be called out explicitly in marketing material
- presentation 26d agoHonestly I just want a folding phone so that I can review split code diffs on the go. Paired with agentic coding I feel close to being able to develop software almost entirely without a laptop now.
- osigurdson 26d agoJust bring back the iPhone mini, please.
- BobbyTables2 26d ago$2000 for a phone? In this economy? Feel like a $2000 computer in the 1980s made a lot more sense, even if damn expensive back then. Certainly would have lasted longer!
- pyrophane 26d agoA bit over a year ago I got an iPad Pro with the nano-texture display and when hearing that apple was developing a folding phone I thought, man, if they put this screen on the inner display that would be amazing. I assumed they wouldn't do it because they were marketing the nano-texture as a specialty thing for professionals and glossy screens were the popular ones, but now here we are.
- Dban1 26d agoWe have both now on the phone. For those that don't like the nano-texture inner dualscreen they can just only use the outer glossy one
- ulfw 26d agoThen they'd be seriously dumb people to buy an otherwise inferior (too thick, too heavy, bad cameras, small screen) device for $2000 to just use that outer screen alone
- asd000hh 26d agoI love the opening and closing UX
- dev1ycan 26d agoThis looks absolutely horrendous especially horrendous to hold, yeah, no thanks.
- JohnTHaller 26d agoThere is indeed a crease: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1wbx1wo/there_is_a_crease/ https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1wbx1wo/there_is_a_cr...
- akowalski 26d agoperfect for Termius... keyboard on one, tmux on another
- mock-possum 26d agoNeat idea I guess For two thousand dollars
- ankurdhama 26d agoApple users: We won't leave apple ecosystem but those android fold phones looks cool, wish apple had something similar. Apple: There you go. This is the reason this exist.
- tacodestroyer 26d agoAs my wife would say, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”.
- Uptrenda 26d agomaybe this will finally solve the problem of every phone I use causing my old man eyes extreme eye strain. I hope they solved the issues with other foldable phones though. At these prices a single issue wouldn't be fun.
- kingkandu 26d agoNever thought I'd say this but welcome to 3 years ago Apple hardware
- ipsum2 26d agoAfter watching some reviews of the Duo, I'm convinced that Steve Jobs would have never let the inner panel be matte while the outer panel was glossy. It's too inconsistent and inelegant.
- mathisfun123 26d agoit's intentional to hide the crease
- illiac786 26d agoYeah but then make everything matte. No?
- mathisfun123 26d agoWhy? Only the side with the crease needs to be matte in order to have the intended effect
- illiac786 25d agoit’s not rational, but having a glossy and mate screen on the same device would feel weird to me I think.
- timnetworks 26d agoWhile 4x3 is great (for 1998) and I do run server windows in 1280x1024, all the widescreen media is gonna look terribad. Are we going back to 'modified to fit your screen' days?
- dreamcompiler 26d agoI would almost buy one of these even at such a ridiculous price if I could get it with all the AI features permanently disabled.
- ginooliver 26d agoPhone trends seem to go from big to small, and now back to “bigger is better” again. Such a cyclical pattern, but it does make sense.
- vivzkestrel 26d ago- where do i get a 5 inch iphone? - no seriously i dont want a 6 inch / 6.5 inch screen, any recommendations? - ok how about a 5 inch anyphone?
- vladsolokha 26d agoI was hoping a new mini would come out but it seems like modern phones are just getting bigger. Still rocking an iphone 6s which i got for exactly $1. its cheap, light, small, thin, and I dont have to worry about breaking the screen because a replacement is about 20 USD.
- wastedpotencial 26d agoAlso daily driving the same 6s for almost 11 years but the 3rd battery is starting to die and I think many apps will stop working soon. Wanted to get a 18 base but that happens on March and 17 is now 150€ more, yikes. You can try the SE 3rd gen, the size is the same with updated internals.
- bentt 26d agoI like the idea, but I really want iPhone Nano.
- mikasisiki 26d agoSo the iPhone has finally fallen from grace. Apple’s copying the Chinese smartphone playbook now.
- 4star3star 26d agoI don't think I would want this device for $500, let alone what Apple is asking. What is the appeal? There are a few screen scenarios that make sense for my life: (1) Multiple displays at desk to work; (2) TV + couch; (3) laptop + lap or surface; (4) phone (anywhere). I'm never in need of a tablet. If I needed that screen real estate, I'd be reaching for my laptop.
