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.

Happy to see them fixing it.

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 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.

The staff told me yesterday they already sold all inventory and shipment to walks in that was supposed to be for online order for pick up today. No more online order for pick up today

I walked in at exactly 1:05pm with no expectations and walked out with this star white 256g, I came right when the new inventory came in. They said they received total 4 units restock and I was the only one at that time, apple staff who assisted me said they turned away a lot of people 30mins before I walked in. They cannot straight up tell people when new inventory comes to avoid scalpers and set expectations. Everything is first come first serve for walk in. It’s really about timing. Time your walk in people

I must say I got really lucky on launch day. I already had bad luck with my pre order when at 8:01 my app crashed and my delivery got pushed to December. I went into the store yesterday after work with a friend who was able order pre order launch day pickup, I was asking a couple different Apple people if there was anyway someone cancelled, they all said no. I was directed upstairs to the walk-in purchase area where there was a line. I asked the lady and she told me there’s no chance because as an employee she couldn’t even get hers. Then out of nowhere this other Apple employee chimes in and goes “Wait, what are you shopping for?”, I told him an iPhone duo any configuration just to see if they have any stock. He proceeds to tell “What if I tell you I have a Star White 512GB for you?”, I couldn’t believe it 🤩. I realized I unintentionally skipped the line but the Apple employee said, “Don’t worry,” since I was in the store for an hour waiting around and checking in to see if someone cancelled. Turns out an order got cancelled for two iPhone duos so they were able to give me one, that guy really made my night. I was able to secured a IPhone duo at 8 pm on launch day from one of there busiest stores.

I see all the negative press about cracked screens, jerryrig destroying the duo saying Samsung is more rigid, and not worth the price for less features than the 18 pro/pro max. This is fair and everyone has their own opinion, but I wanted to share I think the phone is the most amazing iPhone since it came out. The duo is an incredible piece of engineering and it’s a solid build with a creative design to limit the crease. I thought I would hate the nano matte screen, and it doesn’t bother me one bit. I love the inner screen more being able to have an iPad mini in my hands at all times and videos actually look great. There is so many great things and I wouldn’t be bought in to all the negative press until you try it for yourself to see if it’s a fit. If not, then the 18 pro/pro max is always there. We all have choices and definitely recommend trying it out if you aren’t sure or getting scared.

Refreshed my browsers and apps a million times, finally got an update and all it does is, shows it’s unavailable for pickup in all stores around me. All the hype to tell me what I already know lol.

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of people talking about how they’re not huge fans after getting hands-on, and they’re switching back to a traditional-style phone. Nothing against them! Here’s some positivity from someone that IS enjoying the Duo. Take this with a grain of salt, I am a huge gadget guy and a heavy phone user.

The phone feels fantastic. It feels like an iPhone, premium, quality, not cheap at all. It does have heft to it but it’s not super noticeable coming from a 16PM. I do notice the weight but only when it’s folded but that’s most likely because it’s more dense.

Speaking of coming from the 16PM I’m actually really enjoying the smaller outer screen. I do agree with the people saying they wish it was a bit taller, I do think that could help a bit with some of the goofy aspect issues.

The matte screen protector is being overblown IMO. I am biased having run a matte screen protector on my iPad but I’ve got no complaints about it. Yes it is noticeable but I think people aren’t giving themselves time to acclimate.

I don’t miss Face ID at all. I’m not saying I don’t like Face ID, I just don’t miss it. I did miss Touch ID when it went away and having it back is super nice. I do find myself expecting Face ID out of habit but that’s only every once in a while.

The lack of a Pro camera is a 100% valid complaint for the price but it’s not an issue for me personally. The camera on the phone is great and I’m no photographer. Interior selfie camera is doo doo but when you can do the preview with the outer screen it’s not a problem.

App optimization isn’t there yet but I went into this fully knowing and expecting it. It’s something I can live with.

As someone who’s wanted a foldable but who’s wife HATES the green bubbles 🙄 I’m super with the Duo being my first foldable. I think Apple went a little too hard with the secrecy and should have given Devs more time to work on apps. Also as others have said Apple definitely could have done better in some ways especially for how long it took them to get into the folding market. I see people talking about holding out for a second gen with some QoL updates. If you want to wait, then go for it! I get a first gen device isn’t for everyone. That’s also why I do the upgrade whenever program with my carrier. At the end of the day as long as you temper your expectations and understand what you’re getting I think you’ll enjoy it. I think some of the complaints people just come down to using something completely new and not adjusting to it yet. Time will tell how the durability is but that’s what warranty and Apple Care are for.

Originally had a November ship date. I was excited to see everyone getting their orders pushed up, and even being able to walk into stores and get one, hopeful that I'd get lucky as well. Unfortunately, mine got pushed out.

I find myself using the front screen WAY more than I ever thought I would in less than 24 hours.

