The Apple iPhone Duo could be an absolute game changer. But there’s one thing that could keep that from happening.

The iPhone Duo is essentially an iPad in your pocket. Anyone who has used an iPad creative work knows just how powerful even a base model iPad can be. When it comes to creative work such as music production, graphic arts, movie editing, to name a few, the ipad is in a league of its own as far as tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is powerful, but has no where near the support that the iPad does.

The reason why I’m cautiously optimistic for the iPhone Duo is that, one thing that could hold it back and make it just another foldable is if Apple restricts ipad apps from running on it.

This isn’t without precedent. The iPhone is one of the most powerful mobile devices we have, yet we can’t fully harness what it’s capable of. The Macbook Neo has proven that iPhone chips are quite capable. Samsung has Dex, a desktop environment when your phone is hooked to a monitor. And the Samsung S-Pen. Apple hasn’t bothered to make a smaller Apple Pencil or introduce Dex like functionality to the iPhone.

Then there is the iPad itself. While Apple has recently opened up iPad OS to support windowing and some other Mac-like functions, the iPad is still limited in what it can do compared to a Macbook. Especially the Apple Silicon M Chip models. Before iPad OS 26, the iPad and Macbooks shared the same chipsets yet different functionality. The iPad was a tablet with the power of a Macbook but functions as an overpriced media consumption device. Don’t get me wrong, it still has its limitations but, the Mac-like features brought to the iPad are very welcome additions.

Apple could do the same thing with the iPhone Duo. It’s great they are bringing Apple Pencil functionality to the Duo, but the iPad features may stop there. If that is the case, then the Duo may not be a great choice for creators who would otherwise get a lot of use out of the iPhone Duo..

Here’s hoping Apple does not limit the functionality of the Duo to just an iPhone with a pencil. I understand Apple does not want to cannibalize their other products, but I’d argue as an Apple user, each product has its use case. Most of us Apple users will still have an iPad and Mac for more serious use cases while keeping the Duo for quick and dirty on the go creative tasks.