- 2muchcoffeeman 26d agoThen don’t buy it.
- smt88 26d ago> If I needed that screen real estate, I'd be reaching for my laptop. It is increasingly common for people to have no laptop or any computing device other than their smartphone, smartwatch, and/or game console. I know very few people who have a non-work computer anymore.
- bel8 26d agoIt's not the worst status symbol. It's useful.
- Eji1700 26d ago> If I needed that screen real estate, I'd be reaching for my laptop. Which you commonly have in your pocket? I have a GPD pocket 4 and love me some portable laptops, but I do sorta hope we get somewhere with foldables to where I'm happy just breaking out an arc mouse and small keyboard and treating that as the computer. We're obviously not, and i'm probably not anywhere near willing to shell out the cash for this, but "the tool you have" and all that.
- himata4113 26d agoI want this, this could legitimately replace my laptop. I never liked the samsung fold since the form factor was a bit too ehh. Apple did something right here.
- hpaavola 26d ago
- cyrilng 26d agoVirtually no crease. Foldables are undoubtedly the future of phones; the price is the only real dealbreaker.
- raydenvm 26d agoApple is simply repeating Samsung, Google and the other companies with their Duo model. Nothing revolutional, nothing "one more thing amazing". Another heavy and clunky foldable phone. I bet that folding durability will disappoint the users after all.
- bel8 26d agoIt's an iPhone with a foldable screen made by Samsung. So it's hard to inovate here.
- anon7000 26d agoThis is how Apple works, it’s weird people complain about it at this point. It’s extremely successful
- xdertz 26d agoThe most important part of a foldable is the screen and they are designed and made by Samsung, so hard to come up with something Samsung couldn't have done in their own phone.
- protocolture 26d agoIts about time that Apple invented the foldable phone. They dont usually wait this long after something gets popular on Android to invent it for iPhone.
- sevenseacat 26d agoA $3,500 AUD phone. That's where we're at these days. This is insane.
- encody 26d ago> Because it’s an iPhone, it holds its value longer than other smartphones. And switching from Android is easy. I'm neither an Apple fanboy nor a marketing professional, so this might be more normal than it appears to me, but this section of text seems really strange. 1. Doesn't Apple have a standing rule to not use articles (a, an, the) in front of product names? 2. How in the world can resale value take a top spot in marketing copy, 1) for Apple, and 2) for a product that isn't even on the market yet? 3. What does switching from Android have to do with a foldable design (or value retention, for that matter)?
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- karel-3d 26d agoWhy is there no iPhone 18 (basic) this year?
- wltr 26d agoI noticed that too, but for me there’s no point in basic model. As usually used Pros are better at their value at the same price point. Perhaps they decided to focus on premium tier, while everyone else would manage somehow. Or they would introduce regular models quietly later.
- lo_fye 26d agoCompetitors may have copied most of the form factor, but as usual, it’s Apple’s Special sauce that makes this thing amazing. In this case it’s how well integrated all of the screens are into the OS and its default apps and actions. SO slick and smooth. Great camera tricks, and the Pencil is a welcome addition, too.
- charles_f 26d ago> Competitors may have copied most of the form factor Samsung unveiled its first foldable in 2018, what are you talking about?
- stephbook 26d agoPraise be unto thee, Steve Apple, for inventing the foldable phone! It will be years before Android can copy this.
- martin- 26d ago> Competitors may have copied most of the form factor Is this satire making fun of how Apple often "invents" things that has been on the market for years, or did you mean to write "Apple as usual copied from competitors"?
- qwertytyyuu 26d ago"reinforced antenna lines" Shots fired at google lol
- delis-thumbs-7e 26d agoI took a one look at this and my worst reaction was: ”No. Just. No.” I really need to start looking into Graphene OS or something similar for my new phone, when the time comes. Apple used to have great products, but these days…
- dudefeliciano 26d agoReminder that bigger screen = more screentime. Which is why we will not see an iPhone SE again.
- phreack 26d agoI honestly don't believe the foldable tech is there. Most I've seen from Samsung, Motorola, etc. are so, so very fragile they don't last the year. I've been burnt and everyone I know has too, I wouldn't have a foldable ever again. I hope Apple figures out some magic hardware but I'm doubtful.
