More or Less · Topics · Episode #166
Dave Goes Hands-On With the iPhone Duo: 'I Was Very Skeptical, Then Immediately Won Over'
Clip from the full recording, 3:34–10:07 · download mp4
Dave had already burned out on a Google Pixel fold, but Apple's first foldable — thin as an iPhone Air, screen "like paper" — flipped him from skeptic to buyer inside one demo, doubts about giant AI-generated fingers in the ad and all.
Dave walks through his history with folding phones (an old Google Pixel he mostly used for reading) and admits he watched Tim Cook’s — sorry, Turnus’s — first keynote as CEO expecting to hate the size. In person it’s much smaller than he pictured: cut an inch off the top and bottom of a regular iPhone and that’s roughly the folded size, as thin as the iPhone Air once open.
Brit immediately interrogates the practical stuff: will it fit in a woman’s jean pocket (a hard requirement for her), and whether Apple used AI to lengthen the model’s fingers in the ad because no real hand looks that long holding it open. Dave swears the length is real — “the answer to all of these questions is yes” — and Jess proposes settling it by asking their actual hand-model friend, Jessica Siddig.
Once past the size objection, Dave is sold on the details: the open screen “feels like paper,” almost better than a Kindle; it doubles as a mini laptop propped on a table, becomes a glowing alarm clock folded shut, and has a “Kid Use” mode (Brit’s favorite) that plays a Snoopy animation to get a toddler to look at the camera. Dave’s verdict: it’s less a phone, more “kind of more computer than phone” — and he thinks a lot of people are going to get one and love it.
Key points
- Dave previously owned a Google Pixel fold and mostly used it for reading; it never became his primary phone.
- Folded, the Duo is roughly the size of an iPhone with an inch cut off the top and bottom; open, it's as thin as the iPhone Air.
- Brit's requirement is that it fits in a woman's jean pocket — Dave says yes.
- Twitter speculated Apple used AI to lengthen the hand model's fingers in the ad; Dave says no, it's real, and offers to have hand-model friend Jessica Siddig verify.
- Standout design details: paper-like screen quality, "Kid Use" Snoopy mode to get toddlers to look at the camera, laptop-style table mode, and a glowing alarm-clock mode when folded shut.
- Dave's bottom line: it's "more computer than phone," and he expects strong adoption despite being skeptical going in.
Where they landed
Quotes
“The best way to think about it is if you were to cut the bottom and the top off of your iPhone, it's that big... and then it's as thin as the iPhone Air.”— Dave
“Will this fit in a woman's jean pocket? Because I only store my phones in pockets. A woman's jean pocket, Dave, not your man pockets.”— Brit
“The quality of the screen is so good that your hands are like, I've never felt anything like this.”— Dave
Suggested tweets
Dave Morin on the iPhone Duo: "I went in skeptical and I'm telling you, when you get this thing in your hands, you're going to consider it. It's that good."
Tweet this →Apple's foldable has a 'Kid Use' mode that plays Snoopy animations to get your toddler to look at the camera. Somehow this is the feature everyone's talking about.
Tweet this →The internet accused Apple of AI-lengthening the hand model's fingers in the Duo ad. Dave Morin's verdict: real fingers, real phone, real good.
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #166 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify