{"id":596520,"date":"2026-09-10T23:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T23:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/596520\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T23:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T23:02:13","slug":"apples-iphone-duo-the-first-hands-on-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/596520\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s iPhone Duo: The first hands-on reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nilay Patel, also with the Verge, highlighted the Duo\u2019s slick mode transitions (see the clip above). He started playing Netflix on the outer screen. When it opened the Duo, the movie automatically played on the full open screen, or on half the screen when the Duo was hinged half open to prop it up. <\/p>\n

The smart transitions between the Duo\u2019s four cameras (one front, one inner, two on the back) also impressed. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are going to be into this thing … and it\u2019s crazy expensive,\u201d Patel said. It dubbed the pricing \u201cbananas\u201d.<\/p>\n

In NZ, the Duo will sell for between $4199 (256GB) and $6599 (2TB) depending on storage options; see full tech specs here. <\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Nicole Nguyen said she\u2019d never considered buying a foldable – various models have been on the market from others for seven years – but that \u201cI could actually picture myself using this new half-phone, half-tablet hybrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nguyen added: \u201cFor months, I\u2019ve been using Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Z Fold8, a similarly squat, passport-shaped foldable that opens up to a larger screen. It\u2019s impressively thin and can easily fit into the infuriatingly tiny pockets in women\u2019s pants and dresses. Samsung did a lot of work to minimize the crease \u2014 the dip between the two halves of the big interior display \u2014 but it\u2019s still clearly there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can understand people who haven\u2019t used a foldable will be keenly interested in the crease down the middle of the unfolded screen and whether it will wreck the experience. <\/p>\n

But having used a Fold8 myself – albeit for a few days rather than a few weeks – I\u2019d say Nguyen is being a bit tough on the Fold8. I can\u2019t see the crease unless the light hits it at a certain angle, and I can\u2019t feel it at normal finger swipe speed (if you slow down, you can feel it). The same goes for Oppo\u2019s Find N6. Both are streets ahead of early foldables.<\/p>\n

Nguyen went on, \u201cWhen I held the iPhone Duo open, the crease was barely visible. As I slid my finger across the display, I could feel it, but it\u2019s more subtle than Samsung\u2019s. Most of the time, the screen looked as flat and smooth as the one on an iPad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple employed both software and hardware techniques to camouflage the crease, Nguyen said. \u201cThe matte surface of the interior 7.6-inch screen minimizes reflections to hide it. (Samsung\u2019s Fold 8 screen is shiny.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crease on the inner screen is barely visible, but you can feel it as you slide your finger across the display.<\/p>\n

The Journal writer does allow that Samsung has rights to a thinner and lighter foldable. Its Fold8 is 201g to the Duo\u2019s 254g.<\/p>\n

And while the Duo is the thinnest iPhone ever when unfurled, closed it\u2019s 11.3mm, a schick thicker than the Fold\u2019s 9.7mm.<\/p>\n

Tech Radar\u2019s Jamie Richards said the Duo was \u201cundoubtedly the star\u201d of Apple\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike every other tech fan in the world right now, I want one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The foldable could act as an \u201cintelligent personal hub.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he also several features were snipped to save space: A telephoto lnes (you get 2x optical zoom to the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max\u2019s 8x), there\u2019s no Face ID (you do get TouchID on the side) and there\u2019s no Action button.<\/p>\n

MacWorld\u2019s Jason Cross said \u201cIt\u2019s all about flexibility. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing the rumors didn\u2019t pick up on: Both the inner and outer displays have the same aspect ratio: 1:1.4. That makes the outer display exactly one half of the inner display, and Apple uses this symmetry, along with a lot of orientation sensing, to alter the way iOS works.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, many iOS apps, and the operating system itself, do not adjust to multiple orientations. With the Duo, Apple has updated its own apps to work in portrait or landscape, and even behave differently depending on whether they\u2019re on the outside or inside screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThe trick is that apps can adapt to present themselves to both the dual-screen nature and shifting orientations of iPhone Duo. You can show your FaceTime call on the outer display as well as the inside, so other people can see and participate in the call. You can partially fold the phone and use it that way and the interface reacts. <\/p>\n

\u201cFold it like a tent and it goes into Standby mode to show big clock, calendar, photo, and weather widgets\u2013even when you\u2019re not charging. Apple even showed a quick glimpse of the Duo acting like a tiny laptop with touchscreen keys.\u201d<\/p>\n

And two more things<\/p>\n

There were some intriguing new iPhone 18 and Watch features that got a bit lost amid the Duo hype.<\/p>\n

The Apple Watch Series 12<\/a> features a \u201clive rewind\u201d always-on audio-recording feature that lets you double-tap its crown to see a transcription the last 15 seconds of real-life audio if, say, you missed what a waiter said about a special.<\/p>\n

\"AppleApple Reference Image provides users with an unalterable reference photo, visually confirming what the sensor saw at the moment of capture.<\/p>\n

And with the new 18 series handsets, there\u2019s a new \u201cReference Image\u201d mode, which could prove useful in the age of AI manipulation.<\/p>\n

It provides 18 Pro and Pro Max users with an unalterable reference version of a photo, visually confirming what the sensor saw at the moment of capture.<\/p>\n

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald\u2019s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nilay Patel, also with the Verge, highlighted the Duo\u2019s slick mode transitions (see the clip above). He started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[95,351,29652,3937,1871,8231,3938,1888,183538,353,5126,342,4505,130,111,139,69,24996,12860,145,293362,223,4468,11587],"class_list":["post-596520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-and","tag-apple","tag-apples","tag-chief","tag-duo","tag-event","tag-executive","tag-first","tag-handson","tag-iphone","tag-john","tag-mobile","tag-moment","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-reaction","tag-revealed","tag-technology","tag-ternus","tag-the","tag-thing","tag-yesterday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}