Apple finally unveiled its first foldable phone: the iPhone Duo. Arriving years after the first foldables became available means that the Duo is entering a heavily contested market.
The Duo is the third kind of foldable. The first is the large book-style foldables pioneered by the Royole Flexpai and the Galaxy Fold. Shortly after arrived the second kind, the flip phone style, introduced by the Motorola Razr. The Duo is a wide foldable, a relatively recent format.
What that means is a smaller cover display—5.4-inch in the case of the iPhone Duo—and an inner display that has close to a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Duo has a 7.6-inch inner panel. For comparison, traditional book-style foldables typically have tall cover displays and inner panels that are almost square (1:1), while flips have small cover displays plus tall and narrow inner displays.
There are not many wide models on the market today. There is the recent Galaxy Z Fold8, which has a 5.5-inch cover display and a 7.8-inch inner display with an approximate aspect ratio of 4:3. The Samsung phone is thinner (9.7mm vs. 11.3mm) and noticeably lighter (201g vs. 254g). It has a 4,800mAh battery. The iPhone has stylus support, which is something that Samsung removed in its previous generation, along with the under-display inner camera.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold launched recently and fits the bill too—a 5.38-inch cover display and a 7.58-inch inner display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. This model measures 10.7mm thick and weighs 219g.
It has a more formidable set of cameras with a 200MP main (1/1.56-inch sensor, OIS), a 50MP 3.5x telephoto, and a 50MP ultra-wide. It packs a huge 6,000mAh battery with 67W wired and 50W wireless charging, while the Z Fold8 does 45W wired and 20W wireless.
The Huawei Pura X Max has a 5.4-inch cover display and a 7.7-inch 4:3 inner display. It certainly fits the definition of a wide foldable. The Pura X Max stands out with a 50MP 3.5x periscope to go along with the 50MP main (with a variable f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture) and a 12.5MP ultra-wide, backed by a 5,300mAh battery.
The original Google Pixel Fold had a 5.8-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch inner display. The original Oppo Find N had a 5.49-inch cover display and a 7.1-inch inner display. Both early designs explored this pocketable passport ratio before their makers moved toward taller screens.
The market is now converging on the wide foldable as a balanced middle ground between pocketability and tablet productivity. Expect more wide-aspect options to arrive throughout the coming year.
