Sorry, Apple, but the $1,999 iPhone Duo has plenty of compromises to ignore

Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo is out, and it has plenty of things to look forward to, like a big battery, a powerful A20 Pro chipset, support for a 120 Hz ProMotion always-on refresh rate, and more. However, it has a few serious compromises as well that you really don't expect in a device that costs $1999.

That's the reason why Nothing CEO Carl Pei calls the phone a waste of money. The interesting thing is that most of our readers seem to agree with Carl's statement.

Half of the voters appear to be with Carl

I recently covered a story sharing my view on Carl's statement that the iPhone Duo is a waste of money. The article had a poll in which I asked you guys whether you think that the Apple Foldable does justify its price tag.



The poll has received 938 votes at the time of writing, with 54.26% of the voters saying that the device has many compromises. Only 17.38% of the votes were received by the option that said the foldable is great. The rest of the voters said that they will decide whether the phone is worthy of its $1999 price tag or not after checking out its hands-on review.

Two major compromises of the iPhone Duo

I, personally, believe that Face ID and the telephoto lens are the two big things that a user would really miss in the iPhone Duo. You'll start not liking Apple's approach of not adding these two pieces of hardware in its foldable after knowing that its main competitors, the Z Fold 8 Ultra or the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, feature both things.

In addition to the unavailability of telephoto lenses, Apple's foldable has a couple of other camera compromises as well. The iPhone Duo features a 12 MP shooter in the front, which is a downgrade from the 18 MP selfie lens that you get in the iPhone 18 Pro. You also don't get a LiDAR scanner in the foldable, and there are plenty of trade-offs in the software department as well, like the power to adjust the shutter speed, aperture, and more is missing.

iPhone Duo isn't for everyone: MKBHD

Many popular creators have finally released their hands-on reviews of the iPhone Duo. Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), a man who really doesn't need any introduction, said in his video that the phone isn't for everyone, something that Mark Gurman has also mentioned in one of his newsletters. If your priority is texting, scrolling different social media platforms, or capturing some incredible photos, Duo isn't the device for you, according to Marques.

Marques believes that Apple's first foldable is for someone for whom $2000 isn't a big amount and who wants a pocket iPad Mini. He also mentioned the things he really didn't like about the phone, which of course include the unavailability of Face ID and a telephoto lens. But in addition to these two things, he also highlighted that the device is thicker and heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Marques found that the camera output of the foldable is very close to the iPhone 17e's quality. Optimization of third-party apps is another thing that he really didn't like in the iPhone Duo. As you can clearly see in the video below, most applications that a normal user usually uses in their daily life, like Spotify, Google Maps, and X, are not at all optimized for the foldable iPhone.

• Apple limits iPhone Duo sales in the US
• You shouldn't buy the iPhone Duo without AppleCare Plus — here's why
• Some lucky Apple customers could get their iPhone Duo earlier than they thought
• Follow me on Threads and X

Trade in your old phone for cash at ecoATM!

Recycle your used phone and get instant cash. Find out how at ecoATM!

Check at ecoATM