I should have ordered an iPhone 18 Pro a week ago. As a member of the Apple Upgrade Program, it’s time for my yearly upgrade, and in a normal year I would have used it. But I didn’t. I didn’t because I’m waiting for something else: the iPhone Duo.

Two Screens Are Better Than One

After years of rumors and speculation Apple finally announced its first foldable phone on September 9th. The Duo is a “passport-sized” phone, shorter and wider than most of the foldables we’ve seen outside of Samsung’s recently-released Galaxy Z Fold 8. While it’s shorter on the outside than the iPhones we’re used to, this size allows it to open up to essentially an iPad mini on the inside, which can display a full screen app or two moderately sized apps side by side.

Apple has really enhanced iOS to adapt to this design, providing different behavior for the front screen, the inner screen open like a portrait tablet, opened horizontally like a book, folded at a 90 – 180 degree angle like a laptop, and even placed upside down like a tent. The interface responds to each of these orientations, called poses, in different ways by moving content from the top of the screen to the bottom, moving controls to the side, and moving important items away from the crease. It’s fluid, adaptive, and opens up new possibilities.

I’ve been waiting a long time for an Apple foldable because I knew the hardware would be solid and the software experience would be well-crafted. I’m getting this phone for the experience. I read a lot on my phone, not books, but RSS feeds, emails, and websites. I prefer reading on a larger device like an iPad, but I’ve adapted to my phone, always wishing for a larger screen but unwilling to shove a larger item in my pocket. The Duo solves my problem, providing a large screen but hiding it away behind something pocketable.

X Again

This moment reminds me of my decision to buy the iPhone X instead of the iPhone 8 back in 2017. The hardware was similar but the screens and the user experience were not. The X introduced new paradigms to iOS that made it more fluid and easy to use while carrying the risk of being a new hardware design with an unfamiliar interaction model.

I took a chance on the X and was glad I did; I never had an issue with it and found the interface to be intuitive and enjoyable. The new home, back, and app switching gestures developed for the unique screen of the X turned out to be a better interface for iOS on any device. Face ID was amazing. I had almost iPhone Plus screen real estate in a device that still fit in my pocket. I hope the Duo will be the same: introduce the future of iOS interactions on some really great hardware.

It’s Not All Rosy

I’m comfortable with my choice, but it isn’t without tradeoffs. My decision point for the iPhone X was first-run hardware risk, because the underlying hardware was the same or better than the iPhone 8. The Duo decision is more complicated because it doesn’t match every spec of the 18 Pro. The basic architecture is the same: the A20 Pro SOC, the vapor chamber, Apple-developed cellular modem, OLED ProMotion always-on display technology, and ultrawide and wide angle cameras. It’s missing the telephoto lens, Face ID, and pro photo and video formats.

The missing telephoto lens is the most impactful for me because I use it often, far more often than the ultrawide. This limits optical zoom to only 2x and will take some getting used to. It doesn’t support ProRAW either, which limits my ability to edit in post, but I haven’t had great luck with it anyway. I’ll need to get used to not having the extra zoom, and it will be difficult. Outside of the color, the camera was one of the few reasons I continued buying the Pro model. I guess I’ll figure out what it’s like to have a “regular” iPhone camera-wise and hope a third lens comes to the Duo in the future.

The lack of Face ID will also take some getting used to, but Apple’s implementation of TouchI D is better than what came before. Since there’s no home button, Touch ID is embedded into the lock button on the side of the phone, like the iPad and iPad Air. Apple is also enabling the Apple Watch to unlock the Duo if you’re wearing it, which is kind of like Faceless ID. While unlocking is a process that occurs far more frequently than taking a telephoto picture, I think this will make it a much smaller problem for me as long as it actually works.

The final compromise I have to make is color. After a year with Apple’s fun and vibrant Cosmic Orange, it’s back to boring blackish and white. I’ll probably get the white this time, just to be “different”. The price is higher too, nearly doubling my monthly cost after migrating to the Apple Upgrade Program. That isn’t really a consideration for me, nor was it for my decision to buy the X: I felt the cost was worth it back then and I feel the same now.

Waiting for October

These compromises are worth it for the additional screen space and light multitasking ability. I think I’m really going to like this device, not because its a hot new thing, but because it provides a practical improvement I will enjoy every single day. The Pro launched first and the Duo launches about a month later, with preorders opening on October 16. It should show up on my doorstep a week after that. I’m ready to see what… unfolds.