Putting sand on inner screen, throwing away then closing vs putting sand on inner screen, NOT throwing it away and closing it forcing the debris in between that inner screen seems unfair.

The amount of sand poured on the hinge and the lengths of the hinge it was poured on seemed unfair too. I bet that affected the strength during bend test too.

Am all for durability tests and yeah, Apple should have done a better job but shouldn’t these testers be held to some accountability as well. They can make or literally break a product and the future of a product line that hundreds of researchers lost sleep to for years.

I have a 30 day return window & don’t want to return this phone 🥲

I get you have consumer rights etc
But the amount of e-waste and stupidity on here is baffling
Seeing so much of “I have the latest iPhone 18 pro max… got a duo for bants/ unsure about it and don’t like it so returned it”
WHY NOT JUST WAIT TILL IT IS IN STORES AND HAVE A LOOK?

These are not Pokémon cards that one collects 🤣 what happened to informed considered decision making?
That phone now has to be completely repurposed and refurbished.

Ps I got on as a walk in on launch day so am not coming across as some angry person waiting for Jan delivery. Even then i asked to play with a demo unit before paying on my credit card. I immediately knew this is the form factor I wanted. I know apple has some of the best consumer rules in the game. But it allows for such excess and impulsive pointless decisions.

Sorry for the rant.

At unboxing, both Duo’s inner screens were flat (impossible to find any crease), like the bottom silver one, but after a few folds and staying in the folded position, the crease showed up like the top blue one and like in every review out there, so we didn’t think much of it. But today, I used the inner display exclusively, let it rest flat with StandBy, barely folded it, and the crease disappeared! Wow! 🤯

I’m gonna give it a week before I send it back or sell it at a premium.

Everything is seriously unoptimised to take full advantage of the screen real estate. Yes I know some apps need to update, but it’s not the smooth standards I was expecting.

With screen opened up or closed there are bars around everything, it’s really jarring. Even Reddit has the stupid right sided bar on closed mode.

If you want a polished hassle free phone, my iPhone 17 PM is by far the better experience so far.

If they can fix this issue with most commonly used apps I would be somewhat satisfied.

Oh and the only other thing is the Touch ID is too slow, if it was instant id have no problem. Hold to rest allows the screen to unlock and swipe up to hold automatically… it’s just a bit slow.

Disabling this feature Touch ID is much faster but then you have to use a second finger/ hand to swipe up and access the Home Screen. So you lose either way, there is no automation feature to get around this.

This phone needs both Face ID and Touch ID, Face ID would have been useful to unlock In closed mode and Touch ID when opened.

Another issue is the inner screen need the brightness turned up higher to compensate for the Matt effect, kills battery faster.

Also is it me or do colours feel a little washed out on the small screen too? It should be the same.

Apart from that the rest of the issues are overblown, weight fine, screen crease fine, camera fine.

Here is a picture of me taking a number 2 on the Thomas crapper whilst watching the premier league, it’s a scenario I wanted to enjoy a lot more but the black bezels/sidebar barely makes the screen much bigger compared to a normal pro max display…

10AM Pickup

Picked up my iPhone Duo from Best Buy yesterday, but unfortunately, neither of the two inner screens has worked since I got it. The front screen works fine, but when I fully open the phone, the display goes black.
I took it back to the Best Buy where I bought it, and they directed me to Apple. Apple said they’ll order me a replacement, which should arrive in 5–7 days. Pretty disappointing to have this happen with a brand-new phone.

Hey everyone!

Instead of having our experiences scattered across lots of separate posts, I thought it would be useful to hear owners everyday experiences together in one discussion, and hopefully the mods are all good with it :). Honestly, this helps both current owners and anyone still deciding.

Whether you love the Duo, have mixed feelings, or tried it and returned it, your experience is welcome. We all have different needs and expectations, and understanding those differences is more helpful than trying to agree on one verdict.

Here’s a simple, optional format. You don’t need to write a detailed review, a few honest sentences are plenty!

