Apple's iPhone Duo foldable set to arrive Oct. 23 with $2,000-class price

Engadget, in an early review, said the iPhone Duo mostly lives up to the hype. It described a 7.6-inch inner display and software that, at least with iOS 27, remains largely an iPhone experience rather than an iPad one. The device supports app multitasking, shows more interface elements on the larger screen, enables multi-camera FaceTime calls, and works with the Apple Pencil for the first time on an iPhone.

Apple's design choices drew particular attention. When the iPhone Duo opens, the app dock shifts to the side of the screen, and menus do the same. Engadget said Samsung's Galaxy Fold series has a similar Edge Panel, but it is usually hidden and houses tools and shortcuts such as Now Brief and AI Select. Like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, Engadget said the iPhone Duo's screens have a more unified aspect ratio, though Apple claimed in its announcement that they are not precisely identical. Unfolding the phone transplants the front display onto the right side of the foldable screen, with a glossy transition animation. The volume buttons sit on the upper edge so they stay in the same place regardless of which screen is in use. A nano-coating gives the screens a matte finish that reduces reflections and helps obscure the foldable crease. Engadget also called the asymmetric front-screen design, with two curved and two squared-off corners, charming. Xiaomi beat Apple to the punch by a day with its 18 Fold, but that phone is not launching globally, Engadget noted. The iPhone Duo reverts to Touch ID.

Price is a key point of comparison. Engadget cited a $2,000 starting price, while 9to5Mac said $1,999. Engadget said the price places the iPhone Duo between the Pixel 11 Pro Fold at $1,899 and the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra at $2,100, and roughly matches the Galaxy Fold 8's launch price. Samsung's first Galaxy Fold cost $1,980 in 2019. 9to5Mac argued the iPhone Duo's price is high but not as bad as feared, especially compared with Apple Vision Pro, which launched at $3,499 and now starts at $3,699.

Trade-offs remain. Engadget said the iPhone Duo lacks a telephoto camera and does not have the iPhone 18 Pro's variable-aperture camera, making it odd that the priciest iPhone ever lacks Apple's best camera. 9to5Mac said the biggest challenge is that the iPhone Duo is not the absolute best-in-class iPhone yet, with the iPhone 18 Pro still winning on camera and Face ID. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 can run up to five apps in total, three split-screen and two in floating windows, while the iPhone Duo supports two apps, Engadget said, adding that the limit is likely a deliberate Apple choice rather than a technical one.

Third-party app support will roll out in stages. 9to5Mac reported three compatibility levels. Apps built for iOS 26 and earlier run in a mode that does not take advantage of the larger display at all. Apps built for iOS 27, which 9to5Mac said comes out Monday, look more at home on the iPhone Duo but still leave unused screen space. Full iPhone Duo compatibility lets apps use the display more completely, including moving controls that were previously in top toolbars to the side. Apps that use standard system controls get this behavior more automatically, but apps with custom toolbars and navigation bars require more work than simply building against the iOS 27.1 SDK.

Apple will give developers tools to prepare before the device reaches customers, but that work cannot start yet, according to 9to5Mac. The company needs to release a new version of Xcode and the first iOS 27.1 developer beta so developers can test with a virtual iPhone Duo in the Xcode simulator. Most developers will not have a real iPhone Duo until launch day. 9to5Mac said optimization for apps with custom layouts will likely be a longer road, and major social media, banking and gaming apps will be an area to watch over the next several months. It added that because the iPhone Duo starts at about $2,000, its users may be more likely to spend on the App Store, making updates for them potentially good business.

9to5Mac rejected the idea that the iPhone Duo faces the same problems as Apple Vision Pro. It said Vision Pro does not replace core devices, is mostly a stationary appliance, and is not a pocketable tablet. The iPhone Duo, by contrast, is both an iPhone and a small iPad in a pocketable form, and its price is closer to premium phones than to Vision Pro. Engadget said that while the iPhone Duo lacks the kind of landmark change seen when Apple removed the home button on the iPhone X, it is the first foldable for users who did not want Android, and it looks set to deliver.