When Apple's first foldable phone reached shelves, a long and patient test by a Chinese tech reviewer arrived alongside it, asking the older question every new hinge must answer: does the thing hold up under the hand that uses it? The verdict is mostly reassuring, since the mechanism survived thousands of folds and cold, though the crease deepened and the phone's sense of its own posture has not yet learned to read its owner. The Duo marks a threshold in the long story of portable screens, where the device is no longer simply a slab but a small, creased thing that must be understood on its own
Apple's First Foldable iPhone Duo Survives 10,000 Folds and Freezing Tests, But Software and Usability Gaps Remain
The hinge stayed smooth, but the crease visibly deepened.
Mark
The headline says it survived 10,000 folds. Is that the whole story?
Mimi
Not quite. The hinge stayed smooth, but the crease visibly deepened, and Pan called that expected. The bigger complaint is software: the phone sometimes can't tell if it's opening or closing.
Luke
Worth noting this is one reviewer's testing, and the 10,000 folds were on a machine. Nothing here says how it behaves after two years in a pocket.
Mark
Why does he doubt a software fix?
Mimi
Because sensors and the hinge are both involved. His workaround is just opening and closing it quickly.
Luke
That doubt is his opinion. Apple hasn't been quoted on it, so whether an update helps is unknown.
Mark
The screen sounds like the draw.
Mimi
It is. About 50 per cent larger than the 18 Pro Max display, and he loved reading on it. But the textured surface lowers contrast in strong light and holds grease for some users.
Luke
And the $999 replacement figure is Pan's number, for an uncovered repair. Treat it as his report.
Mark
What should a buyer watch?
Mimi
Apps. Apple reportedly set an April 2027 adaptation deadline, and Pencil support is said to be coming.
Luke
Both are secondhand: the deadline from Pan, the Pencil plan from ChannelNews. Neither is confirmed here by Apple.
Il Polso
- The hinge endured 11,000 folds, including sub-freezing cycles, yet the crease quietly deepened for everyone to see.
- The phone sometimes cannot tell whether it is opening or closing, making the wallpaper jump and the screen flicker mid-motion.
- Apps built for conventional phones stretch awkwardly across the inner display, while some remain nearly unusable until Apple's April 2027 deadline.
- Missing Face ID, one-sided NFC and a $999 inner-screen repair leave buyers weighing a stunning display against real friction.
- The next markers are USB-C Apple Pencil support and whether foldable reliability finally matches the conventional phones beside it.
When Apple's first foldable phone reached shelves, a long and patient test by a Chinese tech reviewer arrived alongside it, asking the older question every new hinge must answer: does the thing hold up under the hand that uses it? The verdict is mostly reassuring, since the mechanism survived thousands of folds and cold, though the crease deepened and the phone's sense of its own posture has not yet learned to read its owner. The Duo marks a threshold in the long story of portable screens, where the device is no longer simply a slab but a small, creased thing that must be understood on its own terms. Whether it becomes ordinary will depend on software and developers catching up to the form.
On the morning the iPhone Duo went on sale, a long durability review by Tim Pan, who runs the Chinese tech channel Ying Shi Ju Feng, was already circulating. Pan's central finding is that the hinge holds, but the Duo remains a different kind of phone from the ones people are used to carrying.
His first question was whether the crease deepens with use. It does. After 500 folds the difference was faint to the touch, and after 10,000 folds at room temperature and 1,000 more at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, the hinge still opened smoothly, though the crease was clearly visible. Drops, water and vibration testing went well, and the phone bent without structural trouble. The more stubborn problem is behavioural: the Duo sometimes misreads whether it is opening or closing, causing flickers and wrong orientations. Pan doubts a software update will fully fix it, and his own workaround is to open and close the phone quickly.
The inner OLED display earned his strongest praise, bright at 3,000 nits and generous enough that reading comics and novels became his favourite use. The textured surface, though, costs contrast in strong light and collects sweat and makeup. Battery and heat were acceptable, and performance matched the Pro series on the CPU but trailed it in graphics. Daily life adds friction: no earpiece on the inner screen, NFC on one side only, no Face ID, and apps that often feel stretched from phone to tablet shape.
Demand is clearly strong, with most of Pan's own staff choosing to wait for the Duo over an immediately available iPhone 18 Pro Max. His verdict is that the display and hinge are the strengths, while foldables as a category still carry a reliability trade-off buyers should expect. The next marker to watch is Apple's April 2027 app-adaptation deadline.
