Tag: iPad

iPhone Duo: My Heart Says Yes, My Wallet Says Wait

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Two hands holding the iPhone Duo, folded on the left and unfolded on the right

Short version: the iPhone Duo is being called the best foldable you can buy by several reviewers, and I want one badly. But at AED 8,499 for a first-generation device, my head keeps winning the argument. Here’s why I’m in two minds. Read on.

Updated 28 Oct 2026: added links to every source, corrected a repair-cost figure (it is Apple’s Canadian price, not US), corrected the attribution of a battery test, and added Apple’s statement on inner-display issues.

Two hands holding iPhone Duo, one folded and one unfolded
iPhone Duo: 5.4-inch outside, 7.6-inch inside | Image: Apple Newsroom

So .. where am I coming from?

For those who know me, I’m about as deep in the Apple ecosystem as it gets: an iPhone 16 Pro, a MacBook Air M4, an Apple Watch Series 11, AirPods Pro 2, and an iPad Pro I carry around for work. Everything talks to everything. So when Apple finally shipped a foldable that is, on paper, an iPhone and an iPad in one pocket, it felt like it was made for exactly someone like me.

Then I saw the price.

A quick note: I haven’t used a Duo myself yet. This is my take as a would-be buyer, built on Apple’s specs and the many reviews and tests I’ve been following, all linked below so you can read them yourself.

What is the iPhone Duo?

Apple’s first foldable went on sale in the UAE on October 23. The quick rundown, from Apple’s announcement:

  • Two screens – a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display with a matte nano-texture finish that Apple says minimises the crease
  • A20 Pro chip – the same chip as the iPhone 18 Pro, with a vapor chamber to keep it cool
  • Grade 5 titanium body with a hinge built from 100+ components, rated IP68
  • Touch ID in the side button – no Face ID this time
  • Two 48MP cameras (Main + Ultra Wide). The 2x zoom comes from the main sensor; there’s no dedicated telephoto lens
  • iOS 27 with Split View, so you can run two apps side by side on an iPhone for the first time
iPhone Duo in star white and night sky, front and back
Star white and night sky | Image: Apple Newsroom

The price, in dirhams

StorageiPhone DuoiPhone 18 Pro Max
256GBAED 8,499AED 5,499
512GBAED 9,349AED 6,349
1TBAED 11,049AED 8,049
2TBAED 13,599AED 10,599
UAE prices from Apple and tbreak. Add AED 319 for the Duo Case or AED 529 for the Folio.

That’s a flat AED 3,000 premium over the biggest regular iPhone at every tier. Put another way, an 18 Pro Max plus an 11-inch iPad Air (from AED 2,499 on apple.com/ae) costs less than one entry-level Duo. tbreak also points out it’s about AED 1,300 more than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, which is on its eighth generation and still has a telephoto camera.

What are the reviewers saying?

I’ve been reading and watching pretty much every review out there. The short summary: impressive hardware, mixed verdicts on value.

  • Scores are strong – Engadget gave it 8.8/10 and called it “a first-class foldable”, CNET 8.7/10 with an Editors’ Choice award, and TechRadar 4.5/5 (scores as compiled by Cult of Mac). PCMag calls it the best folding phone you can buy today.
  • Hardware – According to iPhone in Canada’s roundup, nearly every reviewer says the matte coating hides the crease in everyday use, though you can still feel it. Engadget’s unit lasted 28 hours 48 minutes in a video playback test and regularly ended a day with at least 40% left.
  • Software – Apple’s own apps use the big screen beautifully, but many third-party apps don’t yet. Engadget found Telegram leaving empty space around a portrait layout, and The Verge called it an “early adopter special.” The Wall Street Journal’s headline put it as “too much iPhone, too little iPad.”
  • The trade-offs – MKBHD praised the display, hinge and battery but called out the weight (254g, per iPhone in Canada), an average camera and missing Face ID. John Gruber and Joanna Stern both found it hard to open one-handed, as Michael Tsai summarised. PCMag also reported occasional failed Touch ID reads.
Slack app on the iPhone Duo inner display
When apps are optimised, the big screen shines | Image: Apple Newsroom

And durability?

