Looks like Apple should have made sure their precision engineered hinge was also accurate engineered.
I’m so glad I never fell for this gimmick. The tech looked sketchy from the beginning.
Just seems like such an obvious issue to spend so much money om
Hardly matters, the sort of people who buy such a pointless, gimicky and overly expensive phone will keep buying Apple regardless.
I like tech, I think it’s cool, and expensive features almost always become cheap or standard features in the future.
When someone figures out how to do this well, I will definitely want a folding phone. Although I want a phone that folds half the size of a normal phone, not a normal phone size that folds out to a tablet.
they make those
Samsung Fold and Pixel Fold have been getting it reliable for years now.
But if you want half size, look at the Razr and its like $500 not $2000.
Pretty much this. We had this multiple times already with different tech. For example “bezelless” phones were desired for years and they kept and kept making them smaller, at some point some manufacturers really forced it in premium models and then some time later it suddenly became pretty much standard.
I am an old IT guy. This was a hard and fast rule: Never buy version 1.0 of anything.
Same goes for the first model year of vehicles
Yup.
Anything with a folding screen would also work…
This shouldn’t be a 1.0 version of a phone with a folding screen, though, android phones have been doing this for a loooong time now and they are not and haven’t been flaky tech for some time now. I guess you’re right about Apple and this SKU, though. A bit surprising, I’m not an iPhone person but I always expect them to do pretty rigorous QA.
It is ver 1.0 for Apple. Same as touchscreen for laptops. Apple hasn’t done it.
They’re always a few versions behind, but somehow manage to get credit for the “innovation”.
“it just works” has been wrong for so long
It just works
somewhat(Hey, don’t say the last part! >:()
They just call their stuff random names?
Oh this? It’s our dingligongle 5000. No, no it only LOOKS like a USB cable, but see that apple logo?
Surface Duo for life.
3ds FTW!!!
I had some issues with a Fold3 and had it replaced for some micro-cracks showing down the middle of the crease, but now I’m beating the shit out of a fold 7 and it’s been perfect for a year so far.
apple got something wrong with the hinge design here, you’d think they’d get it right after holding off on folders this long though.
Apple is slow on everything and manages to act like they’re top shelf.
These Folds are built like tanks (relative to the complexity). The engineering is really impressive.
It’s a first generation product. Remember the first Galaxy Fold and what a disaster that was? It’s kinda like that (only more expensive).
Apple should have the benefit of hindsight but apparently not.
This is hilarious to me because all I hear from Apple fanbois about why iPhones are always years behind Samsung et al on new features is because “Apple don’t release things until they work properly”
History is not in their side unfortunately.
Apple ia not brraking into a new segment with new tech like Samsung did. Foldable phones have been around long enough for them to sell a working phone.
It’s still the first time Apple had a go at it and its design is obviously flawed
In a way, yes. But in another way, no.
It is a first gen device, but the screen came from samsung and has been developed for a long time. Galaxy folds don’t break like this one does.
Apple made some bad choices in the design instead of building upon samsungs tried and tested design.
Remember the iPhone 6?
The first phone to perfectly bend with your butt. And it came in rose gold. It’s awesome.
Apple probably didn’t plan for their planned obsolescence to work THIS quickly.
I’m a borderline fanboy but this was damn funny.
This is basically a tablet people, get a dam tablet, especially one that isnt 2000 USS. 😑
As an owner of multiple galaxy folds, I really wish people that don’t see the use case would stop treating their opinion as fact.
This is a phone that folds open into a tablet.
Not “basically a tablet”
The apple one is nothing special, its essentially the same as the wide fold 8. (The one i currently use)
I have a tablet. I don’t use it. Because it is heavy, it doesn’t fit in my pocket and i can’t make phone calls on it. All the things that make a phone different to a tablet are present on my “basically a tablet”
I have a specific use case for this phone. It suits me down to the ground. I don’t pretend this phone is for everyone, but i also don’t pretend it is for no one like you have done here.
Sorry to direct this at you, but it really does trigger me when i see this type of comment.
If you don’t see it working for you then just don’t buy one. No need to throw shade because you personally don’t like them.
So i cant throw shade at a company that supports mass consumerism and extreme unaffordable prices, with a product that has basically been the same since the iphone 13-15 but with Ai and a bigger screen?
