The first foldable smartphone from Apple, when opened, is the thinnest iPhone ever and sports a 7.6-inch inner display. It comes with an advanced camera system and the reworked iOS 27 for foldable form factor. Apple iPhone Duo is finally here. Apple officially entered the foldable phone category with the launch of its first foldable smartphone – iPhone Duo at the company ‘Surprise and Shine’ event. And with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, iPhone Duo brings powerful AI capabilities together with personal context. We had the chance to experience Apple’s first foldable smartphone, and here are our initial impressions.
iPhone Duo design
Talking about durability, Ceramic Shield protects the back and with a new Ceramic Shield 2 on the front display, Apple claims three times better scratch resistance than the outgoing generation. The foldable phone houses a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR display with 1398×2034 pixel resolution. On the other hand, once you unfold the device you will find the 7.6-inch inner display with 1878×2670 pixel resolution. Both the screens on the iPhone Duo support ProMotion, Always-On and Apple’s stated peak outdoor brightness of 3000 nits, so brightness and smoothness don’t feel like a compromise on either screen. Under the hood, iPhone Duo runs on the same A20 Pro chip found in the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, built on a 2-nanometer process and paired with a custom vapour chamber cooling system inspired by Apple’s M-series chip packaging. Apple claims up to 35% better sustained performance compared to the iPhone 17 Pro, and in short bursts of multitasking and app-switching during our time with the device, everything felt immediate — no visible lag when snapping between split-screen apps or reopening the device from standby.
The foldable smartphone from Apple comes with IP68 rating which makes it resistant to splash, dust and water. Internally, support ribs and ceramic fiber antenna inserts reinforce the frame, and it shows: there’s none of the flex or creak you sometimes feel in early-generation foldables. Open, iPhone Duo is described as the thinnest iPhone ever made, and it genuinely feels that way in hand. The smartphone is slim enough that unfolding it doesn’t feel like unpacking a small tablet. Closed, it’s compact enough to operate comfortably one-handed and drops into a pocket without the awkward bulk some foldables carry. The button placement is also done thoughtfully, the power button sits on the right side which also doubles up as the Touch ID. The volume control button is now located at the top making it easier for the user to access in all the different modes. In all, the iPhone Duo will impress you with its slim and sleek design. Apple’s approach to the dual-screen setup on iPhone Duo is refreshingly cohesive rather than feeling like two separate devices bolted together. The vibrant outer display offers plenty of room for routine tasks such as messaging, checking notifications, or quickly snapping a photo without needing to unfold the phone at all. In practice, it transforms the phone into a compact tablet, and the shared aspect ratio between the two displays means content resizes cleanly when you fold or unfold the device rather than awkwardly cropping or stretching. Apple has incorporated nano-texture finish on the internal display. This is a smart move of the company as it helps in cutting down the glare and gives a soft and matte feel to the display. Along with this, the nano-texture finish also works well in disguising the crease along the fold, a detail that has plagued rival foldables for years. The FaceTime camera is also hidden beneath the inner display keeping the screen visually uninterrupted rather than relying on a notch or punch-hole cutout.
