I’m having deja vu after Apple’s “Shock and shine” occasion, which launched the corporate’s first folding telephone, the iPhone Duo. It’s on two ranges: Again in 2020, Microsoft launched its tackle a folding telephone, additionally referred to as the Duo. I keep in mind speaking about it with Panos Panay, at the moment Microsoft’s chief product officer, and realizing {that a} hinged, dual-screen telephone was in some methods the telephone of my goals, however not in all of the methods I needed.
However that’s not all. I’m writing these ideas in regards to the iPhone Duo on a Magic Keyboard-equipped iPad Air that typically — however not all the time — replaces my MacBook. I’m having related emotions in regards to the iPhone Duo and the iPad.
Might the Duo be the iPad-to-go of my goals? Might it simply evolve to fulfill my wants? Or would I nonetheless discover myself wishing to return to the iPad typically?
Not fairly an iPad
Apple has a knack for increasing and mixing its product strains whereas approaching, however by no means reaching, a spot the place one really replaces the opposite. A working example: The iPad’s decade-plus evolution to a tool that may really feel uncannily Mac-like at occasions, but nonetheless not be a Mac.
I’m getting the identical vibes from the iPhone Duo. The machine is “impressed by the flexibility of iPad,” in line with Apple, however it’s not really an iPad.
And but, iPad Mini-like
I felt pleasure in regards to the iPhone Duo as I watched the information actually unfold. I haven’t cared about many folding telephones as a result of they both didn’t look like true tablets or they seemed pocket-unfriendly. The iPhone Duo’s dimension appears proper, and its facet ratios and design remind me of an iPad Mini.
But additionally, it helps the Apple Pencil! And it will possibly run some split-screen apps in ways in which seem like an iPad. Might iPad apps, of which I’ve tons already, run on this too? Would this be a approach to have one of the best of each worlds in my pocket for a wide ranging $1,999-and-up value?
What it nonetheless appears to lack
The Duo doesn’t run iPadOS. Its iOS variant has what seems like a distinct format, with side-oriented menus and docks, repositioned notification indicators, completely different format orientations for apps, and a give attention to continuity between single and dual-screen views of the identical apps when folded and unfolded.
The Pencil help is for the USB-C Pencil, not any of the Pencil 2 or Pencil Execs, which have superior stress sensitivity, hovering enter options and gyro-enabled brushes. And I’d want to hold that Pencil round in my pocket or some kind of future Pencil-enabled case, since Apple didn’t announce a tinier Pencil that might join with the Duo.
And as I sort up this story on an iPad keyboard, I ponder how nicely the Duo helps keyboard equipment or windowed layouts that might give me the workspace that iPads can. Presumably? I’m certain I might pair a keyboard, for example. However wouldn’t it really feel good? Or would I even need it?
A value distinction
I additionally wonder if the Duo would substitute an iPad Mini, which it clearly seems set as much as do. The iPad Mini is way cheaper, beginning at simply $599. There’s one other OLED-screened mannequin anticipated this fall, possibly similtaneously the iPhone Duo, which arrives Oct. 23. You could possibly purchase an iPad Mini and an iPhone 18 Professional for lower than the price of an iPhone Duo.
However not that a lot much less. You’d be spending at the very least $1,798 in comparison with the Duo’s $1,999 base value.
Alternatively, a fundamental iPad and an entry iPhone 17E would collectively value $1,148.
So the Duo doesn’t make sense, proper? Until it may be each? Wouldn’t it be each? Or would I all of the sudden have two iPad-like units, one for my pocket, one for my house?
An indication of issues to come back from Apple?
I’m a little bit aggravated that the Duo isn’t solely an iPad, however why do I really feel much less upset than I do in regards to the iPad not absolutely being a Mac? It is likely to be as a result of the iPad itself has all the time been a bridge machine, one thing that’s a bit iPhone, a bit Mac.
I’ve a sense that the Duo’s future isn’t set in stone, that this telephone will rework into new types and accent makes use of. It’d even turn into a dockable pc. In spite of everything, didn’t new CEO John Ternus reframe the iPhone as an clever hub? Am I hallucinating? Dreaming silly goals? Maybe. Typically a decade can move whilst you’re ready for Apple to do one thing it by no means does.
Microsoft’s Floor Duo disappeared from the market after just some brief years, across the similar time that Microsoft’s broader Home windows Telephone ambitions – merging the worlds of telephone and desktop designs and performance – turned to mud.
In 2026, the iPhone Duo won’t be a full iPad. However possibly this new melting identification of the iPhone is an indication that each one product classes are beginning to flex. Even the iPad. I simply marvel if the Duo’s going to really feel prefer it’s really one of the best of each worlds, or if I’d nonetheless choose going again to an iPad in spite of everything.