There has to be more feaaible options than this, especially one that shouls make sense. What is the different than thw iphone 17/18 or a cyberdeck that is the same size but not evem a third of the cost of this phone?
Im not treating anything im saying as fact, just it makes no sense on the price point and mindset of where these phones are going(if you want to call it a phone at this point) . All these phablets do is just encourage consumerism and act less like a phone, i just have a problem with the company and the product, not whoever wants to use it.
You want to use it,cool, thats on you.
I do believe there is a target audience for folding phones but if you had already "multiple of them, you don’t seem to require a device that can truly last (+5 years).
I had a fold 3 for 3 years. Swapped to a fold 6 and gave my fold 3 to my wife who had it for a further 2 years before she traded it in for a second hand fold 5. She is an official convert thanks to that fold 3.
I used the fold 6 for a year before they released the 7 which was super slim and had a wider front screen which was my only real issue with the fold series.
Since my contract has “switch up” i can swap my phone every year if i want. So when the wide 8 came out i swapped the 7 for the 8. I suspect i will keep this one for a while as its the form factor i have wanted since the 3.
The fact that i have had multiple was a testament to how useful i find the phone. It was not a statement about their durability. As long as you don’t treat your phone like shit, it will last as long as you need it to.
I see people with iphones with cracked from and backs CONSTANTLY. I guarantee that is not a person who should be carrying around a £1000 to £2000 information rectangle. The inner screen of the fold and flip are not to blame for careless people.
There are plenty of fold 3s out in the wild, even fold 2s which were not nearly as durable.
Personally, I want the Duo because trying to ssh into a server in Termius on my iPhone with my aging eyes is rough. This will give me a tablet’s worth of terminal screen that I can bring with me in my pocket. And if work is paying for it, why the hell not.
There are legitimate use cases. Haters just want to feel superior.
i used to be an iphone user before they went to complete bs on their phones, along with the shady politics. Looks like im triggering the fanboys with them defending a product that basically repeats every year and will break in about 1-2 years, huh?.
I did exactly this earlier when I was demoing my z fold to my nephew earlier today, it’s really nice to also have extra screen real estate for the extra modifier keys.
.ssh/config and tab autocomplete are how I manage. I do the squinting once if I can help it
I’m happy you fit the niche.
I don’t. I agree with them that for the price of the folding iPhone, I already have an iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and can take calls on all three of them. I dont care if my iPad is heavy because I have two more portable devices
You’re almost the perfect use case lol. The whole point of the fold is for people that have or want both a phone and a tablet, but only want to carry one device.
I don’t currently have an iPad. My wife does and I end up using it a lot. I want an iPad mini for the times that I want just a bit bigger screen, but I’ve held off because I don’t want another device.
So I’ve got a duo on order. 90% of the time I’ll probably have it closed. The other 10% of the time it’ll serve the use that I use my wife’s iPad for but will have my setup instead of her layout that I’m not used to lol.
I never really understood the appeal of these.
They are nifty tech but new black rectangle that does the same shit as the last black rectangle has long ago stopped interesting me.
I now just get medium priced black rectangle every four or five years and ignore everything in between.
Along with the increased prices, its mind boggling to me that people want to pay rent prices for a stupid phone that aint gonna last 2 years.
Thats how a phone should be, hence i went to android cause of that. Tired of Apples BS
I’m with you in spirit, but phone can last longer than two years, especially if you change the battery.
I lost my USB-C port a long time ago, so I got a contact charger and syncthing…
These phones though dont have batteries you can change out, unless you break the phone just to open it.
I mean, ok? The flagship androids cost the same or more and have less support lol. They literally don’t last nearly as long as iPhones.
Oh im definitely not forgettung android and how crazy they have gone too with their phones.
Just only difference between them and apple ,at least i can tinker with an older device or get something degoogled.
I do kinda agree, I could see myself getting some use out of a fold style phone, but I am definitely not the target audience.
But I could see a lot of smaller benefits for a flip style phone. Having a smaller square even if it is chonk, would be easier to store while cycling or running, or even just putting it in my backpack pockets. Would I be willing to fork over that much money… Probably not, I would most likely get something like a fair phone
But why tho? A modern phone will be more than enough to cycle or run with. A bigger map is of no use when zoom exists.
