After much hype and anticipation, Apple formally unveiled its foldable iPhone Duo device at its Surprise and Shine event on Wednesday. The handset assumes the same wide-bodied ethos as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, with a passport-style shape when closed, and a widescreen mini tablet-shape when open.
The iPhone Duo certainly looks promising, with its unique nano texture inner screen panel material, its premium design language, and its various software optimizations all on deck. In fact, when unfolded, I’d go as far as to say the iPhone Duo actually makes Apple’s dedicated tablet lineup look somewhat antiquated by comparison.
For $2,000, I’d certainly expect the iPhone Duo to best Apple’s lower-end iPad models from a hardware perspective, but I can’t help but feel that even the iPad Pro models could borrow at least some inspiration from the Duo. Here are three things that, based on first impressions, I feel the iPad line should copy the iPhone Duo’s homework on.
- Brand
-
Apple
- SoC
-
A20 Pro chip
- Display
-
7.6-inch inner display; 5.4-inch outer display
- Storage
-
256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB
- Battery
-
Up to 31 hours
- Operating System
-
iOS 27
An Under-display camera
For a dash of tech futurism
One of the biggest hardware surprises with the iPhone Duo is that it features an under-screen FaceTime camera, specifically below the inner display panel. This technology itself is nothing new in the smartphone world, but it’s never been offered on something as high-profile as the Duo until now.
Apple has gone all-out with the Duo’s under-screen camera, to the point where the new A20 Pro system on a chip (SoC) features a dedicated display engine designed to perfectly blend the pixels surrounding and on top of the camera module. While I haven’t had the chance to see Apple’s under-screen front-facing camera in person yet, I’m definitely intrigued.
If the Duo’s under-screen camera is convincing enough, I’d certainly be interested in seeing the technology make its way over to the iPad Pro line. A camera that’s ‘there when you need it and gone when you don’t’ makes all the intuitive sense in the world, though I can imagine hiding the various FaceID sensors found within the iPad Pro would prove a challenge.
Ultra-thin bezels
To maximize the screen-to-body ratio
When unfolded, the iPhone Duo features extremely slim outer bezels. Far narrower than any iPad model currently on the market, the Duo’s bezels are futuristic to behold no matter what angle you’re looking from.
Now, I understand that full-sized tablets benefit from a little bit of bezel to grip onto, but the iPad Pro’s bezel is starting to look long in the tooth when compared to the competition — including from Samsung with its Galaxy Tab Ultra line.
I’d love for Apple to push the boundaries of industrial design by slimming down the iPad Pro’s bezels to near iPhone Duo level. Doing so would maximize the screen-to-body ratio to a great degree, it would make the device look futuristic, and it would allow for much larger screens within the pre-existing chassis sizes we know and love.
Various iOS optimizations
Software tweaks that just make sense
With the iPhone Duo, Apple has taken the time to redesign core aspects of the iOS user interface to meld better with the novel form factor at hand. For example, the dock and other home screen elements are right-justified on the springboard, application menu items are relocated to this same position, and other subtle-yet-appreciated tweaks have been made across the operating system.
Multitasking has also been overhauled with the iPhone Duo, with an (ironically enough) Microsoft Surface Duo-inspired flow for split screening various apps on the inner screen. Plus, it’s super easy to pin apps together for easier switching, simply by tapping on the middle divider bar.
With the iPhone Duo, Apple has taken the time to redesign core aspects of the iOS user interface.
Of course, the iPad already has a relatively fleshed-out multitasking flow of its own these days with iPadOS, but I’d love to see a ‘Duo mode’ be added that better emulates the Duo’s handling of two applications at once. I reckon this could be separated from the cascading windowed mode altogether, giving users another option to work with.
I can also envision the iPad mini, in particular, taking on some of the iPhone Duo’s software adjustments, including the relocated dock. On a smaller-sized tablet like the mini, I feel that the Duo’s software just makes more sense than emulating the look and feel of larger iPad models like the Air and the Pro.
