The Verge calls Apple's iPhone Duo a messy, expensive, fun first-gen foldable. Here is what the review found and where the verdict is its own.
Apple's first foldable is here, and The Verge's verdict on the iPhone Duo is a mixed one. In its review, the outlet calls the iPhone Duo “an early adopter special”: a risky, fascinating, sometimes frustrating device that will delight gadget fans and likely send everyone else back to a regular iPhone. The opinions below are The Verge's, based on its own week of testing. We have not tested the phone ourselves.
What The Verge liked about the iPhone Duo
The standout, according to the review, is the 7.6-inch inner display with its matte nano-texture coating. The Verge says it looks and feels solid, and that Apple's “perceptually flat” crease is mostly invisible even if you can feel it. The reviewers say the crease did not get any worse after a week of constant folding, though they add that long-term durability is still unknown.
The wide, passport-like shape also gets credit for making 16:9 video friendlier, and the outlet found the phone fun to use in different postures, such as laptop mode or propped up like a book. Compared with Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Duo is the more liberal of the two with half-open use, and it has MagSafe and an IP68 rating, where The Verge says the Fold 8 is rated IP48.
Where the iPhone Duo falls short
The 5.4-inch cover screen is the main complaint. Because both displays share a 1.4:1 shape, The Verge says the outer screen is cramped, with only two or three messages visible when the keyboard is up. Most apps have not been updated yet, so many look padded with black bars. The review also reports that the phone gets warm and sometimes hot, particularly with video apps, Google's apps and long camera sessions.
On cameras, The Verge says the main sensor matches the iPhone Air rather than the iPhone 18 Pro, and there is no telephoto lens. There is no Face ID either, only Touch ID in the side button. All of this, the review notes, comes on a phone that starts at $2,000.
Our take on the iPhone Duo verdict
Analysis, not reporting: the most useful line in the review is the one about the screens. Android foldables, The Verge argues, have inner displays that are not compelling enough, while the Duo has the opposite problem, an outer screen too small to live on. Neither approach has fully cracked it. At $2,000, a phone that is still working out where its apps fit is a hard sell for anyone who is not curious about the format for its own sake.
The review compares the Duo to the very first MacBook Air, a product that needed a redesign before it took over the industry. The Verge's reviewers say the outcome is not yet clear, and we would agree. Apple's own iPhone Duo page lists the 48MP Dual Fusion camera system and A20 Pro chip, but the real test will be how quickly third-party apps catch up.
Picture credit: Apple