- bean469 26d agoThe foldable screen in the Duo is likely to be manufactured by Samsung, although chances are that it will be a heavily customized variant of what we see in the Galaxy Folds
- Reprehensible 26d agoHad the fold 8 for a while and.. People as usual focus on what they're told (the crease). They're basically selling you a phone without 1 camera, face id, probably shitty battery to make margins enough to justify the risk. It's placed as duo because there would be not much "ultra" about it. Zf8 is def worse than my fold 8 ultra for productivity and Apple is trying to see if they can make people buy it by selling you the nerfed version first while making you think the crease it's the point. Same for Samsung, but they can afford to just "cover the position".
- skilledDevelope 26d agoLet's see if Apple has done it right. I have no doubt.
- CodeCompost 26d ago$2000? Let me reach into my wallet and pull out the bird flip.
- bean469 26d agoCan't wait for the JerryRigEverything video
- roschdal 26d agoFrom $1999
- pknerd 26d agoLOL!
- djfergus 26d agoWill be interesting to see what these look like in an Apple Store after a few months of people handling them. Seeing the creases and crunchy-feeling hinges on well-used Samsung Fold display models has always been enough to put me off wanting one.
- victorbjorklund 26d agoI feel like Apple might be more restrictive and not allow display of creased examples (assuming it happens)
- SequoiaHope 26d agoHard to imagine Apple would not remove damaged devices from the floor.
- raverbashing 26d agoI honestly still don't get how it's a good idea to have such a frail part being central to the phone experience and we probably don't know what are all the failure modes For example, I bet Apple is not splitting the video signal and feeding it from both sides, which means that if your screen "fails funny" you get a dead left panel. Zero-radius folds are rarely a good idea
- ga_to 26d agoFolding screens have been a thing for around 6 years now and pretty early on manufacturers realized that 'zero radius' bending was not gonna work, so there were some pretty clever hacks that increased the internal space to allow the screen to fold in a teardrop form to soften the impact. But regarding the dead left panel, you will have _no_ panel because if the panel fails, all of the inside screen will be affected, since it's one unit.
- wraptile 26d ago> Seeing the creases and crunchy-feeling hinges on well-used Samsung Fold display models has always been enough to put me off wanting one. This has been a solved issue in modern foldables already. I live on a beach with Fold 6 and while I'm quite careful not to drop it I never had the sand stuck there for prolonged time. If there are any particles that crunch they do seem to disappear after a few folds which makes sense as metal is harder than sand. The inner screen has a soft protector you can replace at Samsung center for 15$ and 30 minutes of wait making the screen basically new.
- djfergus 26d agoContrary to earlier rumours the Iphone Duo will support magsafe: https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/ https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/
- kumarvvr 26d agoOne could get an iPhone 18 and an iPad Air for the same cost as this.
- rlt 26d agoKind of missing the point.
- jbotz 26d agoApple killed the iPhone mini because it only had a 4-6% share of sales of all iPhone models. While some people may really want this, I can't imaging that it'll get more than 5% of iPhone sales (after maybe an initial higher novelty peak).
- seabrookmx 26d agoThey can possibly justify the lower sales volume if the margins are much higher.
- anshumankmr 26d agoI think fold phones are not at least for most OEM manufacturers the bedrock of their business whereas the Mini was supposed to perform at least as well as the mainstay iPhones cause it did not do much beyond being a percentage smaller. I on the other hand hope they kill the slim iPhone and/or bring back the Plus cause the 16 Plus was a solid deal.
- dudus 26d agoIOS27 has a killer feature that will boost sales for duo. Iphone handoff. Don't underestimate how deep apple customers wallets are. You now can have multiple iPhones. A pro that you use day to day, an Air that you use when you go to the gym and a duo to use when at home. Now the crease lasts longer because you are not using it 24/7, you spread wear across multiple devices and pump the apple sales.
- LaGrange 26d ago> You now can have multiple iPhones. Thanks, I'd rather pull my fingernails.
- cheschire 26d agoWhy carry a phone at all? Just buy one and leave it at all the places you go. Have your personal security carry a backup in case you go somewhere your assistant hasn’t been able to get a phone delivered to yet.
