PREVIEW: The iPhone Duo is a luxury device

MANILA — The iPhone Duo is an incredible device, but it is definitely not for everyone. 

It’s a gadget that can be great for productivity, but that is not its strongest suit either. This is a phone meant to turn heads at gatherings and make everyone else wonder if they can survive on just one kidney. Some say that iPhones are the Mercedes-Benz of phones; if that’s the case, then the Duo is probably the Maybach of mobiles–with the proper price tag to boot. 

Last September, Apple finally, officially entered the foldable phone arena with the announcement of the iPhone Duo as the sneaky “One more thing” in John Ternus’ first event as company CEO. 

After months of speculation and leaks, Apple fans finally got a glimpse of the mythical iPhone foldable. And in typical Apple fashion, the company pushed the device as if no other phone maker had done this before. 

While other brands have made the ‘passport-size’ foldable phone before, Apple did bring several enhancements to the folding phone experience that set the Duo apart. 

Its standout feature for me is the gorgeous inner screen. The 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR OLED runs at 120Hz and can go up to 3,000 nits of brightness. Coupled with Apple’s nano-texture finish, this is the most impressive screen I’ve seen so far on a smartphone. 

The inner display cuts glare and reflections like a champ without making colors look dull. The colors are just as vibrant and crisp. However, as expected in matte displays, the video quality is not on par with the glossy screen of the iPhone 18 Pro with its deep blacks and sharp contrast. 

But aside from cutting glare, the nanotexture panel also makes the crease almost invisible. It’s there, but you have to angle it in a specific way to make the crease visible. 

Reading books, web pages and documents on the inner screen is a delight. It’s the most paper-like phone display I’ve tested. 

The Duo feels very polished for a first-gen device. I’ve been using an iPhone Air for a year now, and this folding phone reminds me of that, with its titanium frame, textured Ceramic Shield back and horizontal camera island.

You gotta love the animation—the blurring effect that happens whenever you fold and unfold the phone. It’s not necessary, but it’s a nice touch that is very Apple.  

That being said, it is still finding its footing. App developers have yet to adapt their design to the larger inner display of the Duo. While a lot of apps already work well with the Apple foldable, some key apps from Google like Calendar, Docs, Sheets and others aren’t optimized yet for the Duo. 

Gmail and Google Maps, however, both work well. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and Messenger all work well with the Duo. Apple has also released a list of apps that are optimized for the bigger screen.

Hopefully, in the next few months, more developers will adapt their apps to the Duo.

I’ve had this device for only a couple of days, and it’s already growing on me. As I said, the iPhone Duo is not cheap. It starts at P159,990 for the 256 GB model and goes all the way to P254,990 for the 2TB model.