The Verge’s iPhone Duo Review: ‘A Messy, Expensive Good Time’
The first iPhone Duo reviews are out ahead of Friday’s launch, and The Verge’s verdict is in the headline: Apple’s first foldable is “a messy, expensive good time.” Nilay Patel and Allison Johnson call it “the riskiest Apple product in years” and “an early adopter special” that “will delight gadget nerds and early adopters and likely frustrate everyone else.”
A passport-shaped phone
The Verge says Apple’s biggest design decision was making the Duo “shaped like a passport.” The wide 7.6-inch inner display suits 16:9 YouTube video, a break from the tall-and-narrow foldables of the past five years. The catch is the 5.4-inch glossy cover screen, which the reviewers say is too small for vertical apps. Their joke is that you’ll watch less TikTok on it, and they list that as both a good thing and a bad thing.
The standout is the inner display’s nano-texture matte coating. The Verge says it looks and feels “incredibly solid,” a step up from the glossy, visibly creased screens on phones like the Pixel Fold. Apple calls the crease “perceptually flat,” and the reviewers say that mostly holds: you usually can’t see it, but you can feel it, and it shows up off-axis on white images and in some lighting. The under-display camera is more noticeable outdoors.
The compromises
The Verge’s list of downsides is short but real. The Duo is heavier and bulkier than a standard phone, it gets hot, and the cameras are “just OK.” The reviewers set it against the iPhone 18 Pro, which they describe as refined, with better thermals and a variable aperture lens, but barely different from the iPhone 17 Pro. The Duo is the opposite bet: a big rethink with “the seeds of many fascinating ideas,” as they put it, whose payoff hasn’t arrived yet.
Should you buy one?
Not yet, unless you want to be first. The Verge calls it one of Apple’s messiest first-generation products in a long time. The Duo starts at $1,999, U.S. pre-orders slipped to January within half an hour of opening, and Apple says stores will have only limited walk-in stock on Friday. Johnson is also taking reader questions about the phone.
Sources: The Verge, The Verge AMA