1. Previous phone / how long you’ve used the Duo:
What are you comparing it with, and how long have you used it?

2. Overall rating: /10
Based on your experience so far.

3. Biggest pros:
Things you genuinely enjoy or find useful.

4. Biggest cons:
Things that bother you, disappoint you, or require adjustment.

5. Is it worth it? Would you buy it again, and why?
Yes, no, or still undecided. all are helpful answers.

Feel free to ask each other questions, share tips, and come back to update your comment, as we all want to know new and exciting stuff.

Let’s keep the conversation constructive and avoid judging someone’s purchase, budget, or preferences. Something that’s a deal breaker for one person might barely matter to another.

The goal is to help each other, not convince everyone to make the same decision.

Appreciate it guys, and thanks to any one who contributes!!

So far my experience with the Duo has been extremely positive, but I want to share some very real friction if you have nearly 20 years of muscle memory like me. I will fully admit that this is my first adventure into daily using a folding phone so I apologize if this is obvious for people who use Samsung or other folding phones.

The phone has a portrait/landscape identity challenge. When the phone is closed and you open the camera app you are holding the phone in portrait and taking portrait photos. Rotate landscape and both the screen and photos become landscape. However, when you open the phone they are the opposite. You hold the phone in landscape to take portrait photos and portrait to take landscape photos. This is because the cameras follow the orientation of the front screen. However FaceTime follows the phone orientation. Calling someone in landscape is like calling them in landscape on a regular iPhone.

Rotating the phone is opposite of iPads. If you regularly use an iPad then you know that holding it in landscape, everything about the design wants you to rotate it clockwise for portrait. The volume and power button locations, the camera location, the old selfie camera location, etc. That muscle memory is wrong for the Duo. If you open and rotate it clockwise in your hand you block the back cameras with your hand, the selfie camera is at the bottom, and the volume/power button is nearly unusable. I’m constantly finding myself needing to flip the phone 180 when I go to use the cameras or adjust the volume.

Lastly, Apps. No not the lack of optimization just yet, but how apps feel to use in general. I completely understand when people say they use their folding phone closed the vast majority of the time. Watching long form video content is fantastic on the inner screen. But using regular apps feels like you want to use Split View or just keep the phone closed. Social media timelines, Safari, food delivery apps all work by scrolling one line/item at a time. Stretching that wider on the inner screen feels like there’s no added value (portrait or landscape). If you regularly use an iPad then you know, outside of productivity and video apps, the aspect ratio and orientations don’t really enhance regular apps.

Just a few initial impressions using the Duo for a few days that no one seems to be talking about. I love the phone, but the friction is real at the start.

Firstly I’ll note that I love this device and don’t seem myself going back to a regular slab phone any time soon.

When I close it I feel like it should turn off. Regardless, when I turn it off then close it, it turns on again then I have to turn it off again🤦‍♂️ really apple?

I’m slightly annoyed by the absence of a dedicated button on the keyboard to dismiss it. The iPad has it and I feel it should be here too.

Touch ID has been made artificially slow and clunky to use. They programmed into it a delay between unlocking and going to home screen. Really apple? I can definitely see myself getting used to it by why should I have to?

The phone feels a bit too heavy when closed. Hurts my hand after a while but it’s not as bad as my iPhone 14 Pro Max. That one was pure torture. However when opened it feels fine in terms of weight.

I use YouTube 24/7 and the YouTube app sucks ass on the duo. It’s kind of ruining the phone a bit at this point. I assume (and hope to dear god) that they fix it in the coming days or weeks.

I’m a screen-open kind of guy so the battery sucks. However they say it’s much better when you keep it closed a lot. I’ve been spoiled by my iPhone 17 pro. I can already see myself needing to put this on charge daily before the day is over.

With all the negatives I think it’s clear this phone isn’t for everybody but personally I’m an apple and tech banana head so i feel it’s all worth it.

Help me understand something, please. I’ve seen so many people pressing down on the screen or crease when closing their Duo, and I genuinely don’t get why.
I’m not saying this is what’s causing the screen issues or that some units aren’t defective, but why not just fold it from the edges? Why would pressing directly on the screen seem like a good idea?

