Tech

The Verge’s Duo Review: ‘Apple’s Folding Phone Is a Messy, Expensive Good Time’

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Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 23/10/2026, 17:07:24 UTC.

Briefings

A 26-minute YouTube review by Nilay Patel and Allison Johnson critiques the Apple iPhone Duo, noting its ergonomic challenges with volume button orientation and Touch ID placement. The duo scored the device a 4/10, calling it 'mediocre' due to multiple issues, while contrasting it with the iPhone 18 Pro's 10/10 rating. The review highlights the device's L-shaped laptop pose capability as a potential third-party camera app opportunity.

Key points

• The iPhone Duo features a large notch for the Touch ID sensor and camera control, which the reviewers found unnatural and confusing to use.
• Volume buttons are located on the top left when the phone is closed but shift to the bottom right when rotated clockwise, requiring a setting change to use them correctly.

Context

The review was conducted over a week by Nilay Patel and Allison Johnson, who compared the iPhone Duo unfavorably to the iPhone 18 Pro, which received a perfect 10/10 score. The findings suggest the Duo is a 'messy, expensive good time' with significant usability flaws.

Limitations

The review is based on a single 26-minute YouTube video and a week of testing. The authors explicitly state they do not know how to verify their observations about the volume button orientation and Touch ID integration, and the device's L-shaped laptop pose feature remains untested by the reviewers.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 24/10/2026, 04:59:45 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

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