This is where my excitement cooled off the most.

  • The good – Joanna Stern had a homemade robot fold her Duo 32,640 times over four nights, and she reported no noticeable wear. iPhone in Canada works that out to roughly 45 folds a day for two years, though it’s well short of the 200,000-fold ratings some rivals quote.
  • The bad – JerryRigEverything said the Duo “does not survive” his test. Dust jammed the hinge so it wouldn’t close, and a bend test left permanent lines on the inner screen.
  • The ugly – In PhoneBuff’s drop test (write-up), the outer screen cracked from 1 metre where an iPhone 18 Pro Max survived, and the inner display failed after repeated drops onto the hinge. In Canada, Apple charges C$1,499 to replace the inner screen without AppleCare+, according to iPhone in Canada.
  • The latest – After early owners reported cracked inner screens, Bloomberg verified several cases. Apple has said it is aware of an issue affecting the inner display on “a small number” of units and that affected owners should contact AppleCare for a replacement (via iClarified). The cause hasn’t been confirmed.

Living in the UAE, that dust result matters to me. Between desert weekends, beach days and sand that finds its way into everything, a hinge that doesn’t like grit is a real concern. If you buy one, I’d budget for a case and AppleCare+ from day one.

iPhone Duo Folio with kickstand in taupe
The Folio with kickstand (AED 529) | Image: Apple Newsroom

Why I would buy it

  • Two devices in one – It could replace my phone and the iPad I carry. One less device in the bag, one less charger, one less thing to forget.
  • Work on the go – Outlook and Teams side by side in Split View on a 7.6-inch screen is exactly my daily workflow.
  • Travel tech heaven – Movies on a flight, maps on a road trip, reading on the go, then fold it shut into a phone-sized device.
  • The ecosystem just works – No Face ID stings less when, as Apple says, your Apple Watch can unlock it.
  • Reviewers love the hardware – The hinge, crease and battery got consistent praise for a first attempt.

Why I would wait

  • The price – AED 8,499, plus a case, plus AppleCare+. My rough estimate is you’re near AED 10,000 to own one with peace of mind.
  • First generation – In my experience, Apple’s first versions (the original Watch, the first iPad Pro) improved a lot by version two. That’s a pattern, not a promise.
  • Durability doubts – Dust, drops and the early inner-screen reports are exactly what worries me.
  • Compromises vs the Pro – No telephoto, no Face ID, and heavier in hand.
  • Apps need to catch up – A big screen is only as good as the apps that use it.
  • My iPhone 16 Pro is still great – There’s no urgent reason to upgrade.
Apple sample photo from iPhone Duo's 48MP Fusion Main camera at 2x
Apple’s sample shot at 2x, taken with the 48MP main camera rather than a telephoto lens | Image: Apple Newsroom

So .. would I recommend buying one?

Buy it now if you’re on an iPhone that’s 3+ generations old, you’d genuinely retire a tablet, and you’re happy to case it and insure it.

Wait if you’re on a recent iPhone, you’re hard on your phones, or AED 8,499 makes you wince. In my opinion, generation two is likely to be the smarter buy.

As for me? My heart wants to order one today. My head is telling me to let Apple (and app developers) iron out the first-gen kinks, and for now, my head wins. Ask me again next year.

Are you buying the Duo or waiting it out? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear which way you’re leaning.

Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed writing it. 📝

Do Like, Subscribe and Share – would love the support to grow and improve the Blog! 💙

Cheers! 🙂

Sources

Images courtesy of Apple Newsroom, used for editorial purposes. Quotes are short excerpts credited to their original publishers. Prices were correct at the time of writing.

Disclaimer: This article was created with the help of Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant. The opinions are my own, and the facts are linked to their original sources above.

How Do We Perfect Perfection? Apple’s iPhone 13 Event

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Apple September 2021 event announcement graphic

So we just went through a whole week where we had anticipation before the event and then disappointment after, and this brought me to think over the weekend about why Apple took this route – and most of this might be glaringly obvious and some of it might not at all. But here’s my thoughts on why Apple had the product launch it did. Read on.

