The iPhone Duo reviews are rolling in and the results are about what you’d expect. It’s a first generation Apple foldable. It has some catching up to do, but it also stands out as the most interesting iPhone we’ve had in years.
There’s is one review that spoke about the same aspect that I wrote about in my article titled, “Apple iPhone Duo | How One Mistake Could Hold It Back”. That was a review from the Verge’s Nilay Patel and Allison Johnson. In that review, two sentences by Nilay Patel stood out.
“I have some real questions about whether avoiding the entire iPad app ecosystem is the right move”
“I think a lot of people will expect the Duo to unfold into an iPad with the entire ecosystem of iPad apps waiting at the ready and that’s just not what’s happening here at all”
– Nilay Patel, The Verge
This is what I was afraid of. In my article, on Sept 28th, I spoke about Apple’s plan to bring Apple Pencil compatibility to the iPhone Duo. The Apple Pencil USB-C to be specific. This can be a great move, if it is executed properly. It has to make sense and in this case, it doesn’t appear that it does.
As it stands, the Apple Pencil is only compatible with Apple iPads. If you attempt to use an Apple Pencil on an iPhone, it will not register, not even as a generic stylus. This fact makes Apple’s choice to leave iPad apps off of the iPhone Duo perplexing.
If the iPhone Duo is just a foldable iPhone, then why bring Apple Pencil compatibility to it? Why not bring it to the iPhone as well? Sure, it may be useful for jotting down notes, but there is plenty of data to show that Samsung Galaxy users don’t often remove the S-Pen to take notes. I’m one of those users, since I am a user of both Apple and Samsung.
On top of that, the S-Pen is much lighter and smaller, whereas the Apple Pencil is the size of a standard pencil. Which means you would need to have it in a bag or carrying case of some sort on stand by to use with the iPhone Duo since it will not stick to magnetically. If it did, it would be obstructive and awkward. Regardless, myself and others would be willing to carry the Apple Pencil in this way if it was useful with the Duo.
Apple adding Apple Pencil compatibility makes it appear they are positioning the iPhone Duo as a smaller iPad (a micro iPad?), but that makes no sense without the iPad ecosystem. Maybe Apple has plans for iPad apps to have Duo specific versions. That is entirely possible. But I can only speak about what information is available and what’s in front of me.
The iPhone Duo has an identity crisis. I had high hopes of the Duo functioning as a micro iPad since it will have Pencil compatibility. As it stands, it’s just a really expensive 1st generation Apple foldable. As a creative professional, this is disappointing as I could see a getting a lot of use creatively out of it, had there been iPad apps available for it. The price point would make it worth it.
Maybe next generation. Here’s hoping.
