I want an iPhone Duo badly, and I believe that it is the best modern foldable on the market right now. However, I will not buy it. This is not because I hate Apple. I have been an Apple fanboy for years. In fact, my main reason for not buying a Duo is somewhat different from the reason that general audiences are refusing to buy it.
You see, I became an Apple user after converting from my Samsung A21, Samsung S7 Tablet, Samsung Watch 4, Beats Studio Buds, and my ASUS gaming laptop, all within the span of a year. Though it was a long time coming, as my classic autistic obsessions had me genuinely fascinated with Apple’s history, products, naming, graphic design, advertisements, et cetera. I had watched channels like Apple Explained, who broke down specific parts of Apple’s business in the exact ways I wanted to see, from an entire video explaining Apple’s accessibility program, to the Apple TV’s hardware upgrades, to every iOS update, et cetera.
However, this did not mean I ignored its competitors. Hell, I was more impressed with the improvements that Samsung and other Android-based devices were making every year. But Apple had a flow that none of their competitors had, that came from its polish and predictability. As incredible as Samsung’s foldables have been, they were never really that polished. Every time I tested them out in a store, I could never imagine actually using one. Each transition from the phone to the tablet form factor had the phone glitch for a second or two, even though the entire fucking purpose of the phone was to fold. Most apps were never designed for foldable phones, despite this industry existing for almost a decade now. The lack of polish on these foldables, from the bugs, to the lack of direction I felt when using a new feature, to the apps not being designed with foldables in mind, pushed me away from ever buying one.
Now, to be fair, I never owned or used a foldable phone for more than 10 minutes. Maybe Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and every other company’s phones are truly incredible devices that are worth their price tags. But from my experiences, they are not polished or reliable enough for me to use on a daily basis. And while these companies innovated and led the way for modern foldables, Apple is the first company I have seen that created a foldable with the polish and reliability I have always wanted in this type of device.
Apple has proven that it is not a company that needs to invent first. The Apple II was not the first computer, nor was the iPod the first MP3 player. Hell, even the iPhone was never the first smartphone. Instead, Apple will enter a matured product line, and release the most usable and polished version of the product that every other company has spent years developing. However, this strategy comes with a cost, that being general audiences viewing your product as “nothing new” or “uninspired,” and I have heard this constantly since the reveal of the iPhone Duo. To be fair, I used to have the same mindset, though once I tried the iPhone 14 Pro, I was amazed at how well everything worked and how predictable it was. So I switched from my Samsung. Then I bought the AirPods Pro 2, and they worked far better and connected easier than my Beats earbuds. Finally, I bit the bullet really hard and replaced my ASUS gaming laptop with an M1 MacBook Pro, and it was and still is the best computer I have ever used. I am someone who is willing to pay more for a product that works how I need it to, as opposed to a cheaper product that I would have to fight to use. And if I were into foldables, I would feel the same way about the iPhone Duo.
The iPhone Duo’s crease is far less visible than any other phone, the transition from phone to tablet form is actually seamless and not glitchy, the apps were optimized and built for the foldable, the tablet form is finally rectangle-shaped, et cetera. The Duo did not invent foldables, but it seems to have made foldables far more usable than any of the companies that pioneered them. The price for the Duo is high, though not really when you compare it to other folding phones. The Galaxy Z Fold8 starts at $1900, while the iPhone Duo starts at $2000. Yet the Duo is not only more polished than the Fold8, but it comes with all the benefits of being an Apple device, like consistent software updates, no data selling, the ability to reject cross-app trackers, plus every other benefit you get from being in the Apple ecosystem. So if anything, the Fold8 is a rip-off, since you get far more value with the Duo.
The iPhone Duo is the first foldable phone that has actually convinced me to want one. Though it did not solve the biggest problem I have with foldables, which is that I do not need a foldable. Until I can find enough uses to justify buying one, I do not need to spend $2000 (though honestly $2600 since I need the 1TB option) to buy one. I was far more impressed with the Duo than I was expecting to be, given that I had been following all the rumors and leaks prior to its announcement. However, I will not deny the fact that when it comes to modern foldables and their current prices, the iPhone Duo looks like the best and most practical option to buy right now.