Yet another Hacker News

305 points thecosmicfrog 1 hour ago 424 comments

dmitrygr 1 hour ago | parent

Looking forward to reviews after a few months of use. So far all the foldables I've seen get destroyed quite fast.

minimaxir 1 hour ago | parent

The presentation went into extra detail about durability w/ a titanium construction, and the iPhone Air was indeed super durable with it. The hinge at-the-least looks like it could survive the dust test.

makeitdouble 1 hour ago | parent

It's a claim in a marketing presentation though.

Apple also touts ultra durable screens in their presentation and people still shatter them regularly.

minimaxir 1 hour ago | parent

"ultra durable" does not mean "indestructible."

georgeburdell 1 hour ago | parent

Apple has most likely stress tested its engineers to stress test this phone

accrual 1 hour ago | parent

They went over their multi-layer design to give it strength and flexibility, and noted over 100 components in the hinge alone. I'll be looking out for JerryRigEverything on YouTube to see how tough it really is!

kllrnohj 1 hour ago | parent

JerryRigEverything won't tell you how easily the hinge gunks up or cruft gets stuck in places it's not supposed to be or how quickly crease marks show up and how bad they are.

While Apple certainly looked at the competitors to see what problems they had, it's far from a given that Apple has managed to actually solve the durability issues, either, much less on their first attempt.

cubefox 1 hour ago | parent

> So far all the foldables I've seen get destroyed quite fast.

I doubt you did see any from the last few years.

lvl256 1 hour ago | parent

$1999 is ridiculous.

Edit: Wow, I didn’t know Samsung foldable was priced similarly. It’s a lot of money to pay for something inherently fragile.

jjice 1 hour ago | parent

While I won't pay it, it seems pretty comparable to other flagship foldable from Google and Samsung.

raphinou 1 hour ago | parent

Doesn't make it less ridiculous, and that price for the other brands isn't less ridiculous either.

chrocni380 1 hour ago | parent

> $1999 is ridiculous.

Plenty of people on HN earn that much money in a single day after tax.

alistairSH 1 hour ago | parent

It's also more than the cost of an iPhone Pro + a MacBook Neo (or several other combinations).

I'm just not seeing the value proposition for a $2000 phone. I already can't comfortably hold or type single-handed on the normal-sized Pro.

wpm 1 hour ago | parent

The correct price comparison is between an iPhone Pro and an iPad Mini, in the US that would be $1199 + $599. So for an extra $200 you don't have to carry and charge 2 devices. Not a terrible pitch.

alistairSH 48 minutes ago | parent

Sure, I guess, but I don't have a Mini, or any tablet for that matter. I used to and found the form factor didn't meet my needs. I'm happier with a phone and a laptop.

artisinal 1 hour ago | parent

For most people this can replace an iPhone Pro, a MacBook Neo and their iPad.

For those people, $2000 is a good price for a device that does all their digital work.

devnulll 1 hour ago | parent

I base many of my purchases on how many hours per week I use them.

In terms of usage hours, my mobile phone comes out near the top. This makes the price almost immaterial.

nofunsir 49 minutes ago | parent

your underwear must be expensive!

prewett 1 hour ago | parent

That's about $675k/year, assuming a 35% tax rate. I think that is a small fraction of HN users, but more to the point, if your argument is that the phone is not expensive if you make over $500k/year, I'm not sure that is a compelling argument...

Kirby64 1 hour ago | parent

The retail price of the equivalent Samsung phone is $1900 (1899) - or $2100 for their 'Ultra' phone. Seems just in line to me.

rawgabbit 1 hour ago | parent

My first thought is what happens when I drop a $1999 device and break it.

MBCook 59 minutes ago | parent

I think there were rumors going even higher since Apple is so often a premium priced product.

Matching their top competitor in price is a good look.

They could’ve absolutely floored everyone if it had been $1500, but there’s no way that’s possible, at least having margins anywhere near what Apple likes.

alwillis 48 minutes ago | parent

We'll have to see but it has a titanium frame with Ceramic shield front and back.

Obviously Apple knew where other foldable phones fell short; they clearly planned to overcome those shortcomings.

jedberg 1 hour ago | parent

My wife's first question:

Will this fit in a woman's hand?

twalichiewicz 1 hour ago | parent

It was clever that they used the reference point of a passport. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone complain about passports being unwieldy.

jedberg 1 hour ago | parent

People don't try to type on their passport though.

accrual 1 hour ago | parent

They briefly showed the Duo opened partway like a laptop, and even had a keyboard displayed on the lower portion. Maybe it would be kind of like a smaller GPD Mini but with touchscreen instead of physical keys.

twalichiewicz 1 hour ago | parent

True, but passports are one of the few readable objects I can think of that regularly get used in both vertical and horizontal orientations.

Insanity 1 hour ago | parent

You hold your passport a few times a year, for maybe a few minutes. Probably less than 1 hour total per year. Many people will 5x that usage-time in just a day.

fragmede 1 hour ago | parent

They are so unwieldy that the US has a passport card because the passport is too big for frequent travellers. I also will complain about how my passport's ID page is the second, not the first page, so you open the passport, and then always have to flip to the second page (unless you use a tiny bit of tape).

selectodude 1 hour ago | parent

The passport card is almost exclusively for people who go back and forth to Canada and want to keep it in their wallet. Nobody is complaining about the size of a passport.

tekla 1 hour ago | parent

What. No. A passport card is not the same as a passport book in its capabilities.

micromacrofoot 1 hour ago | parent

you don't carry your passport in your pocket every day

wpm 1 hour ago | parent

Just like the iPod's "deck of cards".

jerlam 1 hour ago | parent

It will save people a lot of time because they don't have to go to the Apple store, they can use their own passport to discover that the phone is still too big in a different dimension to use with one hand.

OkGoDoIt 59 minutes ago | parent

Personally I find passports slightly too large to comfortably fit in my pants pocket, and a passport is definitely thinner than this phone. Whenever I travel and have to have my passport in my pants pocket I’m always a bit uncomfortable about it, I usually prefer to keep it in my backpack or somewhere else. If you’re carrying this in a purse then it sounds great. The passport aspect ratio is pretty awesome on phones, I tried one shaped like this at a Chinese phone store last year and enjoyed it. But shoving a $2000 device the size of a thick passport into my pocket on a daily basis feels like a bad idea.

asdff 46 minutes ago | parent

Passport is also thinner than a pencil, not rigid, and will fold a little around your thigh in a tight pocket.

Firaxus 1 hour ago | parent

I’m a little disappointed with how big it looks folded, I was hoping for a mini that could unfold…

gedy 1 hour ago | parent

The dimensions closed seems like a weird form factor. I'd be interested in a folding iPhone (horizontal or vertical), but this seems off.

kin 1 hour ago | parent

Same. The product page strategically has zero images of a hand holding it folded. https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/

After looking one up... https://www.engadget.com/img/gallery/apple-iphone-duo-announ... It looks awkward to hold.

hackyhacky 1 hour ago | parent

Formally specified: there exists some human woman, in whose hand this will fit.

Machado117 1 hour ago | parent

Can this woman play Rachmaninoff?

asdff 48 minutes ago | parent

An olympic water polo goalie perhaps

sqquima 1 hour ago | parent

I was actually looking forward to a smaller iPhone. To have less addictive screen time. It looks like the Air was a once-thing. I don't see them releasing an e-ink phone either.

Maybe the answer lies in only wearing an Ultra watch if it becomes powerful enough and can function independently of a phone.

OZYMANDIASAK 1 hour ago | parent

I'm thinking of doing the same thing but I actually think the current Apple watch is already powerful enough.

Daily life is ok with it but most of the issues come from banking and governmental apps.

I wish society was not as keen on making everything go through smartphones nowadays.

micromacrofoot 1 hour ago | parent

or pocket

lucky_cloud 1 hour ago | parent

There aren't many phones that fit in the tiny pockets that plague women's clothing. The clothing/fashion industry is to blame on that count.

artisinal 1 hour ago | parent

Perhaps with a PopSocket.

gizajob 1 hour ago | parent

I feel like it’s actually designed more with women in mind. Instagram influencing type women who will think nothing of spending $150 a month on it.

tamimio 1 hour ago | parent

Most women I knew with shattered screens had relatively large phones (max, plus, etc.), and the few of them who listened to my advice and got smaller phones, never broke the screens. Either girls over estimate their hands size (I guess compared to some YouTuber they see), or maybe bigger screens is just a status, or something else, but most girls have large phones for some reason.

asdff 42 minutes ago | parent

If they mostly doomscroll tiktok they tend to want bigger screens

minimaxir 1 hour ago | parent

I'll give John Ternus credit: the demos are interesting and fun.

Maybe not $2k fun + inherent risk with buying the first generation of an Apple product particularly after the Apple Vision Pro, but still.

behnamoh 1 hour ago | parent

They're still as cringe as they've been for years; with fake hand movements and marketing-pilled bs postures.

basisword 1 hour ago | parent

I wish these posts came with a demo video of you doing it better.

nozzlegear 1 hour ago | parent

> with fake hand movements

I don't get this complaint. People talk with their hands, it'd look more fake if they just stood there all stiff and wooden.

wpm 1 hour ago | parent

The marketing pilled postures seem to have been toned down a bit.

I wish they would stop changing speakers every other sentence though. I swear drone cameras were the worst thing to happen to video, I'm gettin seasick over here!

gyomu 19 minutes ago | parent

> I wish they would stop changing speakers every other sentence though

Apple employees get to claim very little ownership over their work (even in the context of a large tech company), so having all those speaker slots is one way they can provide that ego boost that is so crucial for long term employee morale & retention

Maxion 1 hour ago | parent

I find it sad that they're doing it all pre-recorded.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

Yeah, I wish they would go back to live, or at least parts of it live. They did a great job during the pandemic but it has lost some humanity and authenticity.

allenu 1 hour ago | parent

I agree. The demos were great. They really showed off how things you already do today are "better" on two screens. This is in contrast to the Vision Pro where the demos were of things that were neat but I can't see myself needing (watching 3D captures, watching a big virtual cinema screen).

I think this will be a hit, but the $2k is a bit much for me to even consider getting one. Obviously they'll likely drop that price over time.

josteink 1 hour ago | parent

It’s the exact same price point as the Samsung Z Fold 8, which is this phone’s exact competitor.

$2k is a lot to ask, but it answers the market 100% on “I’d like a Samsung Fold 8, but as an iPhone”.

dlcarrier 17 minutes ago | parent

The Apple Vision Pro was a rare early entry into a field. Usually they wait until the technology is established and the userbase is just starting to take off, as is currently the case with folding phone displays.