It’s not using it for directions, it is tucking it away in small pockets. I have a cycle computer while cycling, so putting my phone neatly and securely in a zipped pocket would be nice. But can’t do that currently as the phone is too tall (pockets too small?)
Similar with running, doesn’t fit is a zipped pocket all that well cause too tall, so have to throw it in a “food” pocket instead.
That’s simply absurd. I’m sorry but you’re just inventing needs now. Get an arm band. They’re specifically made for phones. And foldables are generally bigger than regular phones with a few exceptions, and even then they’re super thick, not really saving you anything.
Did you miss the point where I said it was small benefits of having a flip style phone? Thickness is typically not the issue, but just how tall phones are is starting to get troublesome in small annoyance ways.
Get an arm band? I don’t really want to be running 30km with an arm band thanks. Or cycling 300km with one either. The small bits of comfort are kinda important(not $1200 worth it though).
Because having the smaller profile in your pocket, but being able to fold out to watch content on a higher screen is completely different than zooming….
Sure you can zoom in on a YouTube video, but why? You’re just getting a nose or something instead of the video.
The fold is for when you do most of your stuff on the small screen, but want the big screen for certain things and don’t want two devices to do it. Which is the perfectly valid use case.
Taking a modern large screen phone on a run can be a pain in the ass. Why get a small phone and a small tablet when you can have a small phone that unfolds into a small tablet when you want it to?
A tablet can’t fit into your pocket. I’ve been using folds for the past 6 years and I’ve been very happy and can’t go back. Never had one break it’s screen either. 2000 USD being an insane price for one on the other hand, I can agreed with.
The other interesting part to me is that most iPhone users have gotten used to using faceid. I know not everyone likes using it but it is the standard use for iPhone users. The Duo doesn’t have face ID, and switches you back to having to use touch ID on a side button like on an iPad. (I assume because they couldn’t figure out a standardized position that would work well when you are rotating/folding/unfolding whatever to that could consistently work well.
It’s weird, I saw the demos and you don’t even get significantly more info on the screen because you go from awkwardly-shaped profile view to landscape view so everything just gets stretched to the side.
Yup. I think the old Pixel Tablet has a few years of Graphene support left. That’s seems like a good option at a much better price point, but check me on those EoL dates.
It must be spectacular because it has a stamped logo of an Apple.
It’s literally the same price as all the other folding phones. Being Apple is irrelevant.
Sure, you can say $2000 is too much for a phone. I’m inclined to agree. But this is clearly the market price for a foldable phone across the board.
Every phone maker seems convinced that if they can be the one to make this work, they’ll be the champion of world forever, or something.
I can’t understand why a user would even want this. How many users do want this?
The only reason I’d want this is to have a smaller phone which I can open to a currently normal sized phone.
I don’t know why they keep pushing tablets on us.
China phone manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO, Huawei already have 5th or 6th Gen folds and they are awesome. Many people here use folds. The build quality is outstanding.
Plus the software is actually designed to use either the full screen or split screen. What Apple have done is a joke. The few people that bought the Apple fold, are returning it because the software is useless.
You can’t understand why someone would want phone that becomes a tablet? Really?
For real. Just last weekend I was at a conference and realized that I left my tablet at home and the agenda/workbook for the event was PDF. I was pinching and scrolling with my iPhone while my colleague next to me opened up his Galaxy Fold and was reading everything fine. I mean, yeah, it’s not a common need for me, but there’s definitely use-cases for this–especially for people who have to read digital documents on the go a lot and don’t want to have to carry extra devices just to do so.
Not in this form factor, no. It’s too wide and… square to be convenient in either mode. The BlackBerry passport was a bad form factor for similar reasons.
I like the idea of it, but I can live without it.
A foldable phone has the benefits of a tablet (screen size) and a phone (more compact), allowing you to alternate between the two at will. I can see the appeal.
Things are already generally optimized for a phone screen though.
Stuff like this doesn’t mess with websites that much as it’s all rectangles anyway. And as the comment above said you get to alternate between the sizes/proportions at will so this becomes a non issue. Use smaller screen for common stuff and then the bigger one for movies, games, comics, ebooks, displaying recipes in big text to see from far away, and whatever else you want. People could simply carry around a tabled at all times but there’s the extra convenience of it fitting in your pocket and being the same device as you wouldn’t have to sync data between them. This is something similar to an argument for cameras in phones, you always have it with you ready when a need comes up and a camera you don’t have with you when you need it is useless.
