iPhone Duo Outdoors: Is the Matte Display a Problem?

Quick summary: Apple’s new CEO John Ternus showed off his iPhone Duo at the Emmy Awards, and outdoors the matte inner display didn’t look great. It might have been the angle or very bright sun, but if it’s hard to see outside, that’s a big problem for a $2,000 phone.

I’m still excited about the Duo

I’m not a huge iPhone fan, but Apple did a lot of cool things with this: pen support, a big display for Apple, a new form factor, multitasking and the powerful A20 Pro. It’ll be an awesome phone.

The outdoor problem

Matte displays are fine on TVs, but in this clip you could barely see the Duo’s inner screen outdoors. To be fair, it’s one of the only times we’ve seen it outside, in real time, and it could have been the camera or the angle. Indoors, in hands-on videos, the display looked amazing, sometimes with an anti-reflective, almost E Ink look.

Compared with the Galaxy Z Fold 8

Both are rated at 3,000 nits. In the sun, I can see my Fold 8’s inner display with no problem. If the Duo really is hard to see outside, people deciding between the two will probably want the Fold 8, and having to always use the cover screen outdoors would be a real downgrade.

I miss my Fold 8

I’ve been on the Fold 8 Ultra for almost a week, and I miss the Fold 8. I keep picking it up at my desk. I love its cover display and use it far more than the Ultra’s.

If that’s truly how the Duo looks outside, it’s not good.

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