Truth behind £1,999 iPhone Duo’s ‘magic’ screen, hardcore ‘durability’ tests & iPhone 18 mystery revealed by Apple exec

HOW did Apple hide the crease on its new foldable iPhone Duo? Will it smash if I drop it? Why was the iPhone 18 mysteriously missing from Apple’s big event? I was one of the first people in the world to touch the iPhone Duo and so, naturally, I was brimming with questions. The Sun’s tech editor Sean Keach took a trip to Apple Park in California to try out the foldable iPhone Duo Credit: Sean Keach Wednesday’s event was a blockbuster Apple launch that eclipsed most in recent memory. I had to fend off crowds of gadget obsessives to even get a hand on the iPhone Duo. Sign up for the Tech newsletter Thank you! To help me unpack how it all came to be – and solve some of the phone’s mysteries – I sat down with a top Apple exec for a chat. Kaiann Drance is Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing for iPhone and Apple Watch, and one of the most senior figures at the company. And so I started with the big question: what can this supercharged £1,999 iPhone do that a regular model can’t. “For iPhone Duo, we wanted to create an experience that opened new possibilities,” Kaiann told me as we sat in front of Apple Park’s iconic Steve Jobs Theatre. “But still felt remarkable familiar, and was still an iPhone – and that’s what iPhone Duo is. “When you open it, it turns into this 7.6-inch massive display, and it has a beautiful viewing experience, beautiful feel and touch. Most read in Tech “When you close it, it still is something you can use in one hand, and it slips nicely into your pocket. “And bringing it together is this incredible reimagined iOS experience that allows you to do things you expect to do on iPhone, but sometimes with more experiences and capabilities on the larger display.” Sean Keach sat down with Apple’s Kaiann Drance to talk all things iPhone Duo Credit: The Sun The foldable iPhone Duo has a large 7.6-inch display that is revealed by opening the mobile like a book Credit: Sean Keach SMOOTH MOVE Part of the magic of the foldable iPhone isn’t just that you have a tablet hiding inside your mobile, but that switching between them feels so smooth. There’s an impressive glass-like animation as you open and close the iPhone – and even the shape of the display was considered. Kaiann described it as “lots of hard work” with “many teams coming together”. “We wanted to create an experience that we would be excited about to use ourselves,” the Apple exec told me. “And a lot of that went into the form – the same aspect ratio that we talked about on the inside and the outside. “To give you that consistent experience when an app moves from the closed state to the open state, and those transitions are just seamless.” Several companies were given an early chance to design apps specifically for the iPhone Duo. That included video-calling giant Zoom and, notably, Netflix, which serves up a custom control panel on the bottom of the screen if you prop half of the display up to watch telly. Kaiann Drance is Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing for iPhone and Apple Watch Credit: The Sun The iPhone Duo comes in two colours: Star White and Night Sky Credit: Sean Keach “You can see with third-party apps,” Kaiann said. “Like Netflix doing such a beautiful job, taking advantage of the inner and the outer display, and all the different orientations.” And it also supports a new version of StandBy mode, which effectively turns the iPhone Duo into a desk clock. FLAT’S GREAT! Perhaps one of the most impressive feats is the fact that the iPhone Duo bends without an obvious crease. When you’re using the device in tablet mode, it’s very hard to see any crease at all. It’s only from certain angles, in certain lighting, with specific colours on the display that you can spy the crease. Kaiann explained: “We were prioritising the superior viewing experience, right? “And we learned a lot from iPad and Mac. We wanted to create a display that was wonderful viewing, but also address some of the things we didn’t like about foldables, right? “I mean, you get a distracting crease or it’s got a plastic feel as you touch it – or it might be more susceptible to scratches and dents. “So we developed a custom nano-texture finish just for iPhone Duo. And it creates this perceptually flat matte display. “So that the way it repels the reflections of light makes it so that you can barely see any signs of a visible crease. “And it feels wonderful to touch. It just feels really premium. It’s got such high quality that meets the standard of iPhone.” Apple fans may have noticed another quirk of design: no Face ID. Facial recognition has been a staple of Apple mobiles since the iPhone X launched back in 2017. But have a phone with two screens would’ve meant two Face ID modules that can operate at multiple angles, which is quite faffy. So Apple did the sensible thing and resurrected the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which lives in the lock button. You can use two apps at once on the iPhone Duo Credit: Apple The iPhone Duo can be used in multiple different configurations, including a tabletop