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iPhone Duo Reviews: What the Critics Say (UK Roundup)

By SmartphonesNetwork Team • 29 October 2026 • 6 min read

The first full iPhone Duo reviews landed on 21 October, two days before it went on sale. The broad verdict: for several reviewers it is the best-designed foldable yet, with better battery life than expected, but it is expensive, heavy, has no telephoto camera and is hard to get before 2027. We haven’t tested the Duo ourselves. Here is what four major outlets found, with UK prices from Apple.

The verdicts at a glance

Battery: the surprise strength

Battery life is where reviewers were most positive. In Engadget’s video rundown test the Duo lasted 28 hours 48 minutes, about half an hour longer than the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Tom’s Guide’s web-browsing test ran 13 hours 20 minutes, more than three hours longer than the Fold 8 (10 hours 6 minutes), though behind the Motorola Razr Fold (14 hours 44 minutes) and the iPhone 18 Pro Max (17 hours 31 minutes). In everyday use, Tech Advisor ended heavy days with about 25% left and lighter days with about 40%; 9to5Mac had about 20% left by evening.

Charging is quick with the right adapter: Tom’s Guide measured 42% in 15 minutes and 66% in 30 minutes on a 40W charger, and Tech Advisor reached 50% in about 20 minutes with a 60W adapter. The box contains only a USB-C cable, so budget for a charger if you don’t have a fast one.

Design, weight and the crease

Tom’s Guide called the Duo the best-designed foldable its reviewer has tested, and Engadget rated the hinge among the best it has used on any foldable. The matte nano-texture inner screen gets credit for hiding the crease: Engadget said a small dip shows at some angles but practically vanishes head-on, and Tech Advisor said it keeps the crease minimal. The trade-off is weight. At 254g the Duo is more than 25% heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 8, according to Engadget, and Tom’s Guide found it heavier and thicker than Samsung’s phone. Tom’s Guide also found the nano-texture finish mutes colours and blacks a little compared with a glossy OLED.

Cameras: good, but no zoom lens

The Duo has two 48MP rear cameras (main and ultrawide) and no telephoto, and every reviewer noticed. Tom’s Guide said zoom holds up to about 8x and then gets noticeably fuzzy, calling the missing telephoto a real drawback at this price. Engadget found the cameras a match for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and strong in low light, but said the iPhone 18 Pro is still the better choice for Apple’s best camera hardware. 9to5Mac put the main camera roughly on par with the iPhone Air’s and noted the outer screen has a 12MP front camera, a step down from other current iPhones.

Software and apps

All iPhone apps run on the Duo, but not all of them use the big screen well yet. 9to5Mac explained that apps built for older versions of iOS appear letterboxed, apps built with the iOS 27 tools fill most of the inner display, and only apps updated for iOS 27.1 can use both screens fully. Engadget and Tom’s Guide both listed unoptimised third-party apps as a drawback for now.

The other complaints

The Duo uses Touch ID rather than Face ID, which Tech Advisor listed as a con and Tom’s Guide found slightly laggy. Tech Advisor also missed the Action Button. And then there is the price: from £1,999 in the UK, with delivery dates that stretch into the new year.

Durability and the inner-screen issue

iFixit’s teardown gave the Duo a repairability score of 5 out of 10, the best it has given a foldable, but found that replacing the inner screen and hinge is hard work, and that dust reached the hinge in its test and made it start to crunch (TechRadar, 25 October).

Shortly after launch, some owners reported lines or cracks spreading across the inner screen from the hinge. On 26 October Apple said it is “aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units” and told affected owners to contact AppleCare for a replacement (Tom’s Guide; The Next Web). Apple has not said what causes it. According to The Next Web, Apple told Bloomberg that most units are not susceptible and that affected phones show the fault soon after first use. If your inner screen shows lines or cracks early on, contact Apple. For context, Apple’s UK estimate for an out-of-warranty inner-screen repair is £999.

UK price and availability

Apple UK lists the iPhone Duo at £1,999 (256GB), £2,199 (512GB), £2,599 (1TB) and £3,199 (2TB), or £66.63, £73.30, £86.63 and £106.63 a month over 30 months interest-free, subject to status. Colours are Star White and Night Sky. Apple shows delivery dates only at checkout; Tech Advisor reported on 23 October that new orders are not expected to arrive until January 2027. Tech Advisor lists Apple, Amazon, Currys, Vodafone, EE and O2 as UK sellers.

Check iPhone Duo availability on Amazon UK →

Should you buy one?

Reading the reviews together: if you use an iPhone, want a much bigger screen in your pocket and can wait until the new year, reviewers agree the Duo is the most polished foldable so far. If you want a phone now, want a proper zoom lens or would rather spend less, the alternatives are strong. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is lighter and £300 cheaper at list price, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has a 5x telephoto and is £200 cheaper, and the Honor Magic V6 was £1,299.99 in Honor’s UK Black Friday sale when we checked on 29 October. Our best foldable phones guide ranks them all, and our iPhone Duo buying guide covers delivery dates, repair costs, finance and eSIM.

We have not tested the iPhone Duo. Review findings are summarised in our own words and credited to the outlets that published them; battery and charging figures are the outlets’ own test results, and some tests were run on US models. Prices and finance are from Apple UK, read 29 October 2026; the Honor price is from Honor UK, read the same day. Sources: Engadget, Tom’s Guide, Tech Advisor, 9to5Mac, TechRadar (iFixit teardown), The Next Web, Apple UK, Honor UK. We may earn a commission from links on this page.