- Jskewel 26d ago
- unsupp0rted 26d agoLately I leave my MacBook Pro at home and Codex remote for everything. It’s a dream. But what’s missing is manual in-browser testing, on the go. This solves that.
- bitpush 26d agoisnt this running iOS browser and not the desktop version?
- unsupp0rted 26d agoIt’s pretty okay- I’m not testing really weird engine specific stuff. Just need to do a manual sanity check in the browser
- Pavilion2095 26d agoSpoiler alert: Silo
- Cort3z 26d agoI wrote a long comment about how this product does not make sense, but I changed my after having written it. There are some overlap with the iPad and I thought that this might compete with that, but I no longer believe that. Here is why, and why I personally believe this product might be great. I will never carry an iPad when I am out and about. If I am going to carry a device of that size, I will bring a laptop. The only use that I personally have for an iPad is laying in my couch or using it as a stationary device for a baby call or something like this. In this scenario, the bigger screen size is nice. I often find myself on the go, wanting a larger size screen to deal with random incoming stuff, accountant, customer issues, PRs, and so on. In those cases, it is very handy to have a larger screen. I can manage with my current screen size, but it would definitely be more productive with a larger screen. I am personally worried about the reliability of the mechanical parts, and I would be really annoyed if the screen started to crease, as I have seen similar devices do before. But if Apple somehow magically fixes that problem, then I would be inclined to buy a product like this for my next phone purchase.
- elAhmo 26d agoI also usually just carry laptop if I need a bigger screen (and usually never use it on trips or holidays), but I do remember fondly of time when I had an iPad mini (not sure which gen), and it was very often in my jacket's pocket and was a really enjoyable device for consuming content, reading stuff, etc. So when I was watching the keynote, I got those vibes of 'this is actually a form factor that I used in the past, if the price is not too wild I might get it'.
- kombine 26d agoWe need the same that runs Linux. I want to connect a Bluetooth keyboard, open my favourite Kitty terminal and ssh to my work server anywhere I go.
- bean469 26d agoYou can do that with Android foldables using Termux
- NavekG 26d agoThis is an aside, but product websites are so clunky these days - they just constantly stutter, freeze and basically do not show off the product well because I'm waiting for stuff to happen. Make it smooth people!
- lylo 26d agoI think the use case here is for people who have an iPhone as well as an iPad they use occasionally for reading/watching stuff, as well as business people / execs. Now you can (sort of) have both in one device. Reading the rumours, I was completely disinterested. Now I’m actually tempting to ditch the iPad Pro and iPhone Pro and have a Duo replace both. I’m excited to have a go with one in the Apple Store. Shame it’s so damn expensive!
- thisbrt 26d agoI feel like we're not talking about this too much. This phone-o-tablet is the same price as base Macbook Pro. Let me reiterate: a foldable phone costs as much as Pro line computer. This is just crazy
- gregglain 26d agoPut a screen on that last 1/2 of the back and sell as Duo Max.
- leokennis 26d agoFor me, the iPhone is the primary device I unlock and use in short burst 10's of times throughout the day. The iPad (Mini) is something I use more deliberately, like twice per day to read the newspaper and to watch some video. For me the Duo seems like you're suffering a lot for the first use case, just to make the second use case possible. I think I'll stick with separate devices.
- lylo 26d agoYeah, I need to try this thing in my own hands to actually understand if it’s useable.
- Agingcoder 26d agoThe lack of faceid is very surprising - it’s by and large one of my favorite features esp in winter.
- OsrsNeedsf2P 26d agoApple is the champion of removing features. It gives them room to bring them back in the next edition
- arijun 26d agoThe video they have showing off taking photos has one scene where they open the phone like a laptop to hold the phone to take a photo. That means the front screen was face down on the concrete. Has the durability of the displays gone way up or is this just a scenario no one would ever do?
- jordiburgos 26d agoI thought exactly the same. The sand scratching the screen facing down. eeww
- wraptile 26d agoAs early foldable adopter I'm excited for Apple camp to finally join the superior pocket computer format! That being said rounded corners are bad and anyone who's part of this decision should be ashamed. Also corner camera placement? Just all around question marks for the design team, very uncharacteristic.