So .. What happened?

Apple launched iterative updates for all its products in a sense implying their products are quite perfect already and they could just get away with improving on the things that matter such as the display, camera and the battery – some would say this is the right way to go but as always there are also quite a few that disagree and call this a slowdown in the pace of innovation as compared to their Android competitors. Below summary details on the products launched and the updates made on these products:

  • iPhone 13 / 13 Mini / 13 Pro / 13 Pro Max – With improvements in the processor, camera and the battery life for the 13 & Mini + the additional telephoto camera and the 120 Hz Display for the Pro versions

  • iPad / iPad Mini – An updated standard iPad for a relatively cheap option with an Apple Pencil, an updated Mini that is just an iPad Air in a smaller form factor for those who prefer it

  • Apple Watch – A slightly bigger + brighter screen, more durable and faster charging (with a USB-C connector now)

  • Apple TV+ & Apple Fitness+ – New shows and seasons for the TV and new + better workouts for the Fitness App

Why would Apple do this?

So why does Apple think they can get away with only iteration and a lack of innovation. So many theories, such short attention span’s to contend with.

  • 5G – Let’s start with the biggest incentive of all to have an event in the first place, sell product+service. With carrier partnerships all across who want to promote their 5G networks and are ready to subsidize your old iPhones to give you new ones – there’s no better time than the present to launch a shiny new phone, iPad and Watch even if the updates are only iterative.

  • Why mess with perfection? – The phones and the ecosystem as they are, are pretty amazing and at the #1 charts across the world in Phone sales. So why take risks by putting in an innovation that might not be well received. Which is why it makes sense to just make the safest of updates to improve products that are already good.

  • The Supply Chain? – There is a robust supply chain that has parts sourced for the massive demand for Apple products worldwide. So it makes sense to stretch out the parts for more years which results in price optimization and more importantly profit optimization.

  • Legacy – There is a whole world of legacy, Apple approved accessories that have to pay Apple for the usage rights to be apple certified; all of which goes away then they switch away to more open technologies such as USB-C. There are also other devices in the eco system that still have to switch over such as the iPad and the AirPods. This creates a kind of lock in as well for the accessories ecosystem of Apple’s most popular product, the iPhone. Revenues for which it needs to find ways to compensate for.

Would you recommend buying one?

This is subjective and relatively straight forward – if you own one of these products from 2 to 3 + generations ago, this is an amazing upgrade to get and well worth the money. If however you have all the latest from last year – definitely do not spend and either spend it on something else you might need or save for next year.

What next?

There is of course innovation in Apple’s future, purely because the market forces would enforce innovation lest they perish similar to the likes of Nokia and Blackberry. What can and will they do next? Thoughts below:

  • Competition – Apple is currently a market leader despite the lack of innovation it seems to display. If you hear the experts discussing this you would mostly hear that Apple usually implements innovations after they have been tested and proven in the market, and they they innovate on top. There are innovations and technologies that are still in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd generations that still need to prove themselves, a few to name as below:
    • Foldable Screens
    • Underscreen Fingerprint Scanner
    • Underscreen Selfie Camera’s
    • USB-C for the iPhone’s
    • Stylus for the iPhone

  • Augmented Reality – One of the big focuses for Apple post the Services push (Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+) has been augmented reality. Current speculation is that this would result in a Mixed Reality Headset that incorporates both Virtual and Augmented Reality; however very little is known on the final product they plan to release as well as when they plan to release it. However, they have started working on this with the Lidar sensors added to the phone and AR apple such as Pokemon Go etc.

  • Apple Car – the edge of the rumor mill is always the Apple Car, speculation stating that Apple will eventually get into Tesla’s business using its design philosophy and computing chops. However, we are still to see proof on how this shakes out eventually since this isn’t something the company will take lightly and would want to refine and get approvals for before they roll a product out.

Looking forward to the next Apple Event for the MacBooks and who know’s what else which might happen in the October/November timeframe of the year.

Hope you enjoyed the read. Do like and subscribe for more.

Cheers! 🙂

Pictures courtesy Apple from the Apple Event on 15 Sep 21