Samsung has already worked out the major kinks for folding displays, over dozens of products used by multiple phone manufacturers including themselves, and Android has worked out how to handle the various use cases between the outer screen and inner screen, when closed, open, or partially open, so Apple can pull from the current state of the art and launch with a more fully developed product, as they usually did before the Apple Vision Pro.

joenot443 1 hour ago | parent

Did anybody want this?

ceejayoz 1 hour ago | parent

I'm the sort of person to absentmindedly flex a metal fork enough times it snaps, so it's definitely not for me.

jawngee 1 hour ago | parent

I do.

zitterbewegung 1 hour ago | parent

Yes, with a much bigger screen I can definitely see this making me more productive and it is in between an iPad that getting through even minimal productivity tasks would work and bigger screens help a lot. Even though $1999 only gives you 256GB at least you get that low of a price point. Would have to see it in person though especially about the crease and the camera(s). (EDIT) I have a Clicks power keyboard which I can use with this. Seems like I should clarify that I can use this where a regular laptop can't be used. And since more people are interested in what I can use email, calendar and codex / Claude code (in fact Claude codr is why I have the clicks power keyboard)

sajithdilshan 1 hour ago | parent

Like what exact productivity tasks do you do on a phone for 2k USD that you cannot do as an example on a MacBook neo?

zitterbewegung 1 hour ago | parent

You can do a productivity task where you can't just have a MacBook Neo out.

sajithdilshan 59 minutes ago | parent

Like what? Do you do your office or schools work in your phones?

MisterMunchkin 1 hour ago | parent

You can’t carry a neo in your pocket or use it on the bus

sajithdilshan 58 minutes ago | parent

But that’s what I’m curious about, like what productive tasks do you do on a bus? I usually read something or scroll instagram and for neither of tasks I need a bigger screen

azan_ 51 minutes ago | parent

It’s much nicer to use terminal on larger screens.

sajithdilshan 49 minutes ago | parent

I know that, but how many people use terminals on their phones?

wpm 1 hour ago | parent

The ones I want to do on my iPhone.

This is usually because my iPhone dings more, and is connected to an always on network connection + phone network, so it's often the point of first-contact with any specific task/response/conversation/work unless I am sitting at my desk at home already.

And while I am someone who does take a laptop and an iPad with them in a backpack at lot of the time, that's not all the time. I'm not walking around the grocery store with a MacBook anything propped up on my cart. I'm not hanging from a strap on a bus or train with a laptop in my hands. And using a laptop on the couch usually makes my wrists hurt.

sajithdilshan 1 hour ago | parent

But what exactly productive tasks that you need the bigger screen? Because for any productive task I can think of that requires a bigger screen I would need a keyboard and a touchpad/mouse as well.

wpm 40 minutes ago | parent

I'm someone who often thinks of things to cook while grocery shopping. Oh theres such-and-such on sale, oooh they started carrying X, what the hell is that what can I use that in, that sort of thing.

When that happens I'll often want to look up recipes for that stuff right there in the store. The web has gone to trash. The mobile web is even worse. Adblockers can only help so much, its just that everyone dumbs everything down for small screens. So its very frustrating trying to process some search results and find a decent recipe for some-such and find the rest of the ingredients I need to buy. This is a low time committment task, I need to do this in a busy grocery store, and not block the part of the shelves I parked myself in front of for too long. I mean, I guess I could go home and use my desktop, but odds are I'll just forget. And no, I'm not gonna ask AI for a recipe.

On a screen that big, using Orion and locking it to "always show me desktop mode", I could more comfortably browse and look up these things than I can on my Pro Max sized phone now. The inner screen has a higher resolution than an iPad Mini.

Another example, and it was one they showed only very briefly in the video: I just want a bigger keyboard damnit. They showed an app taking up the top "half" of the inner screen, a keyboard taking up the lower half, with the phone folded at a 110ish degree angle. It's a Sidekick with a touch keyboard. So any time I have some serious typing to do (Slack message regarding something that requires a prompt response but isn't just a few words, not that hard to imagine other examples), that bigger screen is going to give me a keyboard that is much easier to type on than a Pro Max can, because the keys are going to be sized much larger and will not need to rely on the on-device typing guesstimator as much (and that thing is dumb as hell). God, being able to ssh into something and actually have some room for all of the extra keys that make working in a terminal easier, what a world!

Having a real computer for any of these tasks would of course be the ideal, but as portable as those have gotten, they still don't hold a candle to something that fits in my pocket and has a software stack that reliably lets me interact with it in a meaningful way without having to make room for a keyboard and a trackpad.

sajithdilshan 29 minutes ago | parent

That’s a very niche use case and gonna be a very expensive recipes look up. Also I’m not sure the desktop mode of a website actually look better on a Duo because the text and links would be quite small to navigate with a finger and most probably it would by default get the website optimised for iPad/tablet view.

As for the bigger keyboard, I have tried that in iPad mini. It’s horrible. Because the distance between the keys is too far in that case and it actually slows down your typing. I can imagine the same in Duo when you use one half of it as the full keyboard

asdff 39 minutes ago | parent

Here I am wondering why you are doing work while also grocery shopping.

joenot443 1 hour ago | parent

Nice! I like this answer. If I was someone who worked on the go more often I could probably see the appeal.

https://www.clicks.tech/ca/powerkeyboard

That's a very neat product.

elwell 1 hour ago | parent

Are you offering?

sdcfgy 1 hour ago | parent

It’s not if anyone wants it or not. There’s always some melon who does. It’s more will they sell enough to break even on it.

billti 1 hour ago | parent

I was hoping I didn't. But after watching the event, I kinda do.

I have to hand it to them, they added some really nice touches to the OS for the new form factor. Seems almost like the best of an iPhone and a iPad Mini.

Still not sure I want something that bulky, and maybe I'll wait a few months to see the reviews and how the hinge and screen fold hold up. But tempted for sure...

elwell 1 hour ago | parent

Why were you hoping you didn't?

altairprime 1 hour ago | parent

I'm just reaching the age where I need reading glasses late in the day, and so in a couple years when I'm out of school and employed again, this is starting to look like the best option in the Kindle / Tablet space: it isn't just a flat pane of glass and it's no bigger than a Nintendo DS, so it will fit on my crowded surfaces and in my purse.

Do I want it? Ehhhh. I hate heavy objects. I stopped buying the Pro line because the weight just kept increasing. So I will probably not particularly enjoy that mass of batteries dragging on the purse strap. But I enjoy reading glasses less and I just don't want an unwieldy bigscreen that I can't hold easily like the iPhone Air.

adamwk 1 hour ago | parent

A lot of people own Samsung foldable phones? They’re especially popular in China and South Korea

ako 1 hour ago | parent

No, for that money I can buy an iPhone and an iPad. Just checked, iPhone 17 256gb plus an iPad 13inch 256gb is about 100 euros cheaper than the cheapest iPhone duo.

burningChrome 1 hour ago | parent

I can't think of an application outside of travel or long commutes on a train where I would use this. For a daily driver its too big to fit into a pants pocket and the price tag is TGH.

toasty228 1 hour ago | parent

They just have to make it appealing enough, a loooot of people buy ipads because they're cool and they project themselves into all these fancy advertised situations, 90% of the time it ends up gathering dust or being used 15 min on a sunday morning while you're too lazy to get out of bed.

jerlam 1 hour ago | parent

Most people I know who use iPads do so because a phone is too small to see or type on, but an actual computer/laptop is too complicated and intimidating to use.

frantathefranta 1 hour ago | parent

Yes I'm quite interested in a foldable from Apple. Have been since I got an 7" Acer Android tablet ~13 years ago and was annoyed at the necessity of carrying 2 devices.

aurareturn 1 hour ago | parent

Yea. If there is one thing I learned over the years is that people always prefer a bigger screen, as long as it is still reasonable to hold.

This is especially true in the younger generation where many of them don’t own a computer. They do everything on their phones or iPads.

mrweasel 1 hour ago | parent

Probably, but do enough people want it? The iPhone SE and the mini was discontinued do to "poor" sales, meaning poor for an iPhone. I'm interested to see if Apple will stop selling the Duo if it only sells at the same rate as the SE.

I don't know who this is for and can't figure out what problem this solves. It's cool, but it's not $2800 cool (yes, it's $800 more expensive in some markets). For that price is has to do more than fold in half, maybe fold into a swan of something.

httpz 1 hour ago | parent

Are you suggesting Apple made a foldable phone without doing any market research on demand?

asdff 35 minutes ago | parent

Apple isn't infallible. See AVP.

Merad 1 hour ago | parent

I definitely didn't want one 30 minutes ago, but now that I've seen it the idea of a phone that can be smaller in the pocket but unfold to give a large screen is pretty darn appealing. Appealing enough to pay 50% more for it? Eh... probably not.

kaikayy 1 hour ago | parent

So excited to see if the "apple adoption delay" holds true here. Like more durability and actual long term software support.

floturcocantsee 1 hour ago | parent

They were very evasive on what the inner screen was made of. I'm going to assume its the same plastic all the other folding phones are made of.

mrexroad 1 hour ago | parent

Evasive? They literally discussed the layers of materials, with the outer being a polymer.

adamwk 1 hour ago | parent

They went in pretty extensive detail for the internal parts of the folding screen?

layer8 1 hour ago | parent

Modern foldables use ultra-thin glass (UTG). There’s a factory-installed screen protector layer on top which can make it feel plasticy.

LoganDark 1 hour ago | parent

Doesn't removing the "screen protector" destroy the pixels? Or was that just some early Samsungs? (that made an important built-in layer look like a screen protector)

layer8 55 minutes ago | parent

Yea, it’s not supposed to be removed.

LoganDark 45 minutes ago | parent

I was hopeful that the Apple foldable would use glass as the top layer so it doesn't get scratched. Plastic does not inspire confidence; no coating can actually protect it from damage because it can still simply get plastically squished.

fckgw 1 hour ago | parent

They talked for several minutes on the materials and engineering that went into the screen and how it wasn't "the same plastic all the other folding phones are made of"

behnamoh 1 hour ago | parent

Steve Jobs would roll in his grave due to lack of symmetry in this.

jedberg 1 hour ago | parent

Actually I think he would appreciate the beauty in using 1:1.4, the same as metric paper, to maintain the ratio.

billti 1 hour ago | parent

Yeah. It's more Jony Ive who will be rolling in his Bentley.

t1234s 1 hour ago | parent

Having watched the original iPhone event live, bringing the pencil to the iphone would make him roll over in his grave.

juiceland 57 minutes ago | parent

The original admonition was against requiring a stylus, not enabling one.

ndarray 57 minutes ago | parent

Would probably push the engineers to deliver three-way foldables like the Huawei Mate XT from two years ago. The two-way folding phones are wasting a screen and will go down in history as an abomination. The weird 1:1.4 width:height ratio wouldn't be necessary if you could 3x the screen size instead of only 2x. At 3x, the ratio could be 1:1.73 folded, giving you 3:1.73 unfolded (which equals 1.73:1). 1.73 is much closer to 16:9 (1.77) than 1.4 is.

thepasswordis 1 hour ago | parent

I'm interested to see what cases for this will look like.

jedberg 1 hour ago | parent

One thing I love about metric paper is the beauty of the simplicity: When you fold it, it maintains its ratio. This is because it is 1:1.41, aka 1:sqrt(2)

When I saw that this new phone is 1:1.4, I instantly appreciated why it is that way. Metric paper wins again!

fragmede 1 hour ago | parent

Apple's submarine introduction of A* papersizes to the US.

jedberg 1 hour ago | parent

Oh man if this is what got the US to adopt metric paper I would be so happy.

accrual 1 hour ago | parent

I enjoyed the subtle shade (presumably at Samsung) when they discussed existing foldables having an awkward size, and choosing their new ratios and the asymmetric form factor. One edge square, one edge rounded, so all edges are rounded when open.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

I suppose Google too. Basically every single one.

mardef 1 hour ago | parent

It's literally the same size as the Z Fold 8. The Samsung is $100 cheaper too.