- voidUpdate 26d agoThat looks... horrible... I like the "calendar" mode, that's quite fun, but it looks way too wide when it's folded up, and a weird aspect ratio when it's open. Also they show putting the phone down on concrete half-open to take pictures, but that will scratch the outer screen, surely?
- d--b 26d agoFor those asking who wants this, Marques Brownlee pointed out in his quick review that this is mostly targeted at China's market, which apparently loves foldable phones.
- harrouet 26d agoI you can fit an iPad Mini in your pocket, you don't need a foldable display.
- fishbacon 26d agoI wonder if they will ever see the wobble as a problem or if it is something people like about the iPhone somehow. My iPhone 15 pro survives another generation.
- alwaysmrno 26d agoI see apple keeps copying Microsoft. Can't they come up with any original ideas of their own?
- mc3301 26d agoA cube. With six square displays. No buttons, no bevels.
- plazmatic 26d ago[dead]
- benrutter 26d agoA lot of stuff showing its folding allowing you to "use it as a bedtime clock" - have apple done any kind if battery use trickery to make this a non-battery-draining thing to do? Or maybe I'm overestimating how much battery a screen uses? (I'd have thought a lot)
- smugglerFlynn 26d agoThis feature is well thought out in terms of battery use, because nobody is going to ever use their phone as a "bedtime clock" Work smarter, not harder
- Abh1Works 25d agoOut of all my time in HN I wouldn’t expect to reply with this, but I would most definitely 100 percent use this as a bed time clock, especially with my current room set up
- smugglerFlynn 25d agoHow do you solve this problem right now?
- nstom 26d agoiPhone Pros have sported an always-on display for years now. It uses the OLED display at low brightness and refresh rates to preserve battery life while showing you the time etc. So I'm guessing this is using that same tech.
- bluber84 26d agoTo be honest a flip smartphone with three screens so one screen is always out is a bad design decision. The best thing on a flip smartphone is that it’s protect the screen cause they are inside. On this model I need a protection case, too. On the other side I have to decide to want a big screen or a very good camera - ths sucks, too. I want one device which is high end and don’t want to make compromises at this price tag.
- zkmon 26d agoI guess Apple is done. It had its time. Great company.
- pm2r 26d agoI’m a bit shocked for the design of the folio cover for iPhone duo. 1) it seems that doesn’t permit to add some mag safe accessories like extra battery or wallet with cards 2) I don’t understand if with this cover on, the first screen is not usable at all or permits to access to the “external” smaller screen I understand that this kind of design obviously obligates to some constraints, but I think what Steve would have decided in such situation. I hope that we don’t fall again in the Performa epoch in which we had a lot of different Mac and designs under the same line
- pm2r 26d agoI add that the technology of Touch ID on the lateral button could have been added also to other iPhones
- jrib 26d agocan i just have half this phone?
- cafebabbe 26d agoOh thanks but I need less screen in my life, not more.
- aqme28 26d agoTrying to figure out what demographic this is for and I'm coming up empty. Any ideas? It's too small to replace my ipad, too big to replace my phone. Seems too fragile for kids, plus they don't need that. Maybe it's good for the elderly?
- luplex 26d agoit's the most expensive iPhone. People want to flex their wealth. Foldable phones usually replace phones, not tablets.
- cik 26d agoI'm a (Samsung) Fold user. They're great - a year in I never, or rarely if ever see the minute crease, and ditto here with Apple. The reality is that ~70% of the time I want a small screen. It's perfect (if thick due to the fold). It opens to "larger" (i.e 8 inches) which is great - compared to what I had before (6.9"). I'm actually hoping that this will force Samsung to solve their silly lockscreen choices, and the fact that it needs to be "configured" to be useful, because it's separate (Multilock - I'm talking to you). Honestly, I would happily take even bigger. The extra real estate when you want it is great. But it needs to hit tablet(ish) sizes. We're just in early days.
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- fedeb95 26d agoI remember clearly Apple fans making fun of Samsung when they did their foldable phone.
- phplovesong 26d agoWhats the use case? Is this a phone or a size-reduced ipad? This looks hard to keep in you pocket, and even worse to operate with one hand. Im having a hard time to understand what and who this is for.
- linncharm 26d ago[dead]
- fsuts 26d agoRIP iPad mini?
