iPhone Duo: Should You Buy, Wait or Cancel Your Order?

Quick summary: A lot of you still have iPhone Duo preorders waiting. Should you keep it, wait or cancel? My short answer: for most people, wait. Apple had years to perfect this phone and it still feels unfinished. I expect a major update in the next three to six months to fix most of the quirks.

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Key takeaways

• Hardware: a few people have had inside display issues, but I wouldn’t be totally concerned. Long-term durability over 5 to 7 years is a fair question with this many moving parts.
• Software is the biggest problem: a dock that never hides, an inconsistent back button and a keyboard that sometimes won’t close.
• My advice: if you just want a phone that works without fiddling, wait three to six months for a big update.

Why it feels unfinished

Apple has theoretically been working on this phone for years, so you’d expect hardware as solid as an iPhone 17 Pro Max. Instead, there are reports of issues with the inside display, and people complain about the crease. The crease isn’t a big deal in my opinion, and I don’t think the hardware concerns are serious enough to scare you off, but they exist.

Will it last five to seven years?

A foldable has a moving hinge and two displays, so I wouldn’t expect it to look beautiful after five to seven years the way a traditional slab phone might. It may still perform well. That said, I don’t keep phones that long, and I think most Duo buyers will keep it two to four years, especially as these get thinner, lighter and better made.

Sponsor: the BENKS case

BENKS makes an amazing see-through case that’s designed not to yellow. It has MagSafe with a really strong magnet for grips and wireless charging, hinge protection and full coverage, without adding much bulk. It also comes with tempered glass for the front screen and installation tools. I use BENKS on my Galaxy Z Fold 8 and 8 Ultra too. I dropped my Samsung phone off my bike with it on, and it was protected.

Software problems

The dock

The dock takes up space unnecessarily and doesn’t hide, which makes the front display smaller than it should be. It also eats some real estate on the inside display, although the width makes it less noticeable there.

Back button frustrations

Sometimes there’s a back button and sometimes there isn’t. I’ll tap back, and then it disappears even though I’m not at the top level. Why can’t I keep going back, or just use a back gesture?

Keyboard bugs

Sometimes, open or closed, the keyboard won’t go away, and I can’t reach the send button. My workaround is rotating the phone to another orientation. Some of that may be the app’s fault, but these are big-name apps. Apple could have worked with those companies, or added a universal fix like an always-present back button or a dismiss-keyboard button.

Apple had years to fix this

Samsung, Oppo, Huawei, Motorola and Google have all shown how folding-phone navigation can work. Apple could have learned from them. Either it’s not putting enough time into this, it doesn’t have the answers, or it doesn’t want to do it because it’s “not the Apple way.”

It’s not so bad that you can’t use the phone. But after seven years of folding phones, I notice it every time I switch back to my Fold 8 Ultra, Fold 8 or Motorola. Those phones have fewer lingering issues, and they’re thinner and lighter.

The good stuff

This is not a bad phone. The displays look great, especially once you remove the matte protector, and it has pen support on both displays.

Should you wait or buy?

If you just want a phone that works without messing with it, wait. I’d almost guarantee a major update within three to six months that fixes most of the bugs and quirks. You can live with the phone now, but you might get annoyed and think, “this is so much easier on my iPhone or Galaxy.” What are you missing by waiting, other than the experience? It’s ready for prime time, and it’s not. It’s a double-edged sword.

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