On the morning Apple's first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, went on sale, a durability review was already making the rounds. It comes from Tim Pan, who runs the Chinese tech and filmmaking channel Ying Shi Ju Feng, and it runs about 23 minutes. Pan's central finding is that the hinge holds up well, but that the Duo remains a different kind of phone from a conventional one. Pre-orders opened on October 16, and sales began October 23.
Pan started with a plain question: does the crease deepen with use? After 500 folds, a side-by-side with a new unit showed that it had, though the difference was hard to notice by touch or in bright mode. Because 500 cycles prove little, his team put the phone on a folding machine for 10,000 folds at room temperature, then another 1,000 at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The hinge stayed smooth and still helped the opening motion as it did on day one. The crease was visibly deeper, which Pan called expected. He also cautioned that hair or sand could work into the hinge at certain angles, which he considers unlikely but not impossible.
The rest of the physical testing went similarly well. Apple wraps the hinge in a 3D-printed titanium housing. The reviewers dropped the phone twice by accident, leaving one small scratch and no dents. The Duo is rated IP68 and survived half an hour underwater. The team also tested its vibration motor in water containing bioluminescent algae, with no damage, though Pan found the haptics slightly weaker than the iPhone 18 Pro's. Bent backwards, the phone proved structurally strong, and he said owners need not fear sitting on it.
The more persistent problem is behavioural. Pan says the phone sometimes cannot tell whether it is being opened or closed. Moving the hinge slowly can make the wallpaper jump or half the screen flicker, and rotating the phone at the same time can bring a wrong orientation or a black screen. Since sensors and the hinge are both involved, he doubts a software update will fully fix it. His workaround is to open and close the phone quickly.
On the display he was largely complimentary. The inner OLED runs up to 120Hz and peaks at 3,000 nits. It is slightly smaller than an iPad mini, about 50 per cent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max screen and 80 per cent larger than the 18 Pro's. Reading comics and novels was his favourite use, helped by the paper-like nano-textured surface. That surface costs something: contrast is noticeably lower under strong light than on glossy glass, and under microscopes its texture showed larger height variations than nano-textured iPad glass or a matte protector. Pan says sweat, grease and some makeup cling stubbornly on a few users' screens. The layer is removable, but Apple says only its stores or authorised providers should replace it, and Pan puts an uncovered official inner-screen replacement at $999. Demand looks strong: 70 per cent of his company's staff, about 140 people, chose to wait for the Duo rather than take an iPhone 18 Pro Max available immediately.
Battery results depended on how much screen was in use. After two hours of continuous video recording, the Duo had 61 per cent left, against 59 per cent for the 18 Pro Max and 45 per cent for the 18 Pro. After three hours of 16:9 playback it fell to 84 per cent, behind the Pro Max at 93 and the Pro at 87. MagSafe charging peaked at 36-37 watts and took 88 minutes from empty to full, versus about 70 for the Pro Max. Heat peaked at 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which Pan reads as improved thermal management since launch; running open added roughly 3.6 degrees, and the half holding the chip feels much hotter. In graphics-heavy tasks the Duo trailed the 18 Pro series despite a comparable chip, CPU performance was nearly identical, and city-wide 5G speeds were slower, which he attributed to the antenna layout.
Daily habits change too. Typing was fastest in portrait and slowest half-folded. There is no earpiece on the inner screen, so calls taken open go to speakerphone. NFC works on only one side, awkward at a gate or subway turnstile. There is no Face ID, and the fingerprint sensor was slower than the iPad mini's; Pan points to Apple Watch unlock and fewer authentication prompts as partial fixes. Speakers stayed balanced in every orientation, though short of the 18 Pro. Some cases need adhesive, and certain third-party cases may disturb a central magnet and make wireless charging unstable.
App support is uneven. iMessage and Netflix use the inner screen well, while Pages and GarageBand act like upscaled phone apps, and some, including the PlayMagic camera app, were close to unusable. iPad apps are no substitute. Pan says Apple set an April 2027 deadline for adaptation. There is no Apple Pencil support yet, though ChannelNews reports Apple plans USB-C Apple Pencil support later this year. Rear cameras shot sharp photos and video, with weaker telephoto because there is no optical telephoto lens; the phone records 4K Dolby Vision at 120fps, and its 10Gbps port lets it serve as a monitor for professional cameras. The inner front camera, Pan says, suits only video calls.
His verdict: the display is the strength and the hinge is robust, but foldables as a category still differ in reliability from conventional phones, a trade-off buyers should expect. The April 2027 app deadline is the next marker to watch.
Citazioni salienti
The display is the Duo's biggest strength and the hinge is robust, but foldable reliability still differs from conventional smartphones.— Tim Pan, Ying Shi Ju Feng (paraphrased)
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