A week after the iPhone Duo landed, 9to5Mac has a first-person review that is more mixed than the launch-week hype. I wrote earlier about the teardowns, the Safari outer-screen quirks and a failed dust test. This is a different question: after seven days as a daily carry, does the reviewer actually want to unfold it?
Mostly, no. The reviewer estimates at least 90% of use stays on the front display, and a lot of the remaining 10% is opening it on purpose to see what’s being missed. The conclusion so far is that unfolding doesn’t add much value for that person’s habits. Because the inner screen barely gets used, the outer display becomes the phone, and in that mode the Duo is described as too heavy for long sessions, too wide for comfortable one-handed reach, and an adjustment in most apps. Compared with an iPhone 18 Pro, the reviewer calls the outer-screen experience inferior, even if it isn’t a deal-breaker.
The honest qualifier in the piece is that this may be a preference problem, not a product failure. People who love foldables, and who actually open them, may never hit that wall. One-handed use is simply a big deal to this reviewer, and the Duo isn’t built around that.
My take
That’s a useful report, because it isn’t “the foldable is bad.” It’s “if you live on the outer screen, you bought a heavier, wider iPhone.” If you’re considering one, be honest about how often you’d actually open it. A hinge you never use is just extra width in your pocket.
God Bless, and Use the Source!
