Will Oremus Is a Duo Doubter

The useful part

Will Oremus, writing for The Atlantic last week, "Okay, Sure, a Folding iPhone" (gift link): Apple's next big invention, the company revealed at a launch event in Cupertino, is a $2,000 iPhone that sports — get ready — a "remarkable hinge." Is it not possible for a hinge to be remarkable? This is the iPhone Duo, a foldable gadget that opens like a book to reveal a capacious 7.6-inch screen.

How it works

• Why is it strange for an iPhone to have a similar price to a MacBook Pro?
• Billed as the most versatile iPhone, it can be used in folded or unfolded form, and in split-screen or full-screen modes.
• Yet an iPhone that blossoms into an iPad Mini seems unlikely to change many lives — especially at the price of a MacBook Pro.
• For many people the phone is their primary computer, the most important and personal device in their life.
• I bet there are a lot more people out there who would rather have a $2500 iPhone and a $700 MacBook Neo than who would want a $2500 MacBook Pro and a $700 iPhone.

What to take from it

Foldable smartphones have been on the market since Samsung popularized the category, in 2019.

Details worth keeping

The screen appears seamless when open, which is a clever engineering feat. In the pantheon of "one more things," the Duo feels like a dud. Samsung has had foldables on the market since 2019.