Apple nailed it on its first try – no, Cupertino didn’t invent the wide foldable form factor, but the results from last week’s poll show that it was the best choice compared to releasing a book-style or a flip foldable. Just look at how small the yellow and orange segments are (they correspond to exactly those choices in the poll).
Spec highlights: iPhone Duo • iPhone 18 Pro (Max)
And yes, the $2,000 iPhone Duo is expensive – did anyone think that Apple would be the company to make foldables cheap? Of course not, but this price tag significantly limits the pool of potential buyers. This might not make much of a difference this year anyway as analysts warn of production woes – if the 6 million production target proves right, it might mean that Apple will sell every Duo it makes, for better or for worse.
This poll suggests that Android is still the preferred platform for foldables. Only a small group of reviewers have actually handled the phone – this is a big change for how iOS does things. Remember that Apple develops iOS and iPadOS separately, even if they have the same core.
Some people in the comments say that they will wait for a couple of generations of iPhone Duos – give Apple time to work out the kinks. The underwhelming camera hardware and the small battery on the Duo are definitely things that Apple should work on for future models.
Demand for traditional bar-style phones remains strong – the iPhone 18 Pro Max remains more popular than the smaller Pro (this was the case with the 17 Pro and the 17 Pro Max too). Given the relatively limited upgrades this generation, the poll had an option for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but few people picked it.
Similarly, not many are interested in waiting for the vanilla iPhone 18 (expected next year) when the iPhone 18 Pro is available now. Indeed, the Pro and Pro Max hit store shelves on Friday, while the Duo isn’t coming until late October. The vanilla iPhone 18 will be cheaper than the Pro, but it will not be cheap – not after Apple raised the prices of the iPhone 17 and 16.
One analyst who has been keeping track of iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max shipping times says that this year pre-orders were lukewarm compared to the previous generation. Some people describe this as an “s” generation and while Apple no longer uses that naming scheme, the sentiment might explain the lower interest in the 18 Pro models.