Marques Brownlee's iPhone Duo review opens with his framing: first generation devices are always the most fun to review, and the Duo is fun, but unusual. Most new tech, he says, is a solid idea at its core that is rough around the edges. The iPhone Duo, in his words, is "very polished around the edges, but kind of rough in the middle." His one-line verdict, as he puts it in the conclusion: it is "$2,000 to get an iPad mini that can fit in your pocket," and for most people, the answer to whether they should buy it is "probably actually no." This MKBHD iPhone Duo review is one creator's take after a week and a half with a phone Apple provided for review; iPhone Duo Hub has not tested the phone, and every finding below is his. For how nine outlets judged the phone, see our iPhone Duo reviews roundup.
Watch the video: MKBHD, "iPhone Duo Review: First Generation Fun!" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESABTN4VtrA)
Key takeaways
- Brownlee calls the Duo polished around the edges but rough in the middle: thick and heavy, with most apps not yet optimized.
- He praises the variable-weight hinge, the IP68 rating, and above all the matte 7.6-inch inner display, which he calls "the hardware highlight."
- He calls the apps situation the Duo's biggest downside at launch and expects it to improve over about six months.
- He found the battery really good, regularly ending days with 30-plus percent left.
- His verdict: a really fun phone for people who want a pocketable iPad mini and do not mind $2,000, and probably not for most other iPhone users.
What did MKBHD praise about the iPhone Duo hardware?
Build. Brownlee calls it a very pretty phone. He likes the one-piece back glass that curves up onto the camera plateau, and calls the titanium side rails very shiny and premium feeling, though also very fingerprinty.
Hinge. The hinge weight is variable, he explains: sturdy at the start as you pry the magnets apart, smooth to about halfway, slower there so it can hold half-open positions, then snapping open. Closing takes some real effort, then rewards you with a satisfying clap shut. He rates the hinge "excellent."
Durability rating. Brownlee points to the Duo's IP68 dust and water resistance rating, which he calls "pretty elite for a foldable." He treats it like a regular phone, minus trips to the beach.
The inner display. This is the part he says does not feel first generation at all. He describes a 7.6-inch, 120Hz OLED matching the outer display's 3,000 nits, and says the nano-texture finish hides the already mostly imperceptible crease and feels nice to touch. The finish slightly diffuses light, so text and video are a little less sharp, but "at no point did I find that bad." Later he calls the matte display "the hardware highlight of the Duo," good for reading and video and very good at blocking reflections.
Rear-display camera tricks. He likes the outer-display preview that shows your subjects the exact framing ("spouse mode," he jokes), Kid Cue's Snoopy-themed animations, and a slide-to-open control for taking the best possible selfie with the main rear camera, which also turns off the back display to avoid accidental touches.
What did MKBHD knock about the iPhone Duo hardware?
Thick and heavy. Next to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Brownlee found the Duo significantly thicker and says the Fold 8 is "like 20-something percent lighter," which makes a big difference in daily use. After a week or two, he says, you would be happy if the Duo were 20 percent lighter. He also found the Fold 8's flatter sides easier to pry open than the Duo's rounded titanium. His comparison: it reminds him of the first Pixel Fold, a little thicker and heavier than you hope, but clearly the right idea.
Buttons and reach. He calls it a very right-handed phone: your thumb rests on the fingerprint reader and power button, Camera Control sits near the bottom right corner, and the volume buttons moved to the top edge, slightly out of the way. Pulling down notifications from the top left corner takes "a little bit of extra hand gymnastics," even with big hands.
The inner selfie camera. "The photo quality is trash," he says of the under-display camera, though it looks a little better on a FaceTime video call. His read: Apple accepted that trade-off for an uninterrupted inner display.
Cameras. The two rear cameras, a standard 48MP camera and an ultra wide, are "right on par with the rest of the foldables," he says. His reading of the literature is that the main camera is shared with the iPhone 17e rather than the iPhone Air. It can take really good photos, but in weaker light the smaller sensor gets noisier earlier than the bigger Pro cameras. He calls it "a solid camera, it's an okay camera most of the time." Without a zoom lens, shots past about 4x are dramatically worse than the Pro phone, and in weaker light he found it closer to the 17e than the 18 Pro for sharpness and noise. There is no ProRes and no log; he describes the video he shot as "good old-fashioned 4K 30" that generally looks fine. Apple lists 4K recording at up to 120 fps. His conclusion: this is not the iPhone for filmmakers who want the best pro tools. Our iPhone Duo vs iPhone 18 Pro Max comparison covers that trade-off.
How is the iPhone Duo battery life, according to MKBHD?
Brownlee calls battery life "really good." He describes a battery of about 4,900 mAh split between the two halves. If you use the phone closed about 75 percent of the time and open about 25 percent, he says, it is "an all-day phone and then some," and with a lot of high-brightness use he is regularly ending the day with 30-plus percent left. More big-screen use costs more battery, he notes, but not much. He credits the A20 Pro chip, which he says performs great and is very efficient, on par with the iPhone 17 Pro he came from; our A20 Pro performance guide covers what Apple says about the chip. In his conclusion, he still lists slightly worse battery among the compromises of the foldable form factor in general.
Does the iPhone Duo have Face ID?
No, and this is Brownlee's biggest software gripe. The Duo uses a fingerprint reader in the power button, which Apple lists as Touch ID; there is not enough room for Face ID, he says. His issue is an intentional delay Apple built into every unlock: tap with your registered finger and it pauses on the lock screen for a beat, so you can glance at notifications, then unlocks if you keep holding. He looked for a way to turn it off and did not find one. It makes the reader "feel slow when it's not slow," he says, and his workaround is to wake the phone, swipe up, then touch the sensor, which unlocks almost instantly. He thinks Face ID will be "the number one thing people miss coming from other iPhones," more than zoom cameras or a thinner, lighter phone. The full specs page lists what Apple confirms.
What is wrong with apps on the iPhone Duo?
Brownlee calls the apps situation the Duo's "biggest downside right now," at launch. Apple's design idea is clever, he says: closed, the left side is a normal iPhone layout, and controls that would sit at the top or bottom move to the right where your thumb can reach. Apple's own apps follow that blueprint.
The problem is that most apps he uses are not optimized yet. They show up as regular apps with buttons still at the top and bottom, and a black bar down the right side where the buttons should be. He names Spotify, Google Maps, Waze, Discord, Twitter, and Google Calendar. Open the phone, and they are mostly small, unoptimized iPhone apps in the middle of the big screen, which he calls hilarious and compares to the old iPad 2x button. Some, like Spotify and Flighty, partially stretch across the inner display but are still clearly not optimized.
He expects things to feel way better in about six months as developers build Duo-specific versions, noting Apple's strength at pulling developers along, though not every app will make it; he names his browser, Arc Mobile, and his gym app as unlikely to be updated. Instagram got its update the day he filmed, and Carrot Weather was fully optimized, with buttons on the right when closed and two columns when open. He also found the phone a little buggy, with some freezes, especially if he slowed the opening animation down or stopped halfway, though he admits that was him trying to break it.
What is the iPhone Duo actually good at?
Despite the rough core, Brownlee says he saw "flashes of greatness" in his week and a half:
- Two apps side by side. YouTube or a video call next to notes, or copying an email confirmation code from one side into a login on the other, which he calls "extremely clutch." Tapping the divider pairs the two apps like a book, and each side can go home or switch apps on its own. You cannot open a third window, but that is still better than a regular iPhone. Running Instagram Reels and TikTok at once technically works but bugs out over which audio plays.
- The halfway-open state. Because the hinge is so sturdy in the middle, he calls it probably the best foldable at being partially open. Partially close it while typing and the keyboard splits in half; some apps put controls on one half and content on the other.
- StandBy in tent mode. It is the first iPhone that enters StandBy without power when propped up in a tent shape, showing two customizable screens vertically or one big screen horizontally, with more than enough battery to sit on a desk all day. He also likes the underglow alarm clock.
- Continuity. It picks up exactly where you left off when you open or close it, mid-email or mid-scroll. "It's so good," he says.
- Reading. He holds it vertically like an iPad mini to read more than with any other foldable he has used.
- Polish. The opening animation, which he thinks may be inspired by a lenticular sheet, teaches first-time foldable users what is happening. He also points to the side Dynamic Island animation, the inner selfie camera hiding itself when you close the camera app, the compact status indicator, and a camera viewfinder that fills the screen with no black bars.
Should you buy the iPhone Duo, according to MKBHD?
Brownlee's pitch is simple: it is "$2,000 to get an iPad mini that can fit in your pocket." If you have always wanted that, "This is the first generation. It's made for you." By the time new orders arrive, he expects many more apps to be optimized.
For most people with other iPhones, he says the answer is "probably actually no." He would steer these groups away:
- Regular users who mostly text, use social media, and browse occasionally.
- iPhone filmmakers who want the absolute best cameras.
- People who break their phone every nine months or so.
But if the $2,000, or the difference between 35 and 55 dollars a month, does not mean much to you and you like the idea, he says that after the learning curve and getting used to not having Face ID, "this is a really fun phone to use." The polish, the hinge, and the inner display hide some of the rough core, he says, even though it will feel heavy sometimes and not every app will be updated at launch. Apple cannot engineer its way around the foldable compromises of slightly worse battery, speakers, and cameras, which he calls "just physics," but he says Apple did an admirable job with its first generation, and hopes the second generation listens to the core feedback.
Frequently asked questions
Is the iPhone Duo worth it?
For most people, Marques Brownlee says probably not. In his review, he calls it a really fun phone after the learning curve and getting used to not having Face ID, and says it suits people for whom $2,000 does not mean much and who like the idea of a pocketable, iPad mini style screen.
What is the biggest problem with the iPhone Duo?
Marques Brownlee calls the apps situation the iPhone Duo's biggest downside at launch. In his review, most of the apps he uses were not yet optimized, showing a black bar down the right side when closed and sitting small in the middle of the inner display when open. He expects things to feel way better in about six months.
How is the iPhone Duo battery life?
Marques Brownlee calls it really good in his review. He describes a battery of about 4,900 mAh split between the two halves, says it is an all-day phone and then some if you use it closed about 75 percent of the time, and reports regularly ending the day with 30-plus percent left despite a lot of high-brightness use.
Does the iPhone Duo have Face ID?
No. The iPhone Duo uses a Touch ID fingerprint reader in the power button. Marques Brownlee found Apple built in a short delay on every unlock, which he could not turn off, and he thinks Face ID will be the number one thing people miss coming from other iPhones.
Who should buy the iPhone Duo?
Marques Brownlee says it is for people who want an iPad mini style screen that fits in a pocket and do not mind the $2,000 price. He says most regular iPhone users, iPhone filmmakers who want the best cameras, and people who break their phones often should probably skip it.
Sources
- MKBHD (Marques Brownlee), "iPhone Duo Review: First Generation Fun!" YouTube, October 21, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESABTN4VtrA: all findings. Phone provided by Apple for review, per the video's description.
- Apple, iPhone Duo technical specifications: 7.6-inch inner display, Touch ID in the side button, 48MP Fusion Main and Fusion Ultra Wide cameras, 4K video recording up to 120 fps.
- Thumbnail image: MKBHD via YouTube.