Apple may be late to the folding party, but the iPhone Duo still brings plenty of fresh ideas to the table.
From the passport-style design to the matte folding screen and smart software, it looks brighter than many first-generation foldables. And if history has taught us anything, Android manufacturers aren’t shying away from borrowing Apple’s best ideas.
In fact, I’d bet that these iPhone Duo features will show up on rival foldables sooner rather than later.
Passport-like form
Apple may not have been the first manufacturer to produce a passport-like foldable — but let’s be honest, it started the trend.
Sure, Samsung arrived a month earlier with the similarly shaped Galaxy Z Fold 8, and the almost comically identical Xiaomi 18 Fold launched in China. days before Apple introduced the iPhone Duo. However, Apple’s foldable plans have been widely known for a few years, much to the chagrin of then-CEO Tim Cook.
Specs, renders and the like have been making the rounds in the tech world for quite some time before the big reveal, giving the competition a good idea of what Apple is up to and essentially trying to beat it.
So yes, in 2027 we’ll probably see more Android foldable devices with similar shapes – Motorola has already teased onerumors suggest Oppo is working on oneand I’d bet good money that Honor does one too – although I’m not particularly mad at it.
As I experienced with the Z Fold 8, the passport form factor is felt rightboth apps and videos play nicely on both internal and external screens, certainly better than the boxed alternatives we’ve seen so far. I think this will pretty much be the de facto design, even if manufacturers (ahem, Samsung) insist that the boxy aspect ratio still has its place.
Matte folding screens
The matte, foldable screen of the iPhone Duo does like this it’s quite understandable that frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen this on the Android side of things before now.
The iPhone Duo’s matte finish seems to basically solve two of the biggest problems with foldable screens. The first is how damn reflective they are; Because of their foldable nature, the screens are plastic instead of glass, and reflections are visible, especially in brighter environments. The matte finish seems to eliminate the worst reflections, making it instantly more pleasing to the eye than any Android foldable.
Second, and equally important, it helps to hide the effect of the crease running down the center of the book-like folding screens – perhaps not in brand new and almost invisible condition, but over time, when the panels are constantly folded and unfolded.
If there is any One feature on the list that will definitely make it to Android’s foldables in 2027 is this one.
The (dreaded) return of under-display cameras
Under-display cameras, also known as UDCs, are nothing new in the Android world. In fact, quite the opposite, they appeared on several devices from 2020 to 2024, such as Samsung, RedMagic and ZTE, before quietly going the way of the Dodo in favor of traditional pinhole cameras.
Why? Because, simply put, they weren’t very good – for the most part, anyway. Samsung famously used UDC technology on previous models of the Galaxy Z Fold, but it was the location of the camera always it is noticeable, so the goal has been defeated. It also meant that the camera itself took a huge hit in overall quality because it’s literally trying to see through a layer of pixels.
That’s not to say they were all terrible; I distinctly remember the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra, which nailed UDC’s technology over most of the competition. The camera quality still wasn’t the best, but at least you couldn’t see a weird looking spot on the screen where the camera was hiding.
With Apple trying—and failing, based on early online impressions—to hide its camera under the Duo’s foldable inner screen, it’s possible we’ll see a resurgence of UDCs on Android’s foldables in an attempt to match the full-screen look. We hope they are closer to ZTE than Samsung in terms of quality.
Standby mode and iOS-like UI tweaks
Apple is known for matching its software and hardware, and the iPhone Duo is no different. It offers software features that we haven’t seen on an Android foldable yet – though again, I don’t think that will be the case for much longer.
This is especially true if the phone is in a tented form factor. Things like Apple’s standby mode, which uses the Duo’s external screen to display the time, notifications, weather and the like in a tented fashion, are very useful here, as is lighting up the internal display when the morning alarm goes off.
Then there are basic tweaks to the user interface to better suit the foldable format, like Apple moving the dock from the bottom — where it’s lived since the first iPhone began — to the right side for better accessibility, and the combined battery, Wi-Fi, and cellular icon that saves valuable screen space.
Again, these seem like a no-brainer when you think about it, and it’s surprising we haven’t seen anything like it in the years of Android foldables that have come before.
Well, for now anyway – I swear I can hear the Honor MagicOS software team drooling over here.
Am I surprised by this? Not really. Apple tends to set trends in the smartphone world, especially when it comes to design, and it will be no different now that the iPhone Duo has arrived.
