In early September, Apple held a big event to announce a ton of new stuff, but one product stood out more than any other: The iPhone Duo.
Apple's first foldable device has two displays, a wealth of multitasking features, and a trendy form factor that's sure to be a conversation-starter. But it also begs the question: Why get an iPad when you could get one of these, or vice versa? Has Apple made a "phablet" that makes the iPad redundant?
Let's take a look at what makes these devices different, and explore why you might want one or the other.
iPhone Duo vs. iPad: Price
The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999. It absolutely must be noted, first and foremost, that this is more expensive than the starting price for any iPad model. Even the most premium one, the iPad Pro, starts at $1,199, and all but its most high-end variants come in below the starting price of the iPhone Duo. That's to say nothing of the fact that you can get a standard iPad for as little as $449, an iPad Mini for $599, or an iPad Air for $699.
So, if you want an Apple touchscreen device with a bigger display than the average iPhone, the iPhone Duo is not the most cost-effective way to accomplish that. Not by a long shot.
The only exception, if you were planning to buy a new iPhone and a new iPad Pro, opting for the Duo alone could save some money. But that's a very specific use case
iPhone Duo vs. iPad: Specs and design
Since there are several different kinds of iPads, it would take way too long to list out all of their specs compared to the iPhone Duo. However, display size is probably the most important factor here, so these are the different display sizes for each device:
iPhone Duo: 5.4-inch cover display, 7.6-inch inner display
iPad: 11-inch display
iPad Mini: 8.3-inch display
iPad Air: 11-inch or 13-inch display
iPad Pro: 11-inch or 13-inch display
If display size is what you're after, the iPhone Duo will provide the smallest one of this group by a good margin. It's probably great for reading books, sketching art, or watching movies by the standards of a phone, but any iPad will be better for those things on a pure screen real-estate level.
Storage is going to be another primary concern. The regular iPad and iPad Mini both top out at 512GB, while the Air tops out at 1TB and the Pro at 2TB. You can also get an iPhone Duo with up to 2TB of storage, but that costs a staggering $3,199. By comparison, the 2TB iPad Pro is $2,299, a full $900 cheaper. Again, the iPad provides a stronger value here if storage is the main thing you care about.
It should also be pointed out that at 254g, the iPhone Duo is significantly lighter than any iPad model. It would be weird if it weren't, considering it's a phone and not a tablet. I would also hope it goes without saying that not a single iPad model has a screen that can bend, so if that's really appealing to you, this is a no-brainer.
Oh, one more thing: The iPhone Duo has two 48MP camera lenses on the back for something resembling real photography. Meanwhile, every modern iPad has but a lone 12MP lens. Technically, you can take pictures with an iPad, but that doesn't mean you should. If you care about photography, get an iPhone Duo.
iPhone Duo vs. iPad: Software features
In announcing the iPhone Duo, Apple emphasized that the user experience took a lot of cues from iPadOS. But this fact still needs to be shouted from the rooftops: These two devices do not use the same operating system.
The iPhone Duo runs on iOS 27, and the iPad on iPadOS. They are similar because every Apple OS is similar, but they are not the same. There are two separate App Stores, and apps are designed specifically to work in one environment or the other. Some apps will have wildly different interfaces or features depending on the device you're using, and in some cases, apps just will not be supported at all, at least not natively.
Apple has outfitted iOS 27 with multitasking features specifically for the Duo, meaning you can have two apps open at once, side by side on the inner display. That's great and convenient, especially since you can drag and drop elements from one app to another. Unfortunately for the iPhone Duo, this is old hat for iPads; they've had split-screen multitasking for a while, and you can have more than two apps open at a time on an iPad.
That said, the iPhone Duo has some tricks the iPad doesn't, thanks to its form factor. For example, you can photograph someone using the inner display while the outer display shows the subject of the photo that you're seeing. That works with FaceTime calls, too.
As far as I know, there is basic parity between the two devices with AI features. Siri AI should work on both, and apps like Image Playground exist on the iPad, too. One final point here is obvious: if you want something to use as a telephone, get an iPhone Duo. By default, iPads can't even connect to cellular networks unless you pay extra for a model that can. You wouldn't want to use a big tablet as a phone, anyway.
iPhone Duo vs. iPad: Apple Pencil and accessory support
There are pros and cons to both devices when it comes to accessory support. Most importantly, you can use an Apple Pencil on the iPhone Duo's displays, which was a nice surprise during the announcement. Beyond that, though, things get a little more tricky.
For instance, iPads don't support MagSafe accessories or wireless charging of any kind right now. They might in the future, but they don't in the present. The iPhone Duo does support those things, but unlike the iPad, it doesn't support external, attachable keyboards. It's much easier to use an iPad like a laptop than an iPhone Duo.
At the end of the day, one of them is a tablet, and the other is a phone. I think they can co-exist.
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