After five days with Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the £1,999 iPhone Duo, The Independent‘s Alex Lee says it made them feel like a kid with a new toy again. The lightweight titanium design, silky hinge, matte 7.6-inch inner display, and Split View multitasking turn it into a versatile phone-and-tablet hybrid that feels genuinely fun and useful—enough that the reviewer doesn’t want to go back to their iPhone 18 Pro Max. App optimization and the lack of a telephoto camera remain caveats, but the excitement is real.
Alex Lee for The Independent
Light. That is literally the first word I think of when I slide it out of its pristine-white box. Everyone’s been rabbiting on about how heavy and thick the Duo is, but it’s really not that heavy at first touch. As a Pro Max user, it’s only 5g heavier than the 18 Pro Max (249g versus the Duo’s 254g), and I’ve not felt that weightiness at all.
Admittedly, I wasn’t a massive fan of the iPhone Duo’s odd D-shaped design when I first saw it on a computer screen, but holding it in my hand, feeling its mirror-polished titanium frame, curved edges and solid construction – oh Apple, this thing just oozes luxury. It comes in either white or black, and I’ve got the black version.
It genuinely feels like the most expensive iPhone ever made. Even unfolding it feels satisfying – there’s a spring-like push that separates the 5.4in outer screen from the 7.6in folding inner display whenever you unfold it, then it comes together again with a pleasing snap thanks to some magnets that keep it together… the iPhone Duo is as Apple of a product as they come – the build quality is just fantastic…
The iPhone Duo has two 48MP cameras on the rear – a main and an ultrawide. Pictures I’ve taken on the main camera have been really nice. There’s detail in my shots and colours look good. Night pictures do need some assistance from night mode to look good, with some slight colour loss, but there’s not much streetlight flaring. It doesn’t feel like I’ve downgraded to an inferior product.
It’s only when I start zooming in that I miss my Pro Max. There’s no dedicated telephoto lens on the Duo, so while I can get a good 2x shot, I can’t zoom in to pictures of my dog in the park and he’s far away. Admittedly, there aren’t many instances when I use the telephoto, but there are always instances when it’s handy…
I haven’t had this much fun with an iPhone since I got my first iPod touch. And that’s something I never thought I’d say again.
MacDailyNews Take: Yet another excellent review for Apple’s revolutionary iPhone Duo!
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I had a chance to play around with the Duo at an ATT and Apple store yesterday, it’s an amazing feat of engineering. Whether it’s a hands-down replacement for my 15 Pro Max remains to be seen but as someone who mostly plans to use it unfolded vertically I think it’ll be an easy switch. Delivery Nov. 9-16.
Go for it 👊👊👊