I’ve been watching the reaction to Apple’s new foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, announced this past Wednesday, and I keep noticing the same pattern from the tech journalists. Reviewer after reviewer runs through the specs, discusses the pluses and the minuses, and arrives at much the same conclusion: an interesting new phone, late to the game, and a tough sell at $1,999. The New York Times’ Brian Chen spends much of his column puzzling over why Apple would bother entering a category that makes up barely 2% of smartphone shipments. Other writers seem fixated on whether you can spot a crease on the big inner display. Fair questions, but irrelevant, because I think almost everyone is missing the real story.
As a former technology columnist and reviewer, I’ll admit I might have approached this the same way long ago, focusing on the spec sheet, market share, price-to-value ratio, etc. But I see this product very differently. I see it as a once in a decade new product that will be a massive hit. In fact, I expect Apple will sell more foldables than the entire Android universe has sold to date within a few months after it goes on sale.
Here’s why. This is one of those rare products that triggers genuine awe — not just interest, but the kind of reaction that makes people want one even before they’ve fully justified it to themselves. The phone is almost like a parlor trick. Remove it from your pocket and transform it into an iPad-like tablet. Millions will experience that magic for the first time.
The Duo is sturdier and more refined than most of the foldables that came before it, and has some of its own innovations. Every detail has been optimized and given the Apple treatment that puts it ahead of the competition.
Apple uses a custom nanotexture finish specifically to hide the crease and cut down on glare, and its hinge — apparently even dustproof – is fabricated using more than 100 components and is designed to make folding and unfolding feel closer to a natural motion and with a reassuring snap-action click. I agree with Gene Munster, the veteran Apple analyst, who said, “This is the first time since AirPods came out that this is a product that people really want.”
But its design is only part of the equation. What actually separates Apple from Samsung — after years of Samsung foldables on the market — is trust and software. Samsung’s foldables have developed a reputation for fragility, and getting one repaired was often both difficult and expensive. The Android OS was never built with folding displays in mind; app support was hit or miss. Apple, on the other hand, has the trust and an infrastructure to support their products like no other: stores, solid warrantees, a reputation for durable hardware. With other brands of foldables, buyers were left cold when their screens delaminated, or dust crept in.
And Apple has already shown a big advantage over Samsung with its superior software. Out of the box, Apple’s own apps are built for the Duo’s larger unfolded screen, and the transitions between the outer and inner displays are seamless and clever — no lag, no visual jump, just an interface reflowing the screen as you open the phone.
If one needed some justification to buy it, there’s a strong case to be made. It’s a phone and a tablet in one device. It has a larger effective keyboard. It means fewer devices to carry. And like many products before it, the platform will spawn many new applications we haven’t even thought of.
This is a also a defining moment for Apple. The Duo is the first product to be introduced under new CEO John Ternus and casts an aura over the entire product line, the same halo effect the original iPhone created.
I don’t expect the $1999 starting price to be the barrier the skeptics assume. Apple and the carriers are very good at financing tricks that make expensive hardware feel affordable using monthly installments, lease deals, trade-ins, and discounts.
The columnists doing the careful math on market share and crease visibility aren’t wrong about the facts. I just think they’re missing what really matters. This isn’t a rational purchase decision being made through careful logic. it’s an emotional decision, and Apple understands that better than anyone selling phones today.