__aru 1 hour ago | parent

> I enjoyed the subtle shade (presumably at Samsung) when they discussed existing foldables having an awkward size

I don't think that was subtle shade...

That being said, short-and-wide foldables have been done before, they just never stuck around. Google should've stuck with it on their Pixel Fold, same for Oppo with the Find N.

Shame that the short-and-wide foldables took this long to become more mainstream, since to me it's been the obvious form factor ever since I tried the older Galaxy Folds.

iknowstuff 1 hour ago | parent

Samsung’s choice of square corners makes more sense for this type of device.

wpm 1 hour ago | parent

Of all the ISO standards I wish the US would adopt, ISO216 would be it for me, hands down. I recently needed to buy some A6 thermal paper, a size no one seems to offer anymore. And who cares! Why would they! I can just buy an A4 sheet and cut it in half twice, no fuss.

jedberg 1 hour ago | parent

Same here. I wish I could just use A4 paper, but usually when I put something on paper it is to share with others, who will not have an easy way to store or process it. It has to be a widely mandated switch.

Like only allow A* paper for government forms or something that would force everyone to switch their paper handling infrastructure to A*.

jonpurdy 1 hour ago | parent

As a reference point, I’ve stubbornly been using A4 paper in both USA and Canada for years now with governments and businesses. Never had any problem with IRS, passport agency, CRA refusing to accept them, or even mentioning it at all in person.

No problem buying it either, though it’s about 2x the price of letter. (I go through about 100-200 sheets per year mostly due to my daughter drawing on it.)

I don’t actually store any printed paper since anything gets scanned and shredded, so no comment on long term filing.

(Due to this experience I recently partially switched to B5 paper, which is a nice size compromise instead of A5 which would be too small. Anything A4 will print to it without scaling issues of course, just takes up a bit less space.)

ghostly_s 57 minutes ago | parent

I think it would be pretty rare to find a paper "storage or processing " device that can accommodate letter but not A4.

fragmede 47 minutes ago | parent

Rare? A simple shipping cardboard box is sized to fit either A4 or letter sized piles of paper. Simple enough to change, but fairly common.

fragmede 50 minutes ago | parent

The US would need a president who is bullheaded enough to executive order a thing, like drop the penny or paper straws, but that also likes Europeans, so we might be waiting a while for a push from the US government. Printed media nerds, however, already know about benefits of A* and will switch as soon as they're in power and can spend the millions and millions of dollars it would cost their company to switch. Printed media is not as important as it once was, though, so the switch is really to start outputting PDFs as A4 and letting people print scale-to-fit when they actually need to print something you've sent them. Given how often my printer sees use, I doubt most people would notice if the PDFs you send them started being A4 instead of US letter.

jascha_eng 1 hour ago | parent

But it makes it really weird to type one handed I think.

ktallett 1 hour ago | parent

As a reading device that is great, but as a phone that is wide.

phforms 1 hour ago | parent

I see a possible future where we have ultra thin devices that can be successively unfolded to larger formats based on this ratio, making size-based product variety obsolete. After that we get screen origami.

clarkmoody 1 hour ago | parent

Nearly impossible to actually buy A4 paper in the US

wpm 58 minutes ago | parent

I can have 10 reams of Hammermill 20lb in A4 at my door in less than a week for less than $100.

ceejayoz 50 minutes ago | parent

Amazon typically has it; https://www.amazon.com/Hammermill-Paper-letter-Bright-Sheets... by Friday. I occasionally need some for Australian paperwork and forget where I stashed it every time. Some day I'll open a closet and find 20 reams of the stuff with a page or two missing.

applicative 6 minutes ago | parent

[delayed]

bsimpson 1 hour ago | parent

The aspect ratio is the biggest problem with foldables.

The main reason I'd want a bigger display is for more immersive content like videos, which are typically 16:9. On a Pixel Fold, you have all the added complexity of the fold to make the videos you watch on the train 1cm taller.

The iPhone Duo unfolds to be the same height as the iPhone Pro Max. Sounds like it has the exact same problem - a bunch of added complexity without a practical use for it.

-----

> Touch ID is integrated into the side button

Another major flaw with the foldable form factor - it's hard to distinguish holding the device e.g. to pocket it and holding the device to use it. My foldable does the smartphone equivalent of butt-dialing way more often than any phone I've had before because it likes to unlock itself when I'm putting it in my pocket

drewg123 59 minutes ago | parent

Great point.

For media consumption on the go, I use AR glasses. They are considerably cheaper than the upgrade from an 18Pro to a Duo, and give you an absolutely giant screen.

t1234s 1 hour ago | parent

I was thinking it would be priced cheaper than an 18 pro and an ipad mini

baalimago 1 hour ago | parent

I suspect I would get greater value by simply duct-taping two iPhones together into a fold.

canucker2016 1 hour ago | parent

The two batteries inside the Duo will allow longer usage.

from the Duo page:

- Up to 31 hours video playback when using the inner display

- Up to 44 hours video playback when using the outer display

asdff 24 minutes ago | parent

You can run one iphone at a time and lap the duo. 64gb iphone SE is going for $140 at best buy right now. I could tape up 10 of them into a jacobs ladder then I'd have 640gb of storage and maybe 10x the battery life of the duo, and money to spare for future expansion iphones.

retired 1 hour ago | parent

No SIM slot. Seems like Apple is only thinking of the US market. Will not be getting the Duo as I will not be able to browse the web outside my home.

Edit: Rate limited so can't reply to the comments. I live in Spain, can't switch to eSIM. I know that the US has 100% integration of eSIM across all providers but outside the US it's not that great. I use eSIM and SIM a lot, have lots of cards and subscriptions. For my main subscription I can't switch to eSIM (yet).

ladberg 1 hour ago | parent

Where do you live that eSIM isn't an option?

riffraff 1 hour ago | parent

Don't your country telcos have esims?

Even mainstream operators in my country have those these days, so you can sign up online without getting to a shop.

owldown 1 hour ago | parent

Why do you think eSIM is a US only thing? Common in Western Europe and Japan and South Korea and Mexico and Canada and Australia and Thailand as well. China and India are the big outliers, but that can change.

corvad 1 hour ago | parent

Surprised it was not named iPhone 18 Duo.

SkeuomorphicBee 1 hour ago | parent

Naming it like that would subjectively tie them to the release schedule of the main Iphone line, while I imagine such a niche device will have a much slower schedule between new versions. If that is the case, they would want to continue selling this device alongside the Iphone 19 (and maybe 20, or even 21) without the name implying it is an old model.

nish__ 1 hour ago | parent

Been using a galaxy fold for years now. This is the future.

cubefox 1 hour ago | parent

What's your take on the aspect ratio question?

didip 1 hour ago | parent

It looks very useful with all the software integrations. Now the price tag however... Without financing it would be hard for majority of buyers to justify.

basisword 1 hour ago | parent

Doesn’t almost everyone finance their phone anyway? You pay a carrier x a month and get a phone and service for a few years. Maybe they’ll push the plan out from 2 years standard to 3 so it’s just as affordable for people?

charamis 1 hour ago | parent

I’d like a comeback of the live events at some point. Especially now that there is a new CEO.

cubefox 1 hour ago | parent

They are addicted to teleprompters. Steve Jobs didn't use them.

thesuitonym 1 hour ago | parent

We keep putting more powerful chips into phones, and giving them bigger screens, but we never turn them into useful computers. Why is this?

GuinansEyebrows 1 hour ago | parent

Artificial limitations open many new avenues for new and exciting revenue streams.

jddj 1 hour ago | parent

You can get something quite useable these days by plugging a pixel into a USB dock with a monitor and a keyboard + mouse

armadyl 26 minutes ago | parent

Android Desktop mode looks so promising, it jus needs to support higher resolutions/refresh rates but this is probably a side effect of at least the Pixel having weaker performance versus other flagships.

Although I can’t wait for the more powerful Motorolas with GOS to release. Maybe that’d be enough to make a phone my sole computing device.

beAbU 55 minutes ago | parent

The moment apple ship MacOS on their iPads, sales for their macbooks will all but collapse.

aboringusername 55 minutes ago | parent

This is the biggest disappointment, imagine running a full blown "Ubuntu Touch" that gives you the freedom of Linux with full root access. This is the biggest failure of legislation in the 21st century so far that has enabled a strict Android/iOS duopoly.

I sincerely hope one day we can free these hardware devices from the shakles of their software and run anything that's possible.

Until such a time iOS devices are strictly off limits until at least a grapheneOS can run iOS at a minimum.

fudged71 13 minutes ago | parent

That seems to be entirely the purpose of this device. Instead of just a larger display, it's meant to provide a "second monitor" for multitasking or more context.

With terminal emulators, tailscale, local and remote agents, there's never been so much computing capability accessible from your pocket before.

bottlepalm 9 minutes ago | parent

Apple's lack of vision and fear of innovation. Jobs is gone. We're back to 90s Apple. Dumb ideas become dumb products, and no one has the balls to say, No.

rvz 1 hour ago | parent

Another status symbol has been created.