- baxuz 26d agoI'd like to have one of these devices once the prices get a bit more normal. I remember paying 400€ for an iPhone 4 when it came out, a flagship phone at the time by all metrics. Adjusted for inflation, that's about 600€. Flagship prices have now reached the 1000€ mark, with marginal upgrades, and in many cases actual downgrades. There is no world in which I can justify paying 2x-4x the flagship price for a device fulfilling a fundamentally similar purpose. For a different comparison, a 14" MacBook Pro costs that much.
- goreyee 26d agoWhat has HN come to? this comment section looks like linkedin for CS people.
- MattRix 26d agoThis is the first comment that showed for me, and it’s pretty useless. I don’t think it’s much better than the kind of comments you’re complaining about.
- squidward321 26d ago[flagged]
- sriram_iyengar 26d ago3Lakhs in India (or 3.2K USD). I use apple products across including apple tv, but this is not - all the more i have started evaluating whether to even buy any more
- kris-memoket 26d agoTo be honest, not bad
- kris-memoket 26d agoTo be honest, not bad.
- adamtaylor_13 26d agoI thought this was a joke at first. I do not understand the demand for such a device at all. It's not pretty, it doesn't look very functional. The selling point is "a bigger screen", but never once in my life have I looked at my phone and thought "Make it bigger."
- adamors 26d agoWhat is a joke? Foldable phones have existed for years at this point, if anything Apple is catching up. And plenty of people want bigger phones.
- adamtaylor_13 26d agoI'd levy the same critique at other foldable phones. I don't know a single person, personally, that owns one. Compared to the hundreds of people I know with an iPhone it's crazy to me that the market is supposedly big enough for Apple to put this much R&D into a device like this.
- vachina 26d agoI rarely see people use their foldable with it unfolded out in the public. And even when they do use it unfolded, whatever they’re consuming has two huge black bars top and bottom. This may change as content creators adapt. What Huawei and Samsung have shown is that there is little usecase to foldables. And I do not believe Apple can create any usecase not already known.
- firmretention 26d agoIMO, price is the problem. I can afford a folding phone, but I can't justify the cost for a tertiary computing device. Whenever possible I'd rather use a desktop, followed by a laptop. If I was more dependent on my phone it might be different.
- stuff4ben 26d ago> if anything Apple is catching up That's been Apple MO for a long time. They may not be the first to market on a new tech, but when they do deliver, it's more advanced and higher quality than the competitors. It's a good strategy IMO.
- roody15 26d ago2,000$. No thanks. Not convinced there is a big market for this device although not upset Apple trying new things.
- nashashmi 26d agoCompare those to an ipad+phone+macbook. For a $2k price. What does this duo offer over the alternative? Does it have extended desktop support for a docking station???
- barnabee 26d agoCan I buy half of one? The size and aspect ratio of the outer display sounds like it'd be pretty close to my ideal phone. Maybe that means I want one on a technicality. I suppose the big fold out screen would be useful at time if the device isn't too chunky...
- Aboutplants 26d agoName it the Uno, make it affordable and sell billions of them
- ngcazz 26d agoIf there's a Uno Turbo IE I'd be happy to buy it
- infotainment 25d agoSame! If they came out with a just-the-front-screen-of-the-Duo iPhone, the form factor would be just about perfect, IMO.
- ornornor 26d ago“From 1999$”. We truly have gone insane. For a phone most people keep 5 years tops.
- giarc 26d agoWell when you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad (somewhat tongue in cheek). In all honesty though, when you look at usage patterns, paying $2000 for something that many people use 5+ hours a day, it almost seems cheap.
- eile23 26d agoLooks cool, but as a web developer all I can think about is another screen layout I have to support.
- sph 26d ago$1999 dollaroos? Yeah, no thanks.
- HankWozHere 26d agoSo I’m starting to think this is why the Microsoft Surface Neo never got released - so hyped up and then lost into thin air- circa 2019. To me it looks like it was sold to Apple to refine the design. I’m not sure I’ve seen it yet, but I’m sure you will be able to use one screen as a keyboard in a type of laptop mode - a big feature of the Neo back in the day ( I so wanted one back then, not sure how I feel now)
- nashashmi 26d agoSurface Neo came out in android form called surface duo. It had the amazing hinge that somehow locked in place when rotated just the right way. I think The windows version never came out because MS couldn’t commit to this form factor
- deleted 26d ago[deleted]
- joebates 26d agoI actually really like this and I'm not sure why. I've been a folding phone skeptic for years but I really am intrigued.
