{"id":668761,"date":"2026-10-29T11:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668761\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:02:09","slug":"liquid-glass-finally-makes-sense-on-the-iphone-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668761\/","title":{"rendered":"Liquid Glass Finally Makes Sense on the iPhone Duo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flexibility matters when resizing windows across any device. But while announcing its updates, Apple also dropped major hints that all but confirmed new hardware\u2014it showed iPhone apps running on an iPad or a Mac could resize to a suspiciously specific shape that matched the rumored inner display dimensions of Apple\u2019s upcoming folding phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Designed to Flow<\/p>\n

When Apple showed off the iPhone Duo<\/a>, everything clicked. Its passport-shaped display<\/a> bucks the trend of iPhones and their rivals growing taller over the years. The Duo is wider and almost squat, and when opened, it naturally defaults to landscape, echoing the iPad Mini display<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Apple being Apple, it wanted to avoid the jarring jolt between displays that\u2019s often evident on rival foldables<\/a>, so it made content appear to move seamlessly from one screen to the other. That begins with the hardware. As Molly Anderson, Apple’s vice president of Industrial Design, said at the September keynote<\/a>: \u201cTo achieve this continuity, we designed iPhone Duo around a consistent aspect ratio that is the same across both displays.\u201d But it\u2019s the software\u2014rooted in Liquid Glass\u2014that sells the illusion.<\/p>\n

The most arresting element is a fancy animation, which various folks in the Android space are now busy being \u201cinspired\u201d by. It reinforces the idea of a flowing interface. Meanwhile, Liquid Glass freed Apple from being prescriptive about where essential controls live. On the Duo, they sit at the side<\/a>. When the phone\u2019s closed, that frees up space for content. When it\u2019s open, the controls stay in a consistent spot, so you never have to hunt for them. Reorient the device, and everything settles into the most appropriate place.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Apple<\/p>\n

That\u2019s form following function, not function being subservient to form. This device and its flexible interface don\u2019t strictly need the Liquid Glass design language, but the two feel made for each other. Liquid Glass finally makes sense on the iPhone Duo\u2014and with Apple\u2019s other refinements, it\u2019s starting to make sense elsewhere, too.<\/p>\n

Clarity of Purpose<\/p>\n

How much of this is happenstance\u00a0is hard to say. Given Apple\u2019s lead times, pure coincidence seems unlikely. And even if Liquid Glass wasn\u2019t made with the Duo in mind, it adapts to it.<\/p>\n

Liquid Glass feels more considered. It\u2019s increasingly tuned for individual devices rather than governed by a \u201cuniversal\u201d aesthetic forced onto them all. The result is operating systems that feel solid rather than fragile, with interfaces less likely to fight content for your attention. On Macs and iPads, the Liquid Glass revamp now looks more like a love letter to Aqua<\/a>\u2014Apple’s water-themed interface introduced in 2000<\/a>. On the iPhone, it\u2019s usable again. On the Duo, it\u2019s a delight.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s perfect. \u201cThere\u2019s some weirdness that hasn\u2019t been fully resolved, and there needs to be a consistency to all these materials or the metaphors break down,\u201d\u00a0McCarthy says. \u201cBut overall, Liquid Glass is vastly improved.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s worth remembering that while the Duo is new<\/a>, Liquid Glass is relatively young, too. As developer Steve Troughton-Smith wrote<\/a>, \u201cFor some iPhone apps, even with keen developers, it will take six months to a year of work to properly support iPhone Duo. A lot of developers are still trying to finish the Liquid Glass transition they started last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

A useful reminder that transitions take time. But at least now, Apple\u2019s vision looks clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flexibility matters when resizing windows across any device. But while announcing its updates, Apple also dropped major hints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[936,308,46007,61,238354,6931,4178,60,80,283222],"class_list":["post-668761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-apple","tag-design","tag-folding-devices","tag-ie","tag-interface","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-ireland","tag-technology","tag-visual-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}