But once again as I said before [0][1], don't buy the first version of an Apple product.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23638202

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26361985

ladberg 1 hour ago | parent

Wait a sec, you're quoting yourself for proof but you were pretty much objectively wrong in that case? HN unanimously agrees that the M1 was the biggest jump in capabilities and has had many many years of usability since launch.

sdcfgy 1 hour ago | parent

Can’t wait until my colleague who DMed me mid presentation to get one and break it like he did with his two Samsung ones.

doctoboggan 1 hour ago | parent

Just a reminder to everyone, always buy the second version of any new product category, even from Apple. The first duo will look primitive in a few refresh cycles. It does look really cool though!

batmenace 1 hour ago | parent

Listen, I'm not saying you're wrong, but I will say I hope I'll at least get to update this comment down the line while holding that gorgeous looking phone in my hand

1123581321 1 hour ago | parent

I get the sensibility of that advice but isn't that the case no matter when you buy it? I mean, they announced a nice iPhone Pro, optimized over multiple generations, and then immediately made it look primitive with the Duo. :)

doctoboggan 1 hour ago | parent

v1 to v2 is the biggest leap, and each leap after that is smaller and smaller. Just look at the difference between the 17 pro and 18 pro.

gizajob 1 hour ago | parent

*especially from Apple. I live by this maxim.

jval43 55 minutes ago | parent

Especially Apple. Buying a first gen Apple product hasn't been great since like 1999 at least. Very few exceptions.

twalichiewicz 52 minutes ago | parent

Considering how many comments I regularly see on Hacker News from people who still love their M1 MacBooks, I’d say that’s not a particularly strong maxim.

hbogert 8 minutes ago | parent

Ah yes the m1 air for example which couldn't drive 2 external screens

low_tech_punk 1 hour ago | parent

iPhace Duo https://news.microsoft.com/surfaceduo/

corvad 1 hour ago | parent

Looking back now it was quite ahead of its time.

sccxy 1 hour ago | parent

August 12, 2020

ramses0 1 hour ago | parent

Actually kindof awesome! ...but when I saw the phone call at the end my mind immediately went back to "Taco-Talkin' w/ the Nokia N-Gage"! => https://sidetalkin.com/original/

kvuj 1 hour ago | parent

The main problems from that Duo was that Microsoft didn't believe in it.

This lead them to use a garbage CPU and support it for something like 2 years.

Apple has the balls to keep updating the vision pro even after it flopped and it will probably get 7 years.

testfrequency 50 minutes ago | parent

Still use mine!

I will say it was a pain in the ass to open and answer calls though when you were busy doing things.

bellowsgulch 1 hour ago | parent

I want it, but for $2,000, I want to be able to do so much more.

octernion 1 hour ago | parent

will buy it for the kid cue feature alone; what a neat idea. i mainly use my iphone for reading books and taking pictures of my kids so the format will be perfect for me.

Insanity 1 hour ago | parent

Reading might be the one use-case for a foldable phone when you're on the go. Even so, a basic Kindle fits in a purse / fanny-pack just fine and is much more comfortable on the eyes.

octernion 1 hour ago | parent

agreed about the kindle being more comfortable, but, the best reading device (+ camera) is one you always have on you.

percentcer 1 hour ago | parent

Despite what the marketing material would have you believe you can always see the fold. Even when it's fully open. Folding screens have been a solution in search of problem for like a decade now

nailuj 1 hour ago | parent

I like folding phones that go from half to full size. Fits in my pocket and I still get a big screen when I want.

wpm 1 hour ago | parent

How do you know? Have you seen a Duo?

azan_ 53 minutes ago | parent

> Folding screens have been a solution in search of problem for like a decade now

The problem is I want to have small phone that can be expanded to have large screen when needed, glad I’ve solved this decade long conundrum!

t1234s 1 hour ago | parent

A terminal app would be cool where the bottom half is a decent keyboard with arrow/pg keys

antics9 1 hour ago | parent

I’ll not buy a new iPhone until they release a new mini. No, this duo is not worth it.

makeitdouble 1 hour ago | parent

Are the on screen controls fixed to the right ?

The curved right side makes me think so, but it sound like a pain for people using their phone left hand dominantly.

aurareturn 1 hour ago | parent

I wonder if the side bar controls can be moved to the left side. I always hold my phone using my left hand.

w10-1 1 hour ago | parent

What about left-handed people? Will the controls line up on the left?

owldown 44 minutes ago | parent

I'm right-handed but I always keep my phone in my left pocket and use it with my left hand (keys have always been in my right pocket). I'm also pretty curious about the answer to this.

factorialboy 1 hour ago | parent

It's priced identical to the Samsung Fold 8.

The dimensions are also close.

From a visual aesthetics perspective, I prefer the square edges of the Samsung Fold 8.

Eager to check out the reviews of the software capabilities of the iPhone Duo.

And I'm not sure about the inner screen's selfie camera. The under-screen camera has failed in previous devices, especially for zoom calls, it was abysmal.

Excited for the nano texture displays though. For far too long, Samsung had beaten Apple with non-reflective displays.

juujian 1 hour ago | parent

I suspect there are plenty of people out there who habitually buy the most expensive of what Apple has to offer in any category. I guess Apple was leaving money on the table by not having anything in this price range in the first place.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

I trust Apple likely did better, though they’ve made bad decisions before (Studio Display camera).

My biggest worry is the lack of Face ID. I love Face ID so much. I know I can do the Apple Watch unlock, but I don’t want to. I just want my phone to immediately look unlocked to me. and Face ID did that the vast majority of the time.

So I’m very curious to hear what the hands-on impressions from people are. Is the screen good? Can you notice or feel the crease? Is there anything else wrong? Is not having Face ID as annoying as I suspect?

At least there’s something really interesting this year. It’s more than just faster and better cameras, which is nice. And having actual aperture blades on the pro is great.

But this is more interesting.

factorialboy 1 hour ago | parent

I'm okay with the lack of face ID. Fingerprint unlock power button works perfectly well for me.

Did they mention MagSafe?

I'm not sure if they mentioned MagSafe for the iPhone Duo.

That could be a deal breaker.

notaustinpowers 1 hour ago | parent

It does have MagSafe support. https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/

factorialboy 1 hour ago | parent

Ty, phew!

MPSimmons 1 hour ago | parent

FWIW (and this is not directed to you specifically but anyone reading this) the police can use biometrics to compel you to open your phone without a warrant, but they cannot force you to give up your passcode.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/biometrics-vs-passcodes-what-l...

stetrain 19 minutes ago | parent

This is partly why iPhones have a feature to disable biometric unlock by holding the lock + volume button (same gesture as emergency mode).

sqquima 59 minutes ago | parent

Doesn't fingerprint mean that someone could knock you unconscious and unlock it with your finger? I don't know if I'd install my bank apps here.

ldargin 26 minutes ago | parent

That's possible, but unlock doesn't work after death.

layer8 1 hour ago | parent

> It's priced identical to the Samsung Fold 8.

The Fold8 is $1,899.99 (street price significantly lower as usual), the Duo is $1999.

factorialboy 1 hour ago | parent

That may be right, I was referring to list price, which is identical between Apple and Samsung. (I'm located in EU)

With Samsung, they're going to heavily discount it over the holiday season.

With Apple, the device is actually going to retain its value in the second hand market.

So there's this value argument that can swing both ways.

layer8 56 minutes ago | parent

The list price is different in the US. Apple may be trading off lower margins in the EU to keep it below the psychological 2000 mark.

nikanj 1 hour ago | parent

Apple usually gets heat for not being the first to a feature, even when they’re the first with an implementation that’s actually good, not just a gimmick

AndroTux 59 minutes ago | parent

The under-screen camera essentially doesn't matter. For the three times you're in a meeting with it, it'll hold. For everything else, you'll use the primary camera and the front screen.

factorialboy 57 minutes ago | parent

Yeah, but I'm not really sure.

There's a perfectly good use case of using this device unfolded with their kickstand powered folio case and a portable keyboard — While getting some zoom calls and productivity / work done.

dlcarrier 24 minutes ago | parent

Is an inner screen camera really worth it? There's already a camera cutout on the outer screen, plus you can open the phone and use the full-size camera with the outer screen, which results in much more flattering imagery than the wide-angle lenses selfie cameras use. It's like taking the difference between an under-screen selfie camera and a regular selfie camera, and applying that again.

It makes sense to have one screen for an as-large-as-possible uninterrupted display, and another for maximum utility.

I like that Samsung doesn't cut as much corner off as Apple, but ideally I'd like to find a manufacturer that doesn't cut corners at all. Even though I'm not likely to buy another iPhone product, I am excited that Apple doesn't cut holes in their interior display, because that'll probably get other manufacturers to do the same.

Copernicron 15 minutes ago | parent

> It's priced identical to the Samsung Fold 8.

Not around here it isn't. The iPhone Duo starts at $2999 for the base storage. The Fold 8 is $2399 and even the Fold 8 Ultra is $2699. This only confirms that Apple has been steadily pricing themselves outside what I'm willing to spend. Can I afford it? Yes. Will I get $3k of value from it? No. This one is not for me at this price.

ivraatiems 1 hour ago | parent

$2,000 for a phone? Holy price point, Batman. No thanks.

I assume the people who would buy something like this have enough money not to care, and also would not care about the second part of my comment, because they want New Thing or use their phones enough for it to be useful.

I guess it might be the case that the only way to make the folding screen thing even remotely work is a very, very expensive manufacturing process. But as is often the case, I don't see how it's worth it?

I want my phones smaller and with Touch ID, not enormous and wrinkly.

rootusrootus 1 hour ago | parent

> $2,000 for a phone? Holy price point, Batman. No thanks.

Isn't that basically in line with the competition? Cheaper, even, than some of the competition?

ivraatiems 1 hour ago | parent

Good god, is it? My current phone is an iPhone SE 3rd Gen and I paid $250 for it on eBay.

spacedcowboy 1 hour ago | parent

have you considered that you might just not be the target market ? :)

sajithdilshan 1 hour ago | parent

Who exactly is the target market? Millionaires?

MiSeRyDeee 1 hour ago | parent

Pretty sure Apple and other manufacturers do market research before pouring tons of resources into it.

sajithdilshan 57 minutes ago | parent

I guess the time would tell. I’m pretty sure they did market research before the Apple Vision Pro and we all saw how it turned out

user43928 23 minutes ago | parent

As an engineer in a high cost of living location, you can buy this phone and still save some money in the same month.

However, maybe you can't buy a house there. For that you'd have to be a millionaire.

sajithdilshan 17 minutes ago | parent

But people like me cannot be the target market of Apple because that would be a very limited number of customers. Also even if I could afford it, I don’t see any use case for it so why would I even buy it?

john_strinlai 1 hour ago | parent

256GB galaxy z fold8 is ~$1900

russelldjimmy 1 hour ago | parent

Not sure what expressing the cost of your current phone has to do with the discussion here, but I’m guessing this phone certainly isn’t for you. Some people choose to spend more on their phones, and some less.

ivraatiems 1 hour ago | parent

A price difference of 8x for what this offers seems crazy to me.

A $10,000 car and a $80,000 car are going to be markedly different. Same for a $100,000 house vs a $800,000 house.

This $2,000 phone does not seem 8 times better than my $250 phone.

russelldjimmy 1 hour ago | parent

Your opinion is duly noted.

Philpax 51 minutes ago | parent

Your phone does not offer more screen area on demand. That is genuinely useful for many people. Apparently, not you, but that's OK.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

That’s not a brand new folding phone. Those start at $1900 MSRP from what I see. However, you can get them a few hundred cheaper. Some of them cost even more than Apple.

