We gave the iPhone Duo a 7 /10. But that wasn't always the score we planned, and it might not be the right score forever. Such are the challenges of reviewing - and assessing - a big, new idea about the most popular smartphone in history.

On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay debate whether the Duo deserved the score it got, and try to work through how this device might change over time. Is the outer screen, as Daring Fireball's John Gruber suggested, the worst iPhone ever? Would it be a better product if it started as an iPad rather than an iPhone? Would we feel differently about this thing if it were simply called the iPad Du …

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The Duo is an entirely new kind of iPhone, so it comes with a bit of a learning curve. That's a wild thing to imagine, since the iPhone has had very few fundamental changes since its inception. But the Duo is built different. If you won the preorder lottery and managed to get your hands on one today, you'll see what that means. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll lose track of the volume buttons as you turn the thing around.

We've learned a few tricks over the past week of flipping and folding the Duo as much as we could. Here are our favorite tips and hacks for newly minted Duo owners.

You can set orientation lock on each screen independent …

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When we published our review of the iPhone Duo, I got a lot of hopeful questions from my fellow Mini fans who took note of the cover screen's Mini-ish 5.4-inch size. "Is this… a small phone that turns into a tablet?" they asked. And I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but no. The Duo is not the small phone we've been looking for.

I wish it was. I like a small phone. I own an iPhone 13 Mini that I refuse to surrender, even though it barely lasts a full day.

But the Duo is thick and heavy. You will feel its weight every time you read an email, scroll Instagram, or put it in your pocket. It is a dense phone, and after a week with the Duo, …

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The Delta gaming emulator has been upgraded with a plethora of new goodies and support updates, which includes optimizing it for Apple's iPhone Duo. Delta 2.0 also introduces Sega Genesis games, animated controller skins, custom Pokémon DLC experiences, and a new UI that was built around supporting Liquid Glass.

Adding support for the iPhone Duo is an obvious standout here - if you looked at Apple's flagship foldable and wondered how well it could emulate Nintendo DS games, this update was made with you in mind. Delta app creator Riley Testut told The Verge that Delta 2.0 optimizes controller skins for "every pose in both portrait and lands …

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Apple is rolling out a new badge in the App Store to indicate whether an app is optimized for its new foldable. The new "Made for iPhone Duo" badge will appear across apps and games that work with the device's extra screen real estate.

Though Apple doesn't include an image of what this badge might look like, it highlighted some of the ways apps are taking advantage of the Duo's inner and outer screens. Netflix, for example, will display shows and movies that take up the whole inner display, while allowing you to watch its feed of short-form clips on the outside. Amazon's Prime Video will let you watch shows and movies with the Duo partially …

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Apple says it will have "limited" iPhone Duo models for sale in stores, according to a report from Reuters. The iPhone Duo launches on Friday, October 23rd, but online preorders quickly sold out, with some delivery estimates extending into next year.

"On Friday morning, our teams look forward ​to welcoming customers at Apple Stores to experience iPhone Duo ​and the incredible iPhone line-up for themselves," Apple said in a statement to Reuters. "Apple Stores will ‌have ⁠limited iPhone Duo available for walk-in customers, and we're working hard to get this revolutionary new product into customers' hands as quickly as possible."

The iPhon …

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The iPhone Duo has all the messiness of a first-gen product. And while I'm not sure I love all of the decisions Apple made around its design, it got one thing right: the matte finish on the inner screen. I've been using it for the past week to watch movies on a plane, peruse my photo gallery, and catch up on a little reading, and I'm convinced. The matte screen is the best thing about the Duo, and I hope every other foldable maker copies it.

When we first got our hands on the Duo, the nano-texture finish on the 7.6-inch inner screen was genuinely a surprise. I've used a dozen or so book-style foldables over the past five years, and every on …

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The iPhone Duo is the riskiest Apple product in years. It's a huge rethink of what an iPhone is and could be, and it contains the seeds of many fascinating ideas that might be great in the future.

But that future is yet to come. The iPhone Duo is also one of Apple's messiest first-generation products in a long time, and right now it will delight gadget nerds and early adopters and likely frustrate everyone else.

It's been a minute since the iPhone has looked or worked significantly differently. The last major change was the iPhone X, which dropped the home button almost a decade ago, and even that was a fairly subtle improvement. In fact, …

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Apple has finally announced its long-rumored foldable: the iPhone Duo.

The new phone has a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display, a “nano‑texture” finish on the inner screen, and barely any visible crease. Instead of Face ID, it uses Touch ID on the power button. It has two cameras, a main lens and a wide-angle lens. Apple completely revamped iOS 27’s controls and apps for the foldable, including putting the dock on the side of the phone. And it has a flashy opening animation when you unfold the phone.

The iPhone Duo a big new bet from Apple, though one that’s a little late to the game compared to competitors like Samsung and Google. The phone isn’t cheap: it starts at $1,999 for the base 256GB model, and the prices only go up from there. Still, Apple said that preorder demand was “extraordinary,” so it could have a hit on its hands.

Here’s everything unfolding about the iPhone Duo.

• Apple says iPhone Duo preorder demand has been “extraordinary.”
• iPhone Duo orders are already delayed into 2027
• The iPhone Duo is now available to preorder at $1,999
• Prep your cart before iPhone Duo preorders open tomorrow
• Repairing the iPhone Duo’s folding screen costs as much as a new iPhone
• TCL’s paperlike OLED phone made me more excited for the iPhone Duo
• We unfolded the iPhone Duo
• Apple addresses iPhone Duo copycats
• The iPhone Duo’s hardware doesn’t look special, but its software might be
• How the iPhone Duo compares to other folding phones
• Verge staffers react to the iPhone Duo: What we love and don’t love
• Apple iPhone Duo launch event: The 5 biggest announcements
• Apple completely revamped iOS 27’s controls and apps for the iPhone Duo
• The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable

Delivery estimates for the iPhone Duo slipped into next year in less than an hour after Apple opened preorders for it at 8AM ET on Friday.

At the time of writing we are seeing late January delivery dates for every configuration on Apple's website. The foldable is slated to launch in stores on October 23rd, and Apple typically reserves some units for in-store availability. So while online orders are delayed, you might be able to get one sooner in-person at an Apple Store.

The long delay could be due to high demand for Apple's first foldable iPhone, low supply on Apple's side, or a mix of both. Apple announced the iPhone Duo in September, f …

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Few phones have been more anticipated than a foldable iPhone, but it's finally here. The iPhone Duo was unveiled during Apple's "Surprise and shine" event alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 models.

Apple's first foldable has a 5.4-inch outer screen, and it unfolds to show off its 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR screen. Apple Pencil support is coming later this year. While it lacks Face ID for facial unlocking, there's a Touch ID sensor along its edge to identify your fingerprint. The device has an IP68 rating, with Ceramic Shield 2 on its back, with Ceramic Shield covering the front display. It has the same A20 …

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If you don't get AppleCare Plus for the iPhone Duo, any repairs are going to be pretty expensive. Apple published the estimated repair costs for the iPhone Duo without AppleCare Plus today, as reported by MacRumors, and they can be high: Battery service, for example, will cost $229, inner display damage will cost $999, and "other damage" costs $1,499.

Here's Apple's estimated costs for various repairs if you don't have AppleCare Plus:

Cover layer damage $49

Back glass damage $199

Battery service $229

Rear camera damage $229

Outer display damage $379

Outer display and back glass damage $509

Inner display damage $999

Ot …

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