The last blog post I wrote was in December of 2023, after Vision Pro was announced but before I got to try it. I was skeptical. It was an odd device. Heavy. A little cumbersome looking. Very expensive. A wonderful blend of hardware and software innovation. And I couldn’t really understand enough use cases to overcome those hurdles for it to ever be a successful mass market product.

Yesterday, Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo. It’s an odd device. Heavy. A little cumbersome looking. Very expensive. A wonderful blend of hardware and software innovation. But… I think the balance here might be right.

Vision Pro was a new hardware medium that had to justify its existence in your day-to-day life. The Duo is a smartphone, arguably the most compelling single device ever conceived, and already deeply integrated into the lives of a whole lot of people (often to their own chagrin).

If you buy this device, you’re going to use it.

The question is whether you’d rather use it than a regular iPhone. And with that comparison, I think the tradeoffs make a lot of sense for a lot of people.

Now, to be clear, I do think it’s an uphill climb. Apple keeps trying to find a home for that third-wheel iPhone slot. The mini, the Plus, the Air. It doesn’t seem like an easy place to build a lasting product line at Apple scale. But those phones have all lived below the Pros in price, and the Duo… very much does not. My guess is that gives it some room to succeed with a smaller audience, at least initially.

Let’s start with what you’re losing.

Compared to the regular iPhone line:

• It’s more expensive.
• It’s heavier.
• It’s thicker when folded.
• The wider shape might be less comfortable to hold.
• It uses Touch ID instead of Face ID (though Apple Watch unlock might make this less of a big deal).

I think that’s pretty much it? At least the things I’d expect to notice day to day.

Compared to the Pro, you also lose the dedicated telephoto lens and camera features like ProRAW and Apple Log. Battery life is a little harder to compare: Apple’s video playback estimates put the Duo below the Pro when using the inner display, but above it when using the outer one. The Pro Max is ahead either way. We’ll have to see what that means in actual use. (Duo specs, Pro specs)

Obviously those aren’t nothing. Honestly, for me personally, the camera tradeoffs are probably enough that I wouldn’t switch if I didn’t feel like I needed to live with this thing for a bit to design my apps better.

And the shape could turn out to be a much bigger deal than it looks on a spec sheet. Some people might hate it. Others might prefer it! I don’t think I’ll have a good feel for that until I’ve handled it myself and seen how people in my world react.

But for those tradeoffs, you get a lot.

To start, it’s basically an iPad!

For watching movies or shows while out and about, this looks fantastic. You get a big screen that folds down smaller than any iPad, on a device you’re already carrying. I can very easily imagine pulling this out on a plane and being perfectly happy leaving my iPad at home.

Netflix on the larger inner display. Image: Apple.

Browsing the web on that screen should be wonderful. And with OLED, ProMotion, and the included nano-texture finish on the inside screen, it looks like a waaay nicer display than the current iPad mini.

Reading books on this thing should be awesome as well. I’m curious whether holding it partially folded with a page on each side will feel natural, like a little book. But even just using it flat like an iPad sounds great.

And editing photos on a bigger screen, on the device that actually took them so they’re already all there? I’m already looking forward to it.

Apple also says USB-C Apple Pencil support is coming later this year, which opens up note-taking, marking up documents, and potentially drawing. The app story is the big question for me there. I want to see whether we get something like the iPad versions of Procreate or Photoshop, adapted for this device.

Assuming the apps come, this could replace everything I personally use my iPad Pro for.

In addition to being able to transform into a better iPad mini, there are some interesting benefits from the folding design itself.

This will be the best selfie camera Apple’s ever shipped since you can use the 48MP main camera and still frame yourself with the outside screen.

And it has a build-in stand. You can prop it up in a little tent or fold it into something that looks like a tiny laptop. I often grab my MagSafe wallet with a kickstand just to watch a video while eating lunch, or FaceTime while doing laundry or whatever. Having that built into the phone would be great. The nightstand/alarm clock use case also seems compelling for a lot of folks.

FaceTime with the phone standing on its own. Image: Apple.

These are all things I already do. Watch a show. Read a book. Edit some photos. Prop my phone up while my hands are busy. I don’t have to imagine a new routine to understand where this thing fits into my life and makes it a little bit better.

Ultimately, I don’t have a good sense of whether the Duo will be successful at the scale Apple needs to keep the line around. And I won’t really know whether the tradeoffs work for me until I’ve lived with one.

But unlike the product story of Vision Pro… I get it.