People have been saying “Oh my God, who would pay $600 for a phone“ for 20 years. Clearly there are such people.

embedding-shape 1 hour ago | parent

Most people don't actually realize they're paying $$$$ for their phone, as they get a phone with their mobile plan and they pay some monthly small sum for 24 months that lets them forget they'd never be able to afford it otherwise.

itsdesmond 1 hour ago | parent

New flagship product with lots of features is more expensive than old entry level product purchased used?!

mrweasel 1 hour ago | parent

$2800 here. What kinda of problem does that solve that's worth that kind of money? I'm seriously asking, because I can't figure it out. I can completely see buying an iPhone 18 Pro because you use it for work as an influencer or media creator, but this is close to twice the price and much less of a tool.

nozzlegear 1 hour ago | parent

I don't think luxury phones necessarily need to solve problems. They're just luxury phones, people who can afford them will buy them because they like them, not because they're solving problems.

asdff 52 minutes ago | parent

An influencer needing the latest iphone is also ridiculous when you think about it. They are running instagram and tiktok after all, not waiting for software to compile. They don't even need the latest and greatest camera because all their content is only going to be viewed on a palm sized screen.

dwaltrip 34 minutes ago | parent

Influencers want a device like that for status and branding. Technical specs are not a huge factor.

asdff 22 minutes ago | parent

Doesn't it hide in a giant pink jelly case with a pop socket anyhow?

rootusrootus 48 minutes ago | parent

I can't really answer that because I'm not the target for this particular model. I'd rather have a new Mini.

But I think this could be really appealing for a large number of normies who have a phone as their sole computing device.

anonthrownaway 35 minutes ago | parent

>What kinda of problem does that solve that's worth that kind of money?

If it means don't have to put reading glasses on to use my phone, I'd pay a lot more...

torginus 29 minutes ago | parent

It's basically for people who want an iPhone and iPad, but in a device that's worse than both, while being more expensive than just buying one of each.

Apocryphon 1 hour ago | parent

It has Touch ID

ivraatiems 1 hour ago | parent

It is also enormous and costs $2,000.

beAbU 1 hour ago | parent

Shutup and take my money!

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

Why do you like that over Face ID?

mrweasel 1 hour ago | parent

I prefer TouchID because FaceID doesn't work when my phone is flat on the table and away from me. That's is how I use my phone most of the time, I don't really hold it up to my face.

lutoma 1 hour ago | parent

Not the person you're replying to, but Face ID just works much less reliably for me. I usually wear glasses, and when I get up in the morning and am not wearing them yet, it usually takes a number of tries before my phone will unlock. Sometimes it will also randomly not work in the middle of the day, maybe because of glares or something. Touch ID always just worked.

armadyl 29 minutes ago | parent

After jumping from an iPhone to a Pixel and back, the only thing I miss is fingerprint unlock which is way faster and more convenient than Face ID. You don’t need to adjust the phones position or anything if it’s too close to your face or in a position where it can’t scan your face.

accrual 1 hour ago | parent

Yes, I think this is an artifact of the new under-display camera (at least on the inside). The official copy states:

> iPhone Duo uses Touch ID, which is integrated into the side button. This gives you an easy, secure, and consistent way to authenticate iPhone Duo, whether it’s closed or open.

Probably no way to do FaceID from under a display yet.

retube 1 hour ago | parent

according to the blurb you can lease it $60/month

ivraatiems 1 hour ago | parent

That's almost three of the phone I use daily per year.

artisinal 1 hour ago | parent

Renting. It's $57 per month for 24 months and then you have to hand it in.

So you pay $1368 for the privilege of using the Duo for 2 years.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

Lease. You can buy it out at the predefined price at the end.

artisinal 1 hour ago | parent

English is not my first language, sorry. If you have a device that you pay a monthly fee for, but you can't keep it at the end of the contract, where I am from we call that renting.

Leasing is a financial construction where you actually own the product / property, with the bank having the option to claim it if you fail to pay.

dyauspitr 1 hour ago | parent

It’s a lease, not rent. I don’t know the exact numbers on this but you can pay “rent” for two years and then pay like $300 (I don’t know what the right number is here) at the end to own it outright at that point. So at the end of the day you pay like $200 more than someone that buys it outright from the get go.

netvl 58 minutes ago | parent

This is not true, with leasing you don't own the product or property at all. Leasing is basically long-time rent. For example, when you lease a car, you don't own it - the leasing company does. In some cases, you can buy out the object at the end of the lease (like cars), in some cases you can't (like apartments).

> a financial construction where you actually own the product / property, with the bank having the option to claim it if you fail to pay.

This is called financing - basically, buying a thing with bank's money which they give you as a loan. For high-value purchases, there are often limitations on what you can do with the object, or requirements (like a requirement to have homeowner insurance for mortgages), but there are usually less restrictions compared to lease since you are the owner.

nozzlegear 1 hour ago | parent

You get the choice to pay the remaining value of the phone and keep it, or enter a new "lease" agreement for a brand new phone at the end of the term. The formula is simple:

purchase fee = device list price – lease payments made – remaining discounts or trade-in credits.

If you're paying $1368 over 24 months, you could pay the remaining $632 after those 24 months and keep it with 0% interest.

artisinal 44 minutes ago | parent

So let's say you go to Hertz or Avis at the airport, you get a car for a month at $1700. The car has an MSRP of $40,000 and Hertz/Avis gives you the option to buy the car for $38,300 after you return it.

Is that leasing or renting in your country?

wpm 28 minutes ago | parent

Let's say you go to BMW or Lexus or Ford. You pay them $3000 and agree to pay them $500 a month for the next 3 years to use the car according to some conditions. The car is worth $60,000. You pay $21,000 over those three years. When you bring it back, they offer to let you buy it outright or to just hand it over to the dealer.

Is that leasing or renting in your country?

Is the difference between renting and leasing even meaningful? You chose a car rental agency for your example because it costs more per month to rent from a short-term rental agency. What is a lease but a long term loan? What difference does it make that I rent my apartment by signing a document called a "lease agreement"? Am I a renter? Or a leaser?

Renting/leasing is not automatically bad. The terms are what make one a good or a bad deal.

artisinal 16 minutes ago | parent

Is that $3000 a deposit that you get if you return it in good condition? In that case we would definitely call that renting.

> Is the difference between renting and leasing even meaningful?

Where I live, yes. If you lease you are the owner, with the financing company having the ability to seize it when you don't pay. If you rent you are not the owner, but are allowed to use it. Renting is a bit plebeian.

4dd3 1 hour ago | parent

I'd imagine its targeted in particular at producers - e.g. content producers.

There's enough buyers in the market.

spike021 1 hour ago | parent

they're definitely hoping the people who can't afford it simply lease it like an expensive car.

criddell 1 hour ago | parent

Lots of people can afford it. If you keep the phone two years, that works out to less than $3 / day. The lease option is even less. They're going to sell or lease a lot of these.

I think it's going to be very interesting to see how well the sales for the Duo do in year two and three. I suspect sales will go up, but wouldn't be shocked if they drop.

DoesntMatter22 48 minutes ago | parent

Yup. I mean I don’t have any need for this one, but in general, the cost it’s pretty low when you look at it from a monthly cost or a daily cost

spike021 29 minutes ago | parent

The number of people who buy junk food on credit they can't pay off is pretty much unfathomable at least in the USA. There are plenty of people for whom "$3 / day" is something they very realistically can't afford.

nozzlegear 1 hour ago | parent

> $2,000 for a phone?

> I assume the people who would buy something like this have enough money not to care, and also would not care about the second part of my comment, because they want New Thing or use their phones enough for it to be useful.

But what's the monthly price with Apple's upgrade program? I'd bet that's how most people will be buying it (me included, if I decide to get one).

derac 1 hour ago | parent

It's not a phone, it's a status symbol fashion object.

1-more 50 minutes ago | parent

Ok maybe it's that but it's definitely also a phone

octernion 1 hour ago | parent

i love that we get these comments, even 20 years later. the phone costs what many (most? even?) folks on HN make in a day, after taxes.

applfanboysbgon 59 minutes ago | parent

You think most folks on HN are making $500,000 after taxes (being charitable and assuming "in a day" means a working day)? Moreover, does one commenter have to represent most folks? If someone makes less than $500,000, are they not allowed to voice their lack of desire for a phone that is affordable for the alleged majority who do make $500,000?

dyauspitr 58 minutes ago | parent

Come on, most people are not making 700k a year even on HN. Probably closer to $300k at the high end and there are a lot of Europeans on here so probably closer to $100k.

Machado117 1 hour ago | parent

It’s $2250+tax for europoors

sajithdilshan 38 minutes ago | parent

Europoors is gonna be my favourite word from now on

apparent 1 hour ago | parent

I might get one. I've been using a mini for years and am pretty much giving up on Apple ever making one again. The AI features finally seem worth an upgrade, and I don't love the size of the Air, standard iPhone, or Pro/Max models.

If I'm going to have to two-hand it, this is perhaps not the worst. Also, it might be more one-handable when closed than regular iPhones.

Is it very expensive? Yes, especially if you don't opt for the base storage (256 is not enough in the age of LLMs). But I've not upgraded in 5 years, so I've got budget to spare.

iknowstuff 1 hour ago | parent

I don’t see the problem with the pricing. It’s the most used gadget and its an iphone and ipad in one.

dyauspitr 1 hour ago | parent

Honestly, that doesn’t seem all that crazy. I was actually expecting it to be closer to $3k

sajithdilshan 38 minutes ago | parent

Then it would most probably have had the fate of Apple Vision Pro

r0fl 1 hour ago | parent

5 different people messaged me today saying they are pre ordering a duo

None of those people have ever messaged me about any other phone event ever

simonebrunozzi 1 hour ago | parent

You remind me of the (in)famous comment by Steve Ballmer when the iPhone was first introduced .

sajithdilshan 43 minutes ago | parent

The functionality and user experience provided by first iPhone compared to its peers at time completely justified its price.

In comparison iPhone Duo only offers a bigger screen and even limited functionality when it comes to camera if you compare it with iPhone 18 Pro.

vulk 1 hour ago | parent

I am with you on this one, probably sales charts are up for foldable phones but I am not sure those people are reading the room correct. We want smaller devices more tactile if we wanted ipads we would get ipads.

3pm 58 minutes ago | parent

$700 premium for Duo compared to iPhone Pro Max 18. Exactly the price of iPad mini 256GB.

nine_k 48 minutes ago | parent

Few pay it directly. It's paid in installments, subsidized by the carrier, traded-in for for an old but still okay phone, etc.