- vachina 26d agoNever expected Apple to get on the foldable bandwagon. A slab is as good as it gets for something you use every day.
- mmmlinux 26d agoDisappointed this isn't a new Macbook Duo. i want to plug my phone in to a dock and have real Mac OS. Like the Duo line of laptops they used to have...
- jjkaczor 26d agoWowza... this is the first time in recent years Apple is introducing a mobile product that is a "change" from everything they have done in 10-years... (I want one... find phone screens too small, but don't want to carry a phone and a tablet - yes, I know there have been other offerings in the Android ecosystem, but I am not in that realm)
- Yajirobe 26d agoRemember, it scratches at a level 1, with deeper grooves at a level 2.
- lionkor 26d agoAnd antenna lines near the hinge
- etcetcetcetceta 26d agoThe Crease™ is the new Notch™ and actually a selling point.
- hbn 26d agoApple never marketed the notch as a selling point.
- mocmoc 26d agoIt's amazing
- etempleton 26d agoI think the Duo is a really interesting product that I am not sure I would ever get, but the form factor is interesting. I don’t know if I would want it for out and about, but it is kind of the ultimate phone for around the house, which is a ridiculous thing to say, but it kind of bridges the gap to the iPad but is more handheld, which is nice.
- mengibar10 26d agoIt's very expensive. I think Apple is using the same method airlines use when selling seats, just in reverse. Airlines start selling seats cheaper at the beginning, and as there are fewer and fewer seats, the price increases. Apple, on the other hand, is selling at a premium price for a new product category, and I believe it is, so they can get away with it for some time, and they will lower the price as they sell more. This has nothing to do with economies of scale. They already own the premium portion of the mobile phone market. Something less available is worth more. Those who own it now can enjoy people's attention and their curious inquiries, which are worth more than money can buy for some people.
- chilipepperhott 26d agoI believe this is also known as a Dutch auction. They don't know the true value of their product, so they price it high and will slowly bring it down until they are satisfied with demand.
- a4isms 26d agoAnother analogy can be found in the current way that automobiles are sold. For new models that are considered desirable, they maximize their margins by putting expensive limited editions with desirable badging and options on sale first. It may take a full year or more before a mainstream mass-market edition with basic features is released at a lower price. The iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pros were released this week. The "ordinary" iPhone 18 apparently won't ship until Spring of 2027. That's the same strategy!
- eddof13 26d agoI had the Samsung Flip 6 and I liked it a bit in the beginning but quickly tired of having to flip it open and so I'm back to the soap bar- but otherwise this looks cool
- MetroWind 26d agoLmao why is this worthy of HN top...
- lasky 26d agobig milestone. the iPhone design engineering group might be one of the most hardcore and intense engineering orgs in modern technology. software people have no idea how incredibly cushy they (still) have it.
- zerotolerance 26d agoFeels like a tag-along solution looking for a problem.
- tlogan 26d agoWhat is a common use case for these kind of phones?
- ActorNightly 26d agoMost commonly, media. Having a larger screen means you don't need a separate iPad. More niche use case is typing. Im on zfold 7 because I use Termux quite a bit.
- pmarreck 26d agoI'm disappointed that it doesn't let you take stereo photos/videos.
- ksec 26d agoApparently Foldables are incredibly popular in China. They sold more foldable in China than the rest of the world combined. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple release an iPhone Duo Max later.
- nkrisc 26d agoI keep waiting but the phones only get bigger. Seems I’ll have to eventually replace my iPhone 12 mini with a 13 mini, or ditch Apple entirely. The Google Nexus 4 was my all time favorite smart phone in terms of overall size. But I suppose it’s unlikely Apple will ever make a phone anywhere close to that size ever again.
- Tagbert 25d agoAre there any actual small phones on the market, now?
- Dansvidania 25d agoNot branded/high end ones sadly.
- gekoxyz 25d agoIt depends on what your definition of "small" is. If you consider the iPhone 13 mini as small the only thing that comes to mind is the Unihertz Jelly Max.