I want one but then I go to T-Mobile and see that dammed crease in the middle and I know my OCD ass won’t be able to handle it.
And I work in the repair industry so it wouldn’t last very long. And it has no practical use. At all. It’s just a keeping up with the Jones gimmick and it’s made by apple. All their tech sucks they survive on nothing but name.
Why would I want this? Because I’m sad and I fly around the world and I thought that instead of having a tablet and phone I could have it in one!
Then I listen to these tech YouTubers say that this is it! I bought my folding phone and I very rarely unfold it. Wasted so much money and I’m like bleh …
Then guess what? I see the YouTubers say, last year’s iteration wasn’t it, but this year’s one fixes it!
Urgh …
I bought my folding phone and I very rarely unfold it. Wasted so much money and I’m like bleh …
Basically the experience I had with my first smartphone: I got it into my head that having a foldout QWERTY keyboard would make writing more than just short text messages on a phone less weird and that getting a Nokia would also help ease the transition from dumb to smart since most of my previous phones had been Nokias.
Turns out I quickly stopped using that keyboard and the Symbian OS Nokia used back then was compatible with like a dozen apps or so 🤦🏻
I’ll join the chorus. If the price-point were right and the tech were reliable, I’d happily trade a good amount of thickness in order to have the option of an iPad Mini or an iPhone, but in the footprint of the latter when not in use. I really prefer to carry my phone in my front pocket and not to EDC a bag.
It’s just that the price-point is wrong and the tech is not reliable.
I do. Consolidating my phone and tablet into a single device would be very convenient. Adding support for an external monitor, keyboard and mouse to replace my laptop would be even better. I didn’t buy a Duo not because I don’t want the product, but because I know they won’t work well for another few iterations (at least).
I get the appeal, especially as I get older and my vision isn’t as good. Having a screen that can be bigger as needed helps in a number of ways. That said, no way I’d buy one because I don’t see how they survive in the long term.
The concept is kinda cool. Take the Galaxy Fold 8 for example; a nice and compact phone that actually fits in your pocket and can be a tablet if you wanna watch a movie or something in bed or public transport.
I still wouldn’t buy one; spending over a grand on a phone that even if it holds up fine can be damaged by accidentally tapping on the screen wrong seems dumb. Nevermind that I personally wouldn’t buy a Samsung for multiple reasons.
can be damaged by accidentally tapping on the screen wrong
That’s not really a thing unless you mean tapping with a hammer or something. I’ve been using these since the Z Fold 3.
It’s not the most wise way to spend your money of course, but not everything needs to be.
Isn’t the inside screen really soft and prone to pressure damage?
Pressure damage? Like, accidental, with your fingers? No, neither is it especially scratch prone.
I think I was talking about the small permanent ridges you could make with your fingernails. It’s entirely possible that they solved that problem a few generations ago, though.
Nah, the outer layer of the flexible screen is quite rigid to the touch. You don’t leave marks with your fingernail. I’ve used TPU screen protectors on the inner screen that have that property, I think. If you look at the glare from a light source, you can see indents in that. But even then, it’s not something you otherwise notice.
I don’t want to seem like a breathless booster for flexible phones, they are too expensive to be considered practical, I think. But there are some misconceptions about them, some which seem to come from the first version of the Z Fold, which honestly does sound like a nightmare device.
I wanted one. I tried to buy one. It sold out faster than I could click add to cart.
I currently have an iPhone 16 pro max and it isn’t big enough. I liked the idea of having a bigger screen on-demand, in a portable cellular form factor.
I would’ve loved it if it had the flagship processor and cameras. Having an iPad mini in your pocket is great for things, plus being able to have dual applications running is great. But I can live without it for now. It wasn’t an upgrade like a pro max iPhone was.
me, i have a Motorola flip, excellent pockeabikity, tried the Samsung Fold 8 (not ultra) looks excellent for my use but I’m poor, so it stays on the display.
Guys, we had the optimal form factor, the LG Wing, years ago! No folding displayed required!
I’m not even joking. I used mine for years and loved it.
Guys, we had the optimal form factor, the LG Wing, years ago! I used mine for years and loved it.