And those who want to boast, can of course buy for the full price. This is a non-zero share of the target market.

laserbeam 31 minutes ago | parent

> subsidized by the carrier

You misspelled “you’re overcharged for your mobile subscription and get a phone”.

kimos 42 minutes ago | parent

In Canada they range from $3000-$4800. Absolutely bonkers prices.

wombat-man 23 minutes ago | parent

I try and usually succeed at using my phones for around 3 years, so it's not out of the question. Still have another year on my current one, I'll check out the next duo next year.

raffael_de 7 minutes ago | parent

to sell a phone for such a ridiculous price you need to make it as obvious as possible - a folded phone is pretty obvious - now people can buy it as a status symbol. what's the point of a status symbol if not everybody around you immediately recognizes the item as very expensive. there you go.

swat535 7 minutes ago | parent

Most people don't buy their phones, they just finance it through the phone carrier as an "upgrade".

The phone carriers then upsells their more expensive plans.

comandillos 1 hour ago | parent

What's the value of using one of these phones running iOS? iOS is great for media consumption and not so much for productivity... so I don't understand very well the use cases... apart from watching Netflix I guess?

fckgw 1 hour ago | parent

iOS runs plenty of productivity software, many which run great on larger screen devices like this or iPads. What does "productivity" mean to you? Or is it just terminals and coding?

ktallett 1 hour ago | parent

That is a huge market that they are ignoring.

comandillos 1 hour ago | parent

I might be a weirdo, but even the mail client on iOS has serious deficiencies. Just getting an email with a zip attachment where I have to edit / sign a document with a certificate / something, rezip and send back is a hell in iOS, while it simply feels natural in Android.

alistairSH 1 hour ago | parent

Slightly better for documents and spreadsheets? Although I have a laptop for those, so... I guess I'm not the target audience.

basisword 1 hour ago | parent

Most people aren’t doing productivity. They’re watching videos and playing games. This would mean I don’t need my iPad on flights or when travelling. And when I’m travelling I don’t need to be doing productive things.

mentos 1 hour ago | parent

I’m curious to see how using Windows Remote Desktop iOS App will feel at this size if I can be productive or not.

My previous thought was to use XReal glasses with my existing iPhone but that’s not realistic in an office environment.

gshakir 1 hour ago | parent

Is it thicker than iPhone pro when folded?

I want it more thinner!!

Insanity 1 hour ago | parent

Honestly don't see the appeal of foldable phones. I don't use my phone a lot, but the form factor even as a small tablet is not something useful for my phone use-cases.

When I'm at home, I can just use my iPad. When I'm on the road, I don't need to be watching content on a slightly larger screen.

I get that I'm not the target audience, but it's still confusing to me why people like foldable phones.

omikun 1 hour ago | parent

I know right. I don’t get it either. How could other people have different preferences?

pagade 1 hour ago | parent

Was there a reference to using AI to decide where to place the hinges?

aurareturn 1 hour ago | parent

Yes I thought that was weird and forced.

leduyquang753 1 hour ago | parent

It's about finding best matching hinges and phone frames.

neom 1 hour ago | parent

Think I'll just wait for the rumored iPhone Air 2. iPhone Air is for sure the best phone I've ever owned, the battery life doesn't bother me but the camera isn't ideal at all. Duo looks cool but I'm not sure I need a device that will encourage me to "play" on my phone more than I already shouldn't.

rudyp_dev 1 hour ago | parent

I'm a little worried about the buttons moving up along the side, since I use my phone with my left hand... Hopefully there is more information about whether the OS supports moving the controls to the left, or even keeping them at the bottom.

GeekyBear 1 hour ago | parent

After four years of watching the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel snap Google's foldable phones in half at the same spot along the antenna lines, I'm looking forward to seeing how well this holds up.

Something this expensive should not be that fragile year after year.

tills13 1 hour ago | parent

new foldables are surprisingly strong along the spine. Not impossible to snap or damage but would support being accidentally sat on without it being catastrophic, for example.

GeekyBear 58 minutes ago | parent

> new foldables are surprisingly strong along the spine

Have you seen the video in question from two weeks ago?

> GOOGLE MADE A MISTAKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUT3rUZGqLA&

mhh__ 1 hour ago | parent

The folding phones are genuinely interesting although all the cool demos I've seen people do irl have been quite reliant on android being quite liberal as to what software you can run

joshstrange 1 hour ago | parent

$2K starting price is rough. I’ve upgraded my iPhone every year since my first phone, the 3GS. It’s one of a few “splurge”-type things I allow myself. It’s a hobby and just fun to play with the new hotness. This year might break the cycle.

I don’t care for the 18 Pro colors, I still love my orange 17 Pro, and I’m not sold on the Duo (functionality or price).

I might still end up with a Duo but I’m very much on the fence. I’ll tell myself it’s for development/testing reasons, or just to play with the newest offering but I’m just not sure. I worry this will suffer from the same lack of developer interest as the AVP did. Yes, it’s very different from the AVP and SwiftUI will almost certainly make this process easier but I’m still not sure.

Hamuko 1 hour ago | parent

I don't know, $1999 seems almost kinda reasonable considering how much an iPhone Pro costs and how utterly fucked the current memory prices are.

basisword 1 hour ago | parent

I don’t think it’ll face the developer interest problem. Devs go where the money is and consumers seem to love foldables.

newman314 1 hour ago | parent

You could do the leasing route if you upgrade every year. Might pinch less.

beAbU 1 hour ago | parent

If leasing a fucking phone isn't a sign of the times then I don't know what is.

nozzlegear 58 minutes ago | parent

People have been leasing phones since at least the mid naughties, they just did it via their carrier. I distinctly remember standing in the Alltel store in 2006-ish, before it got gobbled up by ATT, and wondering if I could afford the extra $15/mo that the new Nokia candybar phone would run me. The only thing that's new is that Apple is offering it directly.

beAbU 30 minutes ago | parent

Leasing, as in long term renting, required to give it back after the lease period, in near perfect condition, or face a penalty?

Or financing, paying it off over a fixed term, after which you own it outright?

The latter, I understand. And I'm also familiar with it.

But the former, I find hard to believe. Although, I'm not from the US. Are you telling me people rented nokia bricks in the aughts?

nozzlegear 15 minutes ago | parent

You could and still can do both from your carrier, it's pretty standard. In my experience, it's somewhat uncommon for people to actually buy their phones outright unless you make a lot of money (like the folks who tend to frequent HN). Every two years, my wife and I would sign up for a new 24-month contract, which would include two new phones. After those 24 months, we could keep paying off the remainder of the phones and keep them, or we could return them and start a new contract with new phones.

> Are you telling me people rented nokia bricks in the aughts?

Myself and my family did, for sure. My parents made me pay my own phone bill too, so I spent a long time in the Alltel shop staring at the different phones and probably annoying the clerk.

reaperducer 20 minutes ago | parent

If leasing a fucking phone isn't a sign of the times then I don't know what is.

People have been leasing and renting phones since the 1930's. I guess you missed out on the Ma Bell century.

fragmede 1 hour ago | parent

It's high, but Apple's financing arm has it at $84/month, which is a bit more stomachable if you really want it.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

I like that blue though.

alwillis 1 hour ago | parent

> I worry this will suffer from the same lack of developer interest as the AVP did

Pretty sure that developer interest is not to be a problem. The Duo will sell more units in a month (or less) than every AVP ever sold.

Apple told developers in June at WWDC to not assume fixed screen sizes. Well-written apps will work on any screen size thanks to Apple's APIs.

Some apps will need to be tweaked to take advantage of some Duo features no doubt, but I suspect that's not going to be a deal breaker.

getsprite 46 minutes ago | parent

Agree - this is going to have pretty wide adoption.

alwillis 39 minutes ago | parent

To get close to the same functionality as the Duo, you'd buy an iPhone 18 Pro ($1199) plus an iPad mini ($599); that gets you to $1,798. If you want more storage than the entry level iPhone 18 Pro or iPad mini, you're going to surpass $2000 pretty quickly.

tiahura 1 hour ago | parent

$2000 and they can’t give you the full display? What stupid design document from 1985 says people want the corners of their screen cut off?

cubefox 1 hour ago | parent

I'm at a loss why anyone thought this asymmetrical design looks good.

noodlesUK 1 hour ago | parent

I really hope that in the coming years we will be able to get smaller phones back into the market. Apple compared this to the size of a passport. A passport seems even bigger than a normal iPhone, even when folded. A number of people (especially women with smaller hands) I know are holding onto their iPhone Minis for as long as possible. I’d love a phone that was roughly normal iphone sized when unfolded but was a flip phone à la Motorola razrs in years gone by. I wouldn’t even need a screen on the outside. I know it’s hard for a company like Apple to be able to market “less phone” as a good thing, and I know the iPhone mini didn’t do great commercially but there’s a small cohort of users clamoring to have something for them.

HaloZero 1 hour ago | parent

I think you’re out of luck. If Apple can’t sell the mini I don’t know who will enter the market.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

They could. I think it would be nice if they would choose to.

I doubt they lost money on it. I’m guessing they just “didn’t make enough“ and decided it would be more profitable to spend that money elsewhere.

I will say as a software developer it was rough getting things working on that tiny screen.

But I know people loved it. I have family members who did. And I totally get it. But it just doesn’t seem to be a big enough part of the market for any of the big players to care at all.

nxc18 1 hour ago | parent

Apple sold plenty of minis. It just wasn’t a blockbuster. They also didn’t sell many pluses. They also didn’t sell many Airs.

For context, Apple sold 6 million minis, most Android manufacturers (other than Samsung and Google) can only dream of that volume.

Apple can do it, they just choose not to. It’s not like AVP is a roaring sales success.

dyauspitr 53 minutes ago | parent

They came out with the AVP saying it was niche production and made very few of them to begin with. They expected not to sell very many of them.

asdff 58 minutes ago | parent

They still sold millions of minis. Can't sell is about relative terms to the rest of their iphone sales. Against that it looks poor. Against mac pro sales probably looks amazing. Sold by any other company the phone would probably be considered a success and still in the lineup.

And really, poor sales are no excuse. How many macbook skus do they have that barely move when you go through all the permutations of config? I don't want to work it out but I'd guess there are something like 24 skus of macbook pro they are barely selling in comparison to iphone sales. What's another model iphone in 3 storage tiers?

fragmede 45 minutes ago | parent

Another phone model is massively more expensive compared to changing RAM or storage in, say, the macbook lineup.

asdff 21 minutes ago | parent

Yes, a challenge for a company as small as Apple.

jjice 14 minutes ago | parent

They can do it for sure, but they've deemed it's not worth it. I trust that they're in the business of making money when they feel it's worthwhile.

dijit 1 hour ago | parent

I totally accept that I'm the minority.

When I was 12-13 I started taking a steroidal inhaler which inhibited my growth, so my hands are literally the same size as when I was 13. (maybe slightly wider).