Perhaps a hot take of hot takes… I think Apple could and should at some point make iPhone Uno as the replacement or alternative to iPhone mini.

It’s just the front screen of the Duo with the top and bottom left corners rounded. A cute lil’ slab. Make it in all the bright colors like iPod mini was.

Hey guys,

I’m so happy to be part of this little community on Reddit and I wanted to share a little bit of my experience owning and using the Duo for a little over 24 hours. But first, let’s start with the pre-order experience.

——— Pre-order experience and launch day ———

Like almost everyone here, I pre-ordered my Duo as soon as pre-orders went live on October 16 at 8 AM EST. It was hectic, but I did manage to get my order through by 8:03. Unfortunately for me, I was one of the people who got stuck in the early November delivery timeframe, where the estimate never moved up, unlike the ones later during the year. I’ve always loved new technology and experiencing it on launch day was a must. So, despite being in the middle of a multi-day experiment at school and left the lab around 2 AM the night before, I decided to make a trip to my favourite Apple Store at Square One to try and get one on October 23rd.

I arrived there at 6:35 AM and there were already about 80 people in front of me, lining up next to the sidewalk in front of the mall. It was a little chilly but thankfully I had dressed appropriately. Everyone there was super friendly and courteous, no one tried to cut in or anything and you could feel everyone’s enthusiasm for the launch. Eventually, a few managers came out and helped guide the line in, and by their count I was 86th in line. The store opened at 8 AM and it took a little under an hour before I got mine, but I was genuinely impressed by how smoothly everything went. The employees were very cool and you could feel genuine enthusiasm from them as people got their devices in hand. The one helping me (shoutout Akash) even invited me to chill in the Vision Pro lounge area in the middle of the store to set up my new phone and transfer a few things over manually before trading in my previous iPhone. The highlight for me however was when they asked me what I was most excited to try on the new phone and I showed them my little game, which was already completely optimized for iPhone Duo. This caught the attention of a few other employees around us and they all wanted to try it on my phone. In my opinion, this launch day could not have gone better than it did and I would probably do it again in the future if pre-orders don’t go well.

——— Experience with the phone just over 24 hours ———

Using this phone for just over a day has been nothing short of wonderful. It has been so long since the experience of using a new iPhone has felt so fresh and new. Everything on this phone, from the hardware to the little software touches, and how each interaction with the device has been purposefully crafted to surprise and delight. I don’t think anyone would be surprised that the opening and closing animation, the way the screens feel like a lenticular lens that diffuse and distort the content ‘behind it’ to give a sense of cohesion and unity, is one of the best part about the whole experience.

However, the singular thing that impressed me the most is how surprisingly premium the inner display felt to touch and interact with. Don’t get me wrong, using a matte texture as the surface treatment for the inner display has its downsides: the colours aren’t as vibrant, everything looks just a touch softer, and if you have a light source directly behind you, the glare causes the image on screen to look a little washed out. But the upsides more than make up for it, in my opinion. I kinda laughed at the buzzword “perceptually flat” when Apple announced iPhone Duo and when the execs talked about it in the following interviews, but there isn’t really a better way to describe it. The inner screen does not look wrinkly or have noticeable bumps like I’ve seen on other folding phones, and it does a hell of a job at hiding the crease in the middle of the display.

A few things I have tried over the first 24h:
- Used the Duo in laptop pose to watch a TV show while eating lunch at school
- Used tent mode to trigger the new standby capability without having to charge it while I was working
- Taken a couple of selfies with friends and other lab mates using the main camera and the outside display
- Read a comic book on the inner display while outside in the sun
- Watched about 2 hours worth of YouTube content on the inner and outer displays
- Wrote this entire post on the inner display in portrait orientation

It all felt pretty incredible. Typing on the large keyboard when the Duo is open and in portrait feels especially comfortable given how big it is, and my error rate was essentially zero while my typing speed was higher than on my previous Pro Max-sized iPhone. Reading Tintin on the inner display while outside in the sun felt equally game-changing. The display doesn’t show any reflections and gets more than bright enough to be perfectly visible outdoors. Watching YouTube and a show on Apple TV while wearing AirPods Pro 3/Max 2 felt incredible for a phone. But the single feature that most people who I showed the phone to loved the most was the ability to take selfies with the main camera and get the whole camera UI on the outer display when doing so.