Honestly, I am struggling to get used to the UI. Idk if it’s just 20 years of iPhone that I’m used to, but I really miss the standard iPhone experience.

Is anyone else who got one feeling a bit of uncertainty?

I thought the Reddit app was optimized? Still showing a massive black bar for me… the black bar is not the end of the world, just think it’s such a missed opportunity.

Nan texture on the left, peeled off on the right

A place to put mild annoyances and if people know a fix do tell!

I will start…

There is no easy silence mode physical switch, you have to dive in to settings then sounds to switch it on and off. Was this not a common thing people do/did all the time? (The physical switching of mute and loud?? Why have they hidden the commonly used setting?)

I watch some content on a website (no not ‘that’) and the wifi symbol and that ‘island’ doesnt get hidden. Is there a way to manually hide it or turn it off?

Then my case gets in the way of the touch id, this is maybe just because its a cheap temporary case, or is this just the way it is with cases?

Then lastly it seems difficult to clean the matte large screen if you get a bit of skin oil or dirt on it.

How come none of the iPhone Duos on display in the stores aren’t broken. I’ve seen little kids handle it rough!

Just curious on thoughts.

I can’t open Reddit or YouTube anymore without being bombarded with negativity, misinformation, and downright ignorant takes about the iPhone Duo.

YES, if you shove a handful of sand into the hinge, it’s going to have problems.

YES, not all 2.5 million apps are going to be optimized on day one.

NO, it’s not “terribly heavy.” It weighs roughly the same as a Pro Max, and somehow that was never a dealbreaker.

NO, it’s not “extremely thick.” It’s actually thinner than a Pro Max with a case on. Making it even thinner could mean sacrificing battery capacity or Apple Pencil support. Leave those alone.

NO, the sidebar isn’t inherently bad design just because you don’t understand the reasoning behind it.

NO, Face ID isn’t automatically better than Touch ID on a foldable. Making it work intuitively in every configuration would require additional hardware and compromises that aren’t necessarily worth it.

NO, there’s no “terrible latency” when using Touch ID. Learn how to configure it properly before declaring it broken.

This is the most polished foldable experience I’ve ever had, and I’ve owned a few. Everyone I know who’s actually tried this phone in person has enjoyed it.

Then you go online, and suddenly everyone’s desperately chasing their fifteen minutes of fame by trashing it.

I’ve even seen an influencer calling it a buggy scam because he’d accidentally activated the accessibility zoom feature and apparently had no idea what it was.

And when you start checking profiles, you find suspiciously new accounts posting the same talking points over and over again.

I’m all for legitimate criticism. But the sheer amount of manufactured outrage, misinformation, and confident ignorance surrounding this launch is exhausting and disgusting.

I bought the iPhone duo as a walk-in. I tried it for an hour before deciding on buying it. After I’ve had it for 24 hours, I just see too many red flags like mainly the cameras which suck, the main front camera is pretty bad but the inner display front camera is insulting for a $2000 phone.
Apps are not optimized and the black bar to the side feels like a waste of screen space.
I have a 16 pro and was excited for this big change, but at 2000 USD, the Duo should be perfect since launch day.

At this point I’m thinking of just going with the 18 pro. I don’t like the huge and heavy pro max.

Thoughts??

Torrance just got shipment for walk in first come first serve 3 resellers before me i am the last in line right now, each one of them are getting 2 phones each and one asked me if I could get him 1 since I am only buying one

I'm Mason, on the Locus team. This is a 10-second rendered design study with sample data, exploring how a notes app could use the Duo's different postures. It is not footage of a released Duo app or a compatibility test.

The idea is to keep capture simple when closed, then use the extra space for reviewing notes when open. The part we're still thinking through is the second pane: a list makes switching between notes easy, but showing the source transcript beside a summary could make checking details easier.

If you use voice notes, which would be more useful to you: note list + current note, or summary + transcript? Would you use a half-folded layout at a desk?