As such I have about the same finger length as the average woman, and when I used the iPhone 4S and 5S I had no problems, I was not able to comfortably use the 6 with one hand, and it came with that ugly camera bump, so I returned it and tried to go Samsung. (it was big, but the rounded edges helped a fair bit) - the software sucked.

I bit the bullet and went back to my 5S, and when the SE (2nd gen - shaped like the iPhone 5 but with beefed internals) rolled out it was a day 1 purchase for me.

Ever since then I've been looking for a phone -- the iPhone "Mini" was as large as the 6 which was too large (I did buy one though) -- I eventually bought an iPhone 15 pro, but honestly, I hate it. It is the heaviest thing I carry daily and it doesn't do anything more than my 5 did that i care about, and I can't comfortably operate it. I start really disliking mobile devices because of it- and the software is getting worse year on year too.

I'm getting serious fatigue from this, but the world has not only caught up to a mobile world, now many things actively expect/require you to have a modern smart phone, especially in Sweden.

coldpie 1 hour ago | parent

Have you looked at the new Motorola Razrs? They're great. 4" external display that is easy to use one-handed and can run any Android app (though some apps and websites struggle with a screen that small), and it unfolds into a phablet for when you want a huge display.

I believe Samsung has a new one with a similar form factor too, though I haven't looked into it.

layer8 1 hour ago | parent

The Razrs are significantly larger, heavier, and wider than the mini. And they add the complication of a flip phone. Not really comparable.

coldpie 45 minutes ago | parent

The comment I was replying to said:

> I’d love a phone that was roughly normal iphone sized when unfolded but was a flip phone à la Motorola razrs in years gone by.

So the Razr does seem pretty comparable to what they were requesting.

ncallaway 1 hour ago | parent

Yea, I'm in this boat. My 13 mini has been dropped a couple of times. The screen is still functional, but it's on its last legs.

I spent a few hours researching the other night on what replacement phone I'd buy, and.... the answer was a refurbished 13 mini.

moralestapia 54 minutes ago | parent

Same, 13 Mini is perfect. As soon as they release a similar form factor I'm all in.

devindotcom 57 minutes ago | parent

same. my current SE 3 is starting to limp battery-wise and I'm about to switch to my backup one. Hoping they come to their senses before it wears out.

dmitrygr 54 minutes ago | parent

Apple Stores will happily swap the battery for you to a new Apple one for $79 IIRC

factorialboy 55 minutes ago | parent

I suspect you might be interested in this crowdfunded project - https://smallandroidphone.com/

randusername 1 hour ago | parent

Well "kid cue" is pretty uncomfortable for some reason

me_online 1 hour ago | parent

Agreed. Disturbing.

juiceland 58 minutes ago | parent

I don't have kids -- what's wrong with this feature?

1970-01-01 1 hour ago | parent

Google and Samsung have been at this for years. Nothing here is actual innovation, is it?

rootusrootus 1 hour ago | parent

Depends on if it starts to get a crease after using it a while. I tend to assume that this is why Apple chose not to adopt folding screens as quickly as Android phones did.

omikun 1 hour ago | parent

Just like the first iPod and iPhone.

1970-01-01 47 minutes ago | parent

What iPods could make a phone call and browse the Web in 2007 that weren't made by Apple?

doom2 47 minutes ago | parent

It's a shame there isn't the kind of competition in the US when it comes to mobile phones as there is in China. Many HN users would likely never buy a Chinese OEM device, but if you look at the variety of devices offered by Chinese brands, they're trying all sorts of approaches. Kind of like their EV market. Meanwhile, your choices in the US are Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google, and that's pretty much it. I wouldn't say there's a ton of innovation between them...kind of like the large US automakers.

asdff 29 minutes ago | parent

I mean that is the business. These companies are in the business of ordering parts from components vendors and leasing floor space to assemble them after all. Folding screen is probably something you can order from many companies in shenzen at scale right now (or whichever chinese city is the "cell phone screen" hub, might not be shenzen).

newman314 1 hour ago | parent

I was quite surprised to see the under display camera. Wasn't expecting that.

Other than that, looks like there are some nice Duo specific features on iOS. $1999 is also surprising given that news outlets were reporting up to $2500. Plus it's price competitive with other foldables in the market.

corvad 1 hour ago | parent

$2K is quite a lot.

corvad 1 hour ago | parent

John Ternus as CEO seems to be good.

jerf 1 hour ago | parent

So, just in general, I've been seeing more and more foldable phones like this. How well are they holding up now? Having Apple use one seems to be at least somewhat of a vote of confidence that the tech has reached some level of acceptable maturity, so I assume "not trash", but I don't know how good that represents. I'm a compulsive fiddler so I'm not really in the market for a phone I can fiddle to death without even consciously realizing it, but I'm at least curious if the tech is reaching the point where one might expect a more normal user to casually expect them to last 2+ years with normal use.

MBCook 57 minutes ago | parent

I know the early ones were really bad. My impression is I’ve stopped hearing about them failing all the time, so I assume they’ve gotten decent.

brap 1 hour ago | parent

Folded phones are the essence of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”

exabrial 1 hour ago | parent

shit, I'd take this form factor but with a physical keyboard.

surfingdino 46 minutes ago | parent

I'm still waiting for Apple to rediscover the Psion 3a or 5 format and Applefi it. when they do, I'm in.

sajithdilshan 1 hour ago | parent

2300Euros in Germany. That’s a hard pass.

achow 1 hour ago | parent

I cannot believe that the central crease could disappear altogether!

Suspiciously could not see reviews of it yet - usually bloggers like mkbhd get their hands on early, and they release the reviews moment the embargo is off, usually when live event is over. This time nothing.

fckgw 1 hour ago | parent

It doesn't come out until October. There won't be anything to review until then.

kristofferR 58 minutes ago | parent

That's not true, the journalists are hands on with it right now.

Here's a live stream of the popular obnoxious streamer, he held it a few minutes ago (also talked with MKBHD).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CPAtEmHAio

vulk 1 hour ago | parent

I might be a minority but I never had interested in this foldable phone trend where you get just a bigger screen. I can't even consider dual display smartphone as a foldable phone. The benchmark for a foldable phone was Motorola Razr V3. I am not sure where they are going they really need some new people with some fresh ideas and vision. Sooner or later someone is going to start eating their lunch.

bluepeter 1 hour ago | parent

Sandy ant video intro is good. Love the whimsical fun music, whatever it is.

fishtoaster 1 hour ago | parent

The weight is interesting: 8.96 ounces (254 grams).

Not much more than the 18 pro max - 8.78 ounces (249 grams). The Duo sure looks chonky, but that's not the end of the world.

00ze 1 hour ago | parent

Ugh; folding screens are so failure prone these things just exacerbate e-waste problems

Would rather ditch my phone size thing and be able to pair a cellular Watch to iPad Mini size thing that also has "50% more screen" than iPhone Max

Gen AI could take telemetry like GPS from Watch and recreate most adventures without need of all the pictures; I don't care if every little thing like a day hike is captured "for real"

Would still hire a photographer for actual meaningful moments like weddings and graduations

roarkeful 1 hour ago | parent

What an amazingly soulless way to think

00ze 1 hour ago | parent

Oh noes; from the other side of an obvious Gulf of Information Assymetry an internet random unaware I am fluent on 3 musical instruments, have won awards for poetry, charcoal drawings and grow 1/4-1/3 of my vegetables each year... believes I have no soul

If you're only capable of reducing the entire comment to a single piece of it you would be wise to sit and meditate on comments first rather than vomit copy pasta opinions; the whole knee jerk copy pasta approach to social media discourse is soulless in its own way

officeplant 1 hour ago | parent

Apple: Every one else does folding wrong!

Also Apple: We've done it the exact way Samsung and Microsoft did it! We even used the same Duo name as Microsoft!

overfeed 1 hour ago | parent

This comic from 14 years ago remains evergreen https://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/

well_ackshually 1 hour ago | parent

Watching my iOS colleagues tear their hair out with SwiftUI's lack of proper support of foldables for the next... Two years about will be highly entertaining.

napolux 1 hour ago | parent

f*ck you if you’re left-handed like me

james_marks 1 hour ago | parent

First iPhone I've actually wanted in a long time.

codingisfreedom 1 hour ago | parent

“The largest iPhone display ever”

Gosh I hate that idiotic marketing.

3pm 1 hour ago | parent

Duo screen: 7.6" vs iPad mini: 8.3". Duo will support Apple Pencil later. I wonder if many people with iPhone+iPad combination can now replace it with one device.

ktallett 1 hour ago | parent

I never trust the later with Apple. Too often have they failed to deliver. Why release this without the obvious benefit?

DamnInteresting 48 minutes ago | parent

In the FAQ it says "Yes. iPhone Duo will work with Apple Pencil (USB-C). Coming later this year."

It kinda sounds like it's a new model of the Apple Pencil coming soon (rather than support coming soon), and older Pencil and Pencil Pros will not work at all. Which, if true, boo.

hankbond 1 hour ago | parent

At some point these phones are powerful enough that we need to be able go get a desktop experience that can run macOS. Why is a 600 dollar neo more capable for productivity than a 2000 dollar iphone with a much beefier chip?

spiralpolitik 1 hour ago | parent

This is Apple's Achilles heel.

If another company could release something like the Duo that seamlessly switches between phone, tablet, and desktop experience and make it Apple quality then Apple are in trouble. The technology is all there since the days of Ubuntu Touch.

Sadly I don't think there is a company in a position to build such a device that could compete.

MBCook 58 minutes ago | parent

I don’t think Apple will ever do it.

I personally would like to see the phones behave like iPads when connected to screens and mice and such. I don’t need it to pretend to be a full Mac.

But we all know they’re on the same OS at this point. iOS and iPadOS are completely identical, and this only makes it more obvious.

armadyl 24 minutes ago | parent

This is what I want. If the Duo did something like convert into an iPadOS-like environment I’d buy it day one and sell my non-fold iPhone and iPad.

But I don’t want macOS on an iPhone/iPad. If I wanted a device with poorer hardware security that ran an OS with a fundamentally weaker security model I’d just buy a MacBook and be done with it.

tripdout 1 hour ago | parent

It looks very wide in the unfolded configuration.

xlayn 1 hour ago | parent

unleashes unparallel, unrivaled, totally new, amazing, exciting new ways of interacting with the MOST POW3RFUL!!!!!

then all the photos either what's on the inside it's repeated whats on the outside,

or... and hold your breath... you can show on one side the calendar and on the other side the clock... now you can breath...

Meh, another 2 or 3$k gadget that does the same as the previous one?

poly2it 1 hour ago | parent

I'm looking forward to doing code review on the go on a phone like this! Once a GrapheneOS-compatible brand copies it, that is.

rdm_blackhole 1 hour ago | parent

I don't see the appeal of this or the Phone 18 for the matter. I have an (old) iPhone 15 Pro that just works so the upgrade just doesnt seem worth it.

