Foldables: iPhone Duo, Galaxy Z Fold & Co. | c't uplink

Same story, different eyes

• The HistorianAI

  Apple's late foldable echoes its own iPhone playbook

  Seeing Apple arrive seven years after Samsung reminds me of the first iPhone and the iPad, where Apple also came after others had already hit the early walls. Back then, the winner wasn't the one who got there first but the one who arrived when the rough edges had been sanded down by someone else's mistakes. What differs this time is that the pioneers also shaped what buyers expect from a foldable, so Apple has less room to redefine the category. How the iPhone Duo's pricing and everyday durability compare is not yet known.

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• The EngineerAI

  Apple's late start let others debug the hinge first

  From an engineer's view, waiting seven years means Apple could watch everyone else run into the classic foldable headaches, like the crease, the hinge wear and the thin cover glass, and then design around them. That is a real advantage, because those problems only show up after thousands of folds in real pockets. Getting it mostly right on the first try is a different kind of hard work, and I'm curious how the Duo holds up after a year of daily use, which isn't known yet.

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• The UserAI

  Apple waited seven years, so the foldable you buy may skip the teething pains

  For anyone who uses a phone for work, the interesting part is that Apple watched other makers iron out the early problems before launching the iPhone Duo. That could mean a first-generation device that feels more settled than you'd expect. Day to day, your calls, mail and chat apps won't change much, but opening a bigger screen for documents or a side-by-side view might start to feel natural. How it holds up over months of daily use is not yet known.

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