- nkrisc 25d agoNot that I’ve seen really, but I haven’t looked much outside the mainstream as my 12 mini is still going strong. But seems I’m either in a real minority with regards to phone size preference, or at least the manufacturers believe I am.
- mbigras 25d agoMaybe you’re in the minority; but you’re not alone. I went the hassle of signing in on mobile just to upvote you! Sincerely from a 13 mini user, still grumpy about having to give up my se 1.
- Schnitz 25d agoPeople that want small phones, me included, are unfortunately a vocal minority. The small flagship phones just don’t sell that well. Loved my iPhone 12 mini and rode it until Apple Intelligence was announced and I got suckered in because I love exploring AI.
- canucker2016 25d agoMarques Brownlee's take on the iPhone Duo, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6M0AXpcxQ&t=531s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6M0AXpcxQ&t=531s But! just in my... scattered couple hours of using the iPhone Duo today, the iPhone... has a bunch... of...these tiny, frankly unnecessary, but also very awesome... quality-of-life things... that make it feel...like a more fun phone to use. I forget the specs and numbers and like raw horsepower and megapixels and stuff, but just, just the... fit and finish and the little animations and stuff like that. And the... feel of it. I feel like the iPhone kind of mogs the Samsung. Like, it really all starts with that animation... switching between the inner and outer display. It's... really clean and it's fast. [edit] Downsides of the iPhone Duo start at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6M0AXpcxQ&t=720s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6M0AXpcxQ&t=720s [edit2] Who wants foldables? China bought more foldables than the rest of the world combined.
- mo7061 25d agoWhat a complete piece of shit
- sigzero 25d agoIt looks well done. I am not spending two grand to get one.
- soundworlds 25d agoWe all just need that one friend in our group who will pay for it. Then the rest of us can play with it briefly until the novelty wears off.
- grougnax 25d ago[dead]
- EagnaIonat 25d agoIt's closer to three grand in Ireland.
- bcanzanella 25d agoit starts at $2999 in Canada!
- SugarReflex 25d agoI really like it, but the price is prohibitively expensive. Even if I trade in my near perfect 17 pro max, it will still be prohibitively expensive.
- SlumpRobotics 25d ago[dead]
- qsbuilder 25d agoOne thing I really find disingenuous from reviewers is when they say there is no crease when there is, and they try to move it out of frame so quickly.
- littlelight 25d agoI really like the iPhone 4s.
- theholygrail 25d agoStill on a 13 mini for the same reason. The closed Duo is closer to a regular Pro than to a mini, so it doesn't actually replace the small phone — it replaces the "I also carry an iPad mini" phone. Apple killed the one size I wanted and then shipped a $2,000 fold. I get why the fold exists. I just wish the mini line hadn't had to die for it.
- harrouet 25d agoOn the same boat and totally agree with the analysis: replaces the iPad Mini, not the iPhone Mini. I pulled out my passport and held it in my hand like a phone: it is not possible to hold it AND use the thumb on the screen. Look at the marketing videos: in all the one-handed-operation scenes, the phone lies on flat fingers for the thumb to access the screen. Will fall eventually.
- sparc24 25d agoiphone 13 mini was the best phone ever made.
- red369 25d agoI wouldn't criticise that view, because it was better than the 1st Gen SE (2016) in many ways, but did you ever use that first SE? It was even nicer to hold, and I preferred Touch ID. I think most people would agree the 13 Mini is the better of the two to try to use now. Maybe after a few more iOS updates, and they're both equally impractical for current websites and apps, the SE will overtake the 13 Mini again :)
- zer0zzz 25d agoI just wanna know, what does it do when I dock? Are we talking iPad mini level kvm docking or iPad m-series?
- carlailab2025 25d agonothing new...
- pawelkomarnicki 25d agoI was skeptical until they whipped out the pencil support. Then the price… not that bad for Apple device. Replacing both my iPhone and my iPad mini would be nice
- iharnoor 24d agoI was surprised Apple talked about note taking like Granola for Apple watch but didn't integrate that or talk about for iPhone Duo. btw. we power Granola, I work at AssemblyAI
- hackersnooze1 24d agoI am surprised that foldable phones are lasting so long I thought theyd just be a fad
- NeverJustBusy 23d agoI'd say the best practice is based on PWA. Using the tech, app can be customized easily to adapt to smart devices of different form factors using the same technologies.