iPhone Duo is Messier Than You Think

Mrwhosetheboss (Arun Maini) concludes that the iPhone Duo is worth it only if you already know you like foldables. If you're new to them and would otherwise buy an iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max, he'd steer you to the Pro. His 20-minute review went up on Oct 21, 2026, and it's the most numbers-driven of the launch videos.

What the video found

He sorts apps into three tiers: a small set built for the Duo (Apple's Books, plus third-party apps such as Netflix) that look excellent, apps such as YouTube that scale up usably with black bars, and everything else, which he found clumsy. Video is a clear win, with much more viewing area than a regular iPhone.

His battery test is the most encouraging result. In a mixed run of demanding and light apps, closing the foldables for part of the test to mimic real use, the Duo outlasted both the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the iPhone 18 Pro, though it still fell well short of the 18 Pro Max. Our battery life guide compares that with other testers and Apple's ratings.

Thermals are the catch. The Duo has the same A20 Pro chip as the Pro models, but he says its vapor chamber is smaller, and when the phone is closed the heat gets trapped between the two displays. In his 20-minute stress test, performance started slightly below the Pro Max's and fell faster, while still beating Samsung's foldable. He doesn't think most people would notice day to day.

The camera is his personal dealbreaker. He says the main sensor is about a third smaller than the Pro's and there's no telephoto at all, which no amount of processing can make up for, even though the main camera did better than he expected, according to Dexerto.

What finally tips his verdict is ergonomics. Opening the phone around 50 times a day takes two hands, the volume buttons sit on top, and the far side of the closed screen is a stretch. He puts it at almost 30% thicker than the 18 Pro Max and about 20% heavier than the 18 Pro. Both figures check out against Apple's specs (11.3 mm against 8.75 mm, and 254 g against 211 g), as shown in our size and weight comparison. Add what he puts as a $700 premium over the Pro Max and more ways to break than a regular phone, and he'd send most first-time foldable buyers to the Pro: "I think this is a better phone."

How it compares with other reviews

His conclusion is close to Marques Brownlee's, though his battery result is better than The Verge's, where Nilay Patel needed to charge it at least once during a workday. His heat findings fit The Verge's report of the phone getting hot and lagging during long camera sessions, and Joanna Stern's complaints about a warm back.

What it doesn't cover

There's no long-term durability testing here, and no look at the inner-screen failures reported since launch; see JerryRigEverything and iFixit for those. His battery and thermal runs are one-off tests, not lab-standard ones. The video description includes sponsored product links for TORRAS.

More on this topic

If you're weighing the same choice he describes, read iPhone Duo vs iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone Duo vs iPhone 18 Pro Max and Should you buy an iPhone Duo?