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The Apple iPhone Duo is the rare Apple product that hasn’t received universally glowing or negative reviews. Opinions are divided about its lack of Face ID support, iPhone 17 Pro-grade cameras (but without a telephoto lens), and slightly hefty frame when folded. It also generated more interest in an iPhone than I’ve seen in years, and when I followed up my exhaustive, generally positive review with several AMAs (Ask Me Anything) on Threads and X, I was inundated with questions. My Threads post alone has 1,300 comments.
Granted, not every question was about the duo. Many took the “everything” part literally and asked me about everything from my hairline to their favorite color. I played along as I fielded a lot of inquiries about Apple’s first foldable device. Over 24 hours, I repeated many points from my review, which I no doubt read a lot, but I also learned a thing or two that I missed while testing the product.
Post by @lanceulanoff Look at Threads
Here are some of the highlights:
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Someone on Threads asked me if I should try unwrapping the Duo and putting it on a MagSafe stand. So I did and quickly found that the weight of the half not attached to the charging stand made the whole phone rotate ever so slowly on the MagSafe charger. So, while you can use the unfolded Duo on a MagSafe charging stand, it’s not recommended.
After someone else asked if they could still use their MagSafe wallet, I found that the Duo’s back is too short to accommodate the standard MagSafe wallet.
With its two different-sized screens, the iPhone Duo is unique in the iPhone lineup, and there have been reasonable questions about how features like vertical wallpaper images across the cover and inner display will work.
@LanceUlanoff How do wallpapers work? If you have a vertical photo on the outer screen, won’t it work on the inner one?October 22, 2026
I didn’t know, so I put the cover wallpaper as a vertical photo I took with the duo of the Empire State Building, and I have to say, I love the handoff between displays. The cover display showed the iconic building, and when I opened the duo it showed more of the photo.
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
There were a lot of questions about the Duo’s split-screen capabilities, like if I could open more than two apps (no, but you can do a PiP video overlay), and if you could drag and drop content from one screen to another (you can).
Some wondered if you could run the same app on both screens. You can’t, but if you want to maximize your social media, I found that you could run TikTok and Instagram reels in side-by-side windows. It’s social media at 11.
During my review, I tried to run the Kindle app, but the app was not optimized for the device and looked small and useless. Someone asked me about “iBooks” which is now known as books.
As a first-party app, it’s optimized for Duo, of course. Flipping virtual pages on the 7.6-inch inner screen is a transporting experience.
Many have wondered if I hate the matte finish on the inner screen (I don’t), but I’ve also gotten a ton of questions about the scratches and overall durability of the inner screen. Some wanted to know if I had scratched it, either by force or by accident, with my fingernail. I had not, frankly; I can’t even see fingerprints on the matte display.
Some people have asked about the visibility of the fold and whether that area of the screen jumps or wobbles when I touch it. So I tested it by opening the phone and pressing on the essentially invisible filling. No movement.
Many had obviously heard that not every app is optimized for the new inner display. In my review, I found that LinkedIn and Gmail were a particularly bad fit and later found that Adobe Acrobat was still not optimized. But developers are constantly providing updates, so apps that didn’t work yesterday look great today.
Still, people wanted to know how apps would handle the handoff from the 5.4-inch outer screen to the 7.6-inch inner screen. Optimized apps handle it smoothly; most easily expanded without losing context.
Some, like DeckMan and Toastie, playfully use the two screens to create entertaining interplay. DeckMan, for example, turns the Duo into a virtual portable tape deck.
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(Image credit: Future)
An almost equal number shared their concerns about the size of the 5.4-inch cover display. It’s actually not that small, but Apple’s decision to place the dock vertically on the right side means you lose a lot of pixels in what is often empty space. Others complained about the lack of support for left-handed users (they kept asking me if I was left-handed). Some are even bothered by the placement of the dock on the much larger inner display. You can’t move it, and this will likely remain a key issue for many potential Duo owners.
Every single iPhone model now supports Face ID, with the notable exception of the new Duo. It’s probably the single biggest Duo bug, and many have asked me if I’ll have trouble adjusting to using Touch ID again. At first I was, but I got used to it. I hope the next duo brings back facial recognition.
I probably got a dozen or so questions about battery life. Some reviewers have criticized the Duo for subpar battery life when primarily using the larger inner screen. I haven’t found that, but I’ve fielded quite a few battery life questions from concerned potential buyers. I told them what my tests found: all-day battery life in many situations.
I struggled a bit when people asked me to compare the Duo to the iPhone 18 Pro Max. I get it; they want to know if they should stick with what they know or maybe try the awesome new thing. However, it is not easy to directly compare the single-screen iPhone 18 Pro Max with the dual-display duo. But if you turn off the screens, if you focus on the cameras, you can stay with the 18 Pro Max, which offers a telephoto and a variable aperture main camera. The Duo is also heavier than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which could be a deal-breaker for some.
There were also a healthy number of comparisons with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 lineup, especially the similarly sized and shaped Galaxy Z Fold 8. Some asked me to compare the cameras. It turns out that both the Z Fold 8 and the Duo only have two external cameras: wide and ultra wide, and the Z Fold 8 only has a few megapixels per camera on the Duo. Finally, there is a wash on the camera front.
I got just as many questions about the quality of the cameras, including the 12MP center stage camera on the outside and the 4MP inside camera. I found it interesting that many failed to directly compare it to the new iPhone 18 Pro Max lenses and instead focused on the more comparable iPhone 17 Pro wide and ultra-wide. In my testing, I found the imaging was just as good as what I got from the now year-old device. I miss the telephoto lens though.
One person actually asked how this iPhone Duo is different from the Surface Duo that Microsoft launched in 2019 and discontinued in 2024. I gently explained that while the Surface Duo’s inner screen has two displays, the iPhone Duo offers a flexible inner display.
Apple hasn’t said much about Apple Pencil support, but that might be because the Duo currently only supports the Apple Pencil USB-C. For what? It’s the only one you can still charge separately from a tablet. Apple Pencil Pro requires the iPad to charge. The Duo cannot charge another device. As one Threads user put it, “What basically means my Pencil Pro is useless?” Mine too, my friend, mine too.
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