mode for video playback Credit: Apple “We wanted that secure, easy authentication to be consistent,” Kaiann explained. “Whether you’re ion the closed state, whether you’re in the open state – and not having to really think about it.” SOLID FOLD Now you will likely have noticed that this phone isn’t cheap. It starts at £1,999 with 256GB of storage, and rises to £3,199 if you want the 2TB model. And so you might rightly be fearful of dropping it in case it strikes the floor and explodes into smithereens. Thankfully, Kaiann says that the gadget has been rigorously stress-tested for all manner of calamities. “We employ a suite of real-world tests that look at what we expect users to do in real life,” she told me at Apple’s Cupertino, California HQ. “Whether it’s dropping them, accidentally sitting on them, fumbling them around in your backpack. “And we we look at not just, hey, is it going to survive this stress from a functional perspective – but is the experience going to retain? “So, for example, the hinge mechanism and the display – we want that display to look beautiful over time. “And we want the feeling that when you open and you close your hinge to still feel as great as it was the first day you got it. “And we talked about this variable torque profile that allows us to precisely control, and the magnets that allow it to snap shut in a very satisfying way. “We want that experience to still be there with regular wear and tear. So we test for things like that. “And then what happens if you spill something on it, you get dust in it, you drop it – can we still retain that experience? And so that’s part of the real world testing that we do for durability.” MOBILE MYSTERY The iPhone Duo launched alongside another phone: the iPhone 18 Pro. It’s a powerful – and more traditional – smartphone with great specs and a spiffing new Burgundy colour option. The iPhone 18 comes in four colours, including new Glacier and Burgundy options Credit: Apple You can also use the iPhone Duo’s inner display in vertical orientation Credit: Sean Keach If you were watching Apple’s presentation carefully, you’ll note that Kaiann’s own jacket was the same burgundy colour. And you may also have noticed something missing: the iPhone 18. Apple declined to launch an entry-level iPhone 18 at the event. Rumour-mongers suggest it’s still coming, but in spring 2027 – so I asked Kaiann where the iPhone 18 had got off to. “Well, we were very focused on getting the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Duo out today,” she responded. “And so that is a lot of the excitement and news. “And we still have iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e. They run Apple Intelligence, great Siri AI, great battery and performance. “And we’ll have to see what comes back around next time – but you know, we’re really excited to introduce these great phones today.” GOING PRO Anyway, back to a phone you can buy: the iPhone 18 Pro. Aside from the new colour line-up (which also includes a frosty Glacier), there was a big camera upgrade. It’s something called variable aperture, which basically means that the iPhone can change the size of the hole that the camera sees through. Most people won’t have a clue what variable aperture is, but that won’t stop you from enjoying it, Kaiann tells me. “It’s going to allow you to take better photos, even if you don’t know what that is,” the Apple exec explains. “Because it will automatically adjust the aperture based on the light detection that it sees. “So if you get into a lower-light environment, the aperture will open further, letting in about 50% more light than before. “You’re also going to get benefit for depth of field with narrow apertures. The Sun’s tech editor Sean Keach was one of the first people in the world to try the iPhone Duo Credit: Sean Keach Future Tech Feed with Sean Keach sees expert guests answering big questions about what’s next Credit: FTF “Sometimes we had trouble with focus when you have multiple people at different planes in the scene, “So you have more rows of people behind – not all the faces would always be able to get sharp. “And now with variable aperture, we’re able to do that and get the pin-sharp focus on all the faces in the scene. “And so these things just happen automatically.” RED AHEAD Of course, much of the buzz will be around the new colours, as it always is. Last year’s new Cosmic Orange colour option was a massive hit – and possibly my favourite iPhone paintjob ever. I ask Kaiann what she’s expecting to be this year’s big winner, but she plays it safe. “Some people just love a Silver, they just love that very classic silver,” she tells me. “It’s clean, it’s fresh, and it’s actually a little bit more refined this year. “People did want Black, and the Glacier is very beautiful. “But the Burgundy I personally like a lot because it’s the first time we’ve had any colour like that on an iPhone. “It’s beautiful, sophisticated.” There you have it. Want to feel a bit posh? Burgundy is your best bet. Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro is out in stores on Friday, September 18, while the folding iPhone Duo lands on Friday, October 23. Comment now