I genuinely thought this would be some old ass phone from when before smartphones were a thing.
It came out in 2020. The phone I’m typing this on came out 1,5 years after that.
Also what is this monstrosity??
It’s awesome multi-tasking bliss, and it’s durable, and it’s easy to repair if you do break it!
I like the Surface Phone 2 form factor. Having the display be glass helps a ton, and the bezel inside is pretty small. It would be even better with an e-ink outer display; that’s plenty for most phone things, and then you could open it up for videos and such.
Yeah, another great phone that we need more versions of. LG also tried that via a case for the Velvet.
Investors want repeats of the iPhone and social media revolution. They won’t get it by making tweaks to the smartphone or social media platforms. Nothing will stop them from trying, but all of this is just spinning the wheels.
These things would sell like hotcakes if they didn’t cost so much and were reliable. People want them, the tech just isn’t perfected yet, and who knows if the price will ever be reasonable.
Meh I like no tech and making attempts. I would never spend that money on a phone. I have never spent half that on a phone.
I like products not designed for absolutely everyone though, niche is nice
Phone new oogga booga phone go squish oogga booga
I was all set to wait for a Motorola Razr with Graphene to drop (and finally be done with Apple) until I read the iFixit tear-down of the Duo and realized that all foldables are fragile and require extra care (that I, a surfer and parent of four children, cannot guarantee). I think now I’m going to get a Fairphone 6 with /e/
Yeah, they’re nowhere near as hardy, that’s for sure. I have a galaxy Fold, took a vacation to the beach last month… basically had to leave the phone in the hotel for the entire weekend lol.
That’s why companies are pushing them imo. They want people to buy phones more often and these things break more often.
I just want Motorola to remake the old RAZR V3xx with 5G and a decent UX.
I’d literally buy two.
That’s the exact failure that happened on the bend test for Zak on JerryRigEverything. Crazy it’s happening without the full-muscle stress test.
I saw the test and the more glaring issue to me was that despite the IP68 rating, it utterly failed to withstand dust. It was technically still fully functional but wouldn’t close properly. Those are fundamental issues that basic QC at Apple should have caught during development
The article says that the best guess is there’s a physical part of the hinge about there that must be perfectly aligned, and if it isn’t then that specific screen is eventually doomed.
Yeah, this boils down to a manufacturing engineering problem. There’s some process happening during assembly that’s resulting in these slipping by… or being allowed by.
EDIT: And I mean, yeah, the thing could’ve been designed better from the get go, but that ship sailed long ago.
Tbh, I figured Apple taking their time on these was because they were trying to improve the engineering over the Android folding screen offerings.
Now I wonder if they just wait because everyone assumes Apple would try and make it better, and then they just sell a bunch + the Apple tax, even though it’s just as bad of a product. Like, the marketing team just saying: “wait a couple years”.
They still have to develop the software.
Even if they just clone the hardware.
Apple usually do the software more integrated than Android shipping phone companies.
It makes sense that it takes longer to do those integrations.
For me the price point is just becoming insane for even basic iPhones and the battery life is terrible
They still have to develop the software.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold was released 7 years ago.
Apple usually do the software more integrated than Android shipping phone companies.
And yet the software rollout has been very bungled, and added more fragmentation into the app store, adding a “designed for iphone duo” label and poor support for existing apps. About 10-15 years ago, this is something which Apple fanboys made fun of Android about.
Given Jobs didn’t even want a larger iphone form factor, he’s probably rolling in his grave by the fragmentation this causes.
It’d be interesting to see a different world where Jobs were still alive and what Apple would have done differently. Jobs did have a history of hypocritical statements which basically boiled down to “Feature X sucks, no one wants it” until Apple would come out with the same feature, and then he’d say “Now that Apple re-engineered Feature X, it’s perfect, buy it from us”. I could see him selling the iPhone Duo but the difference would be he’d push for better app integration over the last 10 years ahead of launch so that it’s not so janky.
If given the choice between all these different sized iPhones and a foldable iphone, I do think from my completely uninformed view of him, that he’d maybe choose the foldable option heh. But ya it would be interesting to see the difference in how the company unfolded.
True, but one might have hoped they were doing both in parallel. If no one can improve the hardware, these are going to go the way of 3D TVs, though due to reliability rather than annoyance and nausea.