Also I think it would be quite bulky to carry the Duo in a pocket all day long.

jumploops 1 hour ago | parent

It felt very "un-Apple" when they called it a foldable phone _before_ revealing it.

The folding part is the thing the tech journalists say; done right, it shouldn't matter whether it's foldable or not.

Bigger screen, pencil support, nano-glass, etc. The foldable part is obvious, why say it?

NamTaf 1 hour ago | parent

All this so people can watch The Odyssey as Nolan intended whilst on the go.

More seriously though, now do just the front screen on a non-folding device. It can even remain as thick as this thing when it's folded.

spiralpolitik 1 hour ago | parent

Definitely a v1 product but it's an interesting device. Apple is rarely first to market, but they definitely produce the device that indicates the point where there is a market.

You can also see where they are going. In a couple of years, assuming it sells well there will be a Pro model with a 3x fold and better camera system. I'm guessing to make in thinner they will have to drop USB-C and come up with a flat charging/data connector. The EU won't like that.

The final interesting thing is this is the first Apple product that I can think of since the iPod era that they've released a product that will cannibalize another Apple product. If you were looking at getting a high end iPad Mini this replaces both phone and tablet.

__aru 45 minutes ago | parent

> Apple is rarely first to market, but they definitely produce the device that indicates the point where there is a market.

There's been a proven market for years already, but it's been less obvious in Western markets. In East Asian markets, foldables have had a very sizable market presence, especially in China.

There's other trends that are less obvious to US and western markets, such as phone crossbody straps (which are also very big in East Asia).

layer8 1 hour ago | parent

This has some interesting features, but also a number of questionable decisions. The inner front camera placement is awkward for non-camera use, because despite being under-display won’t be completely invisible (as some shots in the presentation show). The on-screen unfolding transition is cringy and distracting. Apps and multitasking behaving differently on the inner screen depending on whether the hinge is flat or bent creates complexity and trade-offs, like when bending then phone so that it can stand on its own, or lie on an uneven surface. On the front screen, reserving the edge for special controls reduces the thumb reach for general content (like the app icons on the home screen).

post_break 1 hour ago | parent

Somewhat related, Apple snuck in a $100 price increase on the regular iPhone 17.

green-salt 1 hour ago | parent

TouchID only is an interesting choice, very interested in the 2nd iteration after we see the crease and hinge wear after a few thousand actuations.

Yhippa 1 hour ago | parent

I've had two folding phones and I am not going back until the issues are resolved. Here were my problems:

1. After a while, I think dust would inevitably get in the hinges and wouldn't fold flat. I've seen demos in stores of newer gen Samsung foldable phones and it looks like those wouldn't fold flat

2. The inner screen protector eventually lifted off the screen, causing catastrophic damage, and requiring repair (under warranty thankfully)

3. The aspect ratios were weird. I ended up using native app sizes, making the extra space kind of a waste

One thing I did like about the Samsung foldables was that when they were folded and using the front screen, I finally had a phone that fit my smaller hands! It was nice being able to use my thumb to reach the other side of the screen. Will be interesting to see how this works out because it looks decidedly wider.

__aru 51 minutes ago | parent

> After a while, I think dust would inevitably get in the hinges and wouldn't fold flat. I've seen demos in stores of newer gen Samsung foldable phones and it looks like those wouldn't fold flat

For your first point, the iPhone duo is rated IP 68 Dust and Water protection. Literally none of Samsung's book foldables so far have achieved this IP rating.

nerdjon 1 hour ago | parent

With some of what they showed, I wish they never separated iOS and iPadOS. The duo seems to be bringing more of the iPad features and if they could position this as one device to replace both (and the price point sure reflects that) it could be interesting.

But without that, I don't see the use for myself. Though I also rock a 13" iPad Pro so even with that it would be a hard sell to replace both.

I still am not sold on the entire idea of a foldable, there is some interesting things here and I will be interested to see how they position it over the next few generations.

LoganDark 19 minutes ago | parent

I wish that too. Too many convenience features on both sides that are accidentally or intentionally not making it over, even when they would apply to both. I wish it had to be an explicit decision to lock functionality to only iPad or iPhone, rather than it having to be an explicit decision to make functionality available to both. Make the more likely decision the default.

MPSimmons 1 hour ago | parent

Why do they insist on every new phone being bigger than the phones before them? I don't mind folding. I think it's cool, and a nice way to get a useful space. But I have big hands, and I can't use my iphone 17 now without two hands. This is even wider before unfolding.

Who wants bigger phones? Who is like, "damn I wish I had a tablet that I could fold up and still barely fit in my pocket"?

I want smaller phones. The width of the iPhone 4 was nearly perfect imo. If they would take modern display technology with approximately that width and expand it to 16:9, I think it would kill, even if it were relatively underpowered compared to the modern top of the line.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

Lots of people. There’s a reason folding phones have been a big story for years.

Maybe they only sell to 5% of users but they sell and at top prices, meaning more possible profit.

And you can’t grow the iPhone at the current sizes. Everyone who once wants at one of those sizes already has one. You either have to convince them to upgrade or switch, and those are both hard.

However, if you give them a choice of something they haven’t had before, it’s way easier. Get the people who wanted to fold and went to android and would like to come back. Get the people who have a max and want something bigger. Get the people with an iPhone 13 who are simply curious enough to do the upgrade, but otherwise would’ve stood still.

Gotta sell.

ex-aws-dude 54 minutes ago | parent

How many times do HN users have to be told they are not the majority?

If you look at phone sales Pro Max out-sells the regular Pro

Regular people like big phones

vrosas 1 hour ago | parent

You're going to look very silly taking a call on that.

r0fl 1 hour ago | parent

Only duo thousand dollars

Great branding by the new CEO

docdeek 1 hour ago | parent

How do you put a case on a foldable phone? Or do you not put one on, rely on the ceramic to protect the screen, and pay for Apple Care for cheap replacement screens?

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

They had two. One it appears to snap on magnetically, I think the other might have had too small hinges on it, but I didn’t look very hard, and it wasn’t on screen long.

layer8 58 minutes ago | parent

It’s in the article: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/09/apple-unveils-...

docdeek 50 minutes ago | parent

Thanks, I missed it on the event presentation.

Philip-J-Fry 1 hour ago | parent

The folding/unfolding animation is one of the coolest I've seen from a foldable. So slick.

MBCook 1 hour ago | parent

That impressed me too. Be if those “Apple touches” of yore. I kind of wonder how well it works in person, but it’s nice that it’s there at all.

IAmNotACellist 1 hour ago | parent

So brave of Apple to make the world's first foldable phone

igmn 1 hour ago | parent

Worse in most ways than every other iPhone, more expensive, gets permanently (sometimes deathly) damaged by fingernails, keys, sand, plastic and literally anything that's harder than about a fingernail. All the supposedly unique usecases can be resolved by a $1 kickstand, a $50 speaker, or a $500 iPad plus a non-foldable phone. You can get a whole MacBook too. So, no thanks.

8by3 1 hour ago | parent

I'm so happy I stopped caring about new phones about five years ago, since then I've spent about $200 on phones – for a used pixel 8 that I installed GrapheneOS on.

Consumerism is mad.

asdff 33 minutes ago | parent

Only 5 years ago? I feel like they stopped getting interesting and started getting increasingly worse like 5 years in. I'm still pissed off about the headphone jack.

5s/SE1 is still peak iPhone for me. I pull that thing out of the drawer every now and then and just marvel and the size and weight and how it is barely noticeable in my pocket even compared to my (ginormous in comparison) SE2.

jimt1234 58 minutes ago | parent

Not available in US: https://consumer.huawei.com/my/phones/mate-xt-ultimate-desig...

ex-aws-dude 57 minutes ago | parent

I don't think the price is that crazy considering how often you use your phone

What other item do you own that you spend so many hours using

tamimio 57 minutes ago | parent

If there was an iPhone like a pen in form factor (like nokia 7280) I would buy it in a heartbeat.

dyauspitr 55 minutes ago | parent

What I am most interested in is what the fold line looks like and I guess we won’t know until we start getting YouTube reviews.

willis936 54 minutes ago | parent

It makes the worst part of the iphone: text entry, even worse. I love the idea of a more capable PDA, but typing is more important than ever and it must be improved. Keyboards need to be a focus. Use eye tracking, use finger tracking, add physical buttons, just try something. Also, please fix the swiped keyboard software. It's unbearable. Admit it, fix it, quickly please.

neovive 52 minutes ago | parent

I wonder if there's a practical way to protect the phone with a case, given that it folds and the dual screen is a big selling point. It feels like one accidental drop on concrete or a ceramic floor would cause a lot of damage.

meetpateltech 46 minutes ago | parent

Anyone noticed the headline has two "Hello"s for a phone that folds in two? John Ternus' first tweet was just "hello" and he opened the event the same way.

This has to be on purpose.

b3ing 45 minutes ago | parent

I wonder if you can hook it up to a monitor and use it like macOS. That would be the killer phone and killer laptop, then you just need to connect a mouse in and display or tv and work wherever. But I doubt Apple will ever do that, I don’t think they are bold enough to cannibalize their laptops.

Imagine being able to hook up a small slab to a keyboard or mouse Bluetooth then connect to a monitor, tablet or hotel tv, like the Samsung Dex can do. And run full laptop/desktop applications. One can dream

fudged71 41 minutes ago | parent

A 2.39:1 cinematic movie occupies about 16.13 in² on Duo and 16.26 in² on 18 Pro Max

alfanick 30 minutes ago | parent

It's made for viewing 70mm IMAX /s

Game_Ender 21 minutes ago | parent

iPhone Duo 2 with working dual FaceID cameras will be a headline feature for sure.

adrianmonk 27 minutes ago | parent

https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/

It took me a while to figure out I had to click "Explore" to get to the specs, so I'm saving you the trouble.

As long as I'm griping about the web site... Apple, when you introduce a phone with a new and different form factor, please just tell me the dimensions straightaway. This one is shorter and wider than most phones. Is it too wide to fit in my pocket? I need the dimensions to answer that question.

user43928 16 minutes ago | parent

It's a bit disappointing that it's 50g heavier than the Z Fold 8, and similar to the Pixel 9 Pro fold in weight and thickness, at 254 g / 5.2 mm / 11.3 mm.

dramm 23 minutes ago | parent

This is the kind of product the make all out lives better. I mean the pure entertainment value it will bring being able to watch eager Apple fan bois new iPhone Duo screen crack, or the hinges start grinding, or ...

TYPE_FASTER 16 minutes ago | parent

Huh, I kinda like the form factor of the folded Duo...don't even need to unfold it...

gib444 10 minutes ago | parent

[delayed]

cute_boi 6 minutes ago | parent

Whats the point of big screen when we can't even install the app we want. Sideloading works for 7 days and there is artificial limitation of 7-8 App Ids which sucks.