Apple is confident the iPhone Duo’s crease will prove naysayers wrong, and I’d love that to be true

The display’s scratch resistance, the durability of the folding hinge, and the visibility of the crease were all accounted for during the designing and testing stages of the iPhone Duo. A “lot of blood, sweat, and tears” have went into eliminating these problems for the iPhone Duo as best as possible.

“Hold us accountable to that, please”

In an interview with Tom Marieb — Apple’s new Vice President of Hardware Engineering, replacing John Ternus who is now CEO — the problem of the display crease was brought up. Marieb responded confidently that the iPhone Duo addressed that problem in a way that no other foldable phone has.



According to Marieb, Apple’s secret superweapon for the iPhone Duo is what sets the phone apart from all of its rivals. The superweapon being, of course, the new nano-texture coating for the internal display.

Apple’s secret sauce for its foldable

In a previous interview with Apple CEO John Ternus and Senior Vice President of Marketing — Greg “Joz” Joswiak — the two revealed that the nano-texture display was Apple’s secret superweapon for the iPhone Duo.

Both Ternus and Joswiak were glad that this secret didn’t get out before launch, even though the aspect ratio did, because it really sets the iPhone Duo apart. While rival foldables with glossier displays make the degradation of the crease very apparent over time, the nano-texture coating hides it while also reducing glare.

Did the iPhone Duo crack the code?

Marieb’s comment makes it seem like the iPhone Duo will beat all of its competitors in this one key area that foldables have had problems in. He doesn’t claim that the crease won’t deepen over time, but he’s confident that the nano-texture coating will keep it hidden regardless.

Even foldable phones with the least noticeable creases today, like the Oppo Find N6, see said creases get more noticeable over time. From the very first fold, a foldable’s display crease starts becoming more apparent and the display surface starts to become uneven in that area.

Most users online aren’t taking Marieb’s confidence in the hinge and the scratch resistance of the iPhone Duo seriously, however. While some joke that he can say that because he can afford to buy a replacement phone without a second thought, others are half-jokingly waiting for a repeat of something that Apple has done before.



Others have also said that, despite Marieb’s comment about feeling his skin crawl when someone puts a screen protector on their iPhone, they’re not going to stop doing so anytime soon.

While, personally, I agree with Marieb because I think that phones look much better without screen protectors or cases — and I don’t drop them that often, either — I also understand people who want to be more careful with such an expensive purchase.

Nevertheless, I am excited for the future

While the nano-texture’s matte-like finish might not be to everyone’s liking, I must admit that it is a novel way to address display crease visibility on foldables. I can’t wait to see how foldable displays are improved further in the coming few years until the crease is inevitably completely hidden.

And though Apple’s phone is doing something unique, its pricing, the matte-like display, and some other factors are actually helping the Galaxy Z Fold 8 sell better instead.



So, even for the rest of the foldable industry, the introduction of the iPhone Duo has done wonders, even if it does mean more competition as well.

The iPhone Duo's secret superweapon is both a boon and a curse:

• The iPhone Duo was a go when the coating was finalized
• The iPhone Duo's coating won't be to everyone's liking