It’s been a long time since I’ve been genuinely excited about a new iPhone. For years, a new iPhone meant a device that was thinner, faster, and had a camera that came with incredible upgrades. At some point, a new iPhone became an incremental upgrade. Slightly better, slightly faster. Maybe there was a new button to learn, a new charging cable, or a new notch on the screen, but the iPhone itself remained the same rectangular glass and metal handheld it always was. The iPhone Duo changes this, allowing Apple to enter the market for foldable phones with a device that, while imperfect, is whimsical, fun, and, yes, actually exciting.
Initial Reactions
It’s hard to say when the urge to acquire the iPhone Duo first kicked in. I’ll admit that it wasn’t during the official announcement, which left me feeling puzzled about the device’s potential. Do I actually want a phone that folds, I wondered? Was propping up the phone as a little tent to watch Netflix worth all that extra money? (The Duo starts at $2,000).
As it turned out, the desire for the Duo grew on me as I saw developers embracing the new foldable design to create Duo-optimized apps. Apple’s software development community, after all, is what keeps me locked into the iPhone. Apple developers are active, creative, engaged, and still often build for iOS first – a must if you like trying things early.
Developer Optimizations
Of course, the initial Duo reviews have pointed out how many mainstream iOS apps have not yet been made ready for the Duo, which is true. Many of the apps you use every day were not optimized by launch day, meaning they’re surrounded by black bars, have their controls in odd places, or have to be enlarged with a tap, similar to the early days of running iPhone apps on iPad. But the developers who have specifically built for the Duo sparked my interest. Soon, my inbox was filled with pitches for clever apps I couldn’t yet try unless I got my hands on a Duo. Hello, FOMO.
