Multitaskers on the move: The new iPhone Duo is thinner and lighter than Apple’s iPads, and it has a huge, gorgeous inner display with a glare-reducing “nano-texture” finish. Its design makes it great for on-the-go multitasking and entertainment (think reading, watching movies, or playing games); it can replace an e-reader or tablet in a pinch.
Stylus users: The Duo is the only foldable we’ve tested that supports stylus input on its inner and outer displays. It works with the Apple Pencil (USB-C), which is sold separately for $79.
Early adopters: Foldable phones aren’t in their infancy anymore, but they’re still pretty niche devices. And as Apple’s very first foldable, the Duo has some quirks — namely, many apps aren’t optimized for it yet. Its ideal buyer is a tech enthusiast who wants to check out the latest and greatest in smartphone design and is willing to put up with some bugs for a bit.
People with cash to burn: The Duo starts at an eye-watering $1,999, making it Apple’s most expensive phone ever — not to mention, the priciest phone on this list. (It maxes out at $3,199 with 2TB of storage.)
Patient people: The Duo was backordered for months at the time of writing. If you order it through the Apple Store right now, you probably won’t get it until the opening weeks of 2027.
Read Mashable’s full review of the Apple iPhone Duo.
The iPhone Duo is the first and only foldable that Apple’s made so far, but it’s quite impressive for a first-generation device. It’s basically an iPhone that doubles as an iPad when unfolded — you can look at apps side by side, enjoy e-books and games in greater immersion, or use it as a MacBook‘s secondary display. (We just wouldn’t recommend turning it into an alarm clock as Apple suggests.) It certainly helps that the Duo’s matte inner screen is “the nicest phone display I’ve ever seen,” said Senior Editor Stan Schroeder, who described it as “crisp, sharp, [and] beautiful to look at; it’s downright addictive.”
The Duo has a passport-style design like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, our favorite Android foldable, just with rounder corners for a more polished look. It runs on the same powerful A20 chip as the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, so it’s zippy enough for all the multitasking your heart desires, and optimized apps work incredibly well. While the Duo doesn’t last as long as those regular iPhones, its battery life is fine for a foldable.
You’ll have to temper your expectations with the Duo’s cameras — it lacks a telephoto lens, and the hidden FaceTime camera on its inner screen is straight-up “bad,” Schroeder said. That said, this is the case with most foldables.
On a final note, some inaugural Duo owners reported that their device’s inner screen cracked shortly after they started using it (a problem that’s since become known as “crackgate”). The good news is that the issue doesn’t seem to be as serious as social media might have you believe. In a statement, Apple told us that it’s isolated to “a small number” of Duos, and that impacted buyers should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
If it helps, Schroeder has been using the Duo for nearly a month and hasn’t noticed any hinge or display defects with his review unit. What’s more, another Duo has withstood more than 200,000 folds (and counting) inside the “Fold-a-Phone” machine built by our sister site, CNET; they’re folding it 900 times an hour until it breaks. You can catch the livestream daily on CNET’s YouTube channel.