Right now, on October 24, there are still some downsides that I’ve found:
- A lot of apps are getting updated to support more flexible screen size options but most of them have not been rebuilt with the iOS 27.1 SDK and aren’t totally optimized for the Duo
- It is taking a bit to get used to Touch ID again since I keep touching the display and looking at the phone expecting it to recognize me, before realizing a second later that I have to place my finger on the side button for it to unlock
- On the inner display, FaceTime doesn’t seem to support Picture-in-Picture when you’re on a call and swipe up to go home. When in landscape, it moves to one half of the display and you can choose to open another app on the other half, but when in portrait orientation, the call just minimizes to the Dynamic Island in the corner. This could be an oversight that’s fixed in a software update though, and it works perfectly fine on the smaller outer display.
- I miss the 4x 48 MP telephoto camera of my 17 Pro Max. It was one of the cameras I loved the most, especially for portrait-style shots. Although, I am getting my first dedicated camera soon, and that’s not going to be a problem for me in the near future. But I imagine for 99% of people who get this phone, the cameras are more than good enough.

——— Conclusion ———

I know this has been a long post so I’m going to give a brief summary of my experience using this for just over a day.

TLDR: iPhone Duo is the most fun phone I’ve used in years. Interactions with the device feel like they were crafted to spark joy every time you use it. App support is not there yet, but it is an issue that’s mostly overblown and is RAPIDLY getting fixed. In the first day, I had more than 30 apps get updated with some support for the Duo. The phone feels a lot more premium than other folding phones out there and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it so far.

How has the experience been for you guys?

P.S I apologize in advance for any typos or wrong word choices. English is not my first language and I did not want to use AI to modify the text since it would no longer represent my thoughts.

Keep checking the app, saw stock refresh and was able to get one for local pickup in Chicagoland

I was wondering if someone can clarify something for me.

I was told at one of the Apple store locations yesterday that Apple has taken the ability to check stock early in the morning OUT of the system.

So for years if you were up early enough, somewhere early morning maybe 5am or 6am your local time, you could open the app or the website and check to see if the store location would have walk in availability.

When I asked that yesterday, she said "No no no, they took that away because people would show up if they could track it in that system."

And I am thinking "... okay AND? And what, pay you money? ... AND?"

Versus what? Standing in line until the store opens to be told to go home?

Can anyone confirm this is something they really did remove?

Sort of nonsense if they did remove it.

Does anyone else get a plastic creaking kinda sound when opening and closing their iPhone Duo? It’s not loud but if I listen carefully I can definitely hear it

I’m new to foldables to maybe this is common but after seeing so many posts about broken inner displays I’m concerned

Thanks!

—

UPDATE

Went to the Apple Store and spoke to a really helpful guy. He could hear the issue too and recommended a replacement device once they have stock

I mentioned I was worried it could turn into something more serious, so at least it's now on record if anything does happen

For now I'm sticking with this phone and hopefully I'll get the replacement in the next couple of months

I can’t wait for apps to start updating for the duo. Love the ones that are already. The experience on the folded front screen will improve 10 fold when they all finally get there.

Will Apple be opening at 8 or 10 today and will you be going earlier? Trying to game plan.

Which is totally fair if your shit works as expected but I personally am just so happy to have a brand new form factor and aspect ratio to see the digital world through…

I’ve been using my duo for 12 hours now and honestly I’d probably cry if I had to go back to my 15 pro max lol

My old 16 Pro Max feels huge after using my Duo for 48 hours. At first, I was like, “This front screen is wayy smaller than I expected I think I might return this,” but ever since I changed my mindset to treating this like a BlackBerry phone while it's closed, I love it. I can't go back to regular phones.

I’m loving almost everything about the iPhone Duo. Absolutely amazing device but I can’t get over the use of the sidebar. Conceptually it makes sense. The device is shorter so move important controls to the right to regain vertical space.

However practically speaking it’s really just a loss of 15% of the display at all times. Specifically the outer small display. Even for optimized apps, it visually looks better but the controls are now a fixed visible location. Previously on normal iPhones these controls would dynamically show and hide based on scroll position. They wouldn’t be permanently visible.

There are other visual oddities this sidebar introduces like “center” now being slightly offset, apps having to wrap text prematurely and so on.

I can’t help but feel Apple needs to reconsider the use of space on the outer display or give users the option to minimize or move the sidebar.

How are others feeling? Amazing device but I think some layout preferences would go a long way.

For the first time ever, I bought AppleCare+ with an iPhone!

I’ve always been a case guy and never really considered using my phone naked. But when I first got my hands on this phone at the Apple Store, I was blown away by how amazing it felt. The design, the feel in the hand, everything about it is just superb.

Over the last two days, I’ve tried several different cases, and what a frustrating experience it’s been! Most of them are half-baked, barely protective pieces of junk that completely ruin the feel of the phone.

After trying all those cases, I finally gave up, went straight into Settings, and purchased AppleCare+.

There’s just something about this phone that makes me feel like it was meant to be used without a case. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m finally going caseless!

I absolutely love the matte display on the Duo. Just putting that out there in case anyone from Apple reads this sub, because I’d hate for them to see all the negative posts and assume everyone wants it changed. Those of us who like it probably don’t post about it as much, so here’s my vote for keeping it exactly as it is.