I’ve never been even remotely interested in a foldable phone. I don’t think most people are. While it’s cool that we live in a sci-fi world where you can fold a screen in half, there’s just never been any reason to be excited by that idea. You could call them niche products. But this month Apple joined the fold… and naturally, now I want one.
Apple is rarely first to market in a product category. Maybe because they’re spending time on the little details, and learning while others sell experiments to their customers. If there’s one thing I’ll fight you over in a dark alley, it’s that Apple’s attention to the little details is what makes their products so good.
When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
Steve Jobs, interview with David Sheff, Playboy, February 1985.
If details are not your thing, fine. Nothing to see here. Details are my thing. I love them. Fine-tuning the way your phone scrolls so it feels like it’s sliding to a stop based on how hard you flick. Using the way your laptop vibrates to convince you that the piece of glass you are pressing on is giving way like a tactile button. Turning an otherwise annoying camera cutout into a fun feature of the user interface. And now making a slick animation when opening and closing a foldable phone. These clever little details are all over Apple’s hardware and software.
One clever little feature that was targeted directly at people like me is the “Kid Cue,” an ingenious use of the outer display that plays Peanuts animations to make children look toward the camera when you’re taking a picture.
Apple still leads the tablet market with the iPad.1 It’s the best and most capable all-around tablet you can buy. And while Apple certainly didn’t seem keen to say it out loud when asked directly by interviewers, they are essentially packaging a slightly smaller iPad mini with an iPhone in the Duo. A fantastic phone that’s also great for reading, playing games, or serving as a nightstand clock, apparently.
While humble normies wait to see it in real life at an Apple Store, and those of us who live on remote islands wait until our next off-island adventure, I already know I’ll be skipping this exciting first-generation model. Even if it has me intrigued.
Why I Won’t Get One
It’s not in the budget. $2,000 for a phone just because! Unless that rich uncle from DuckTales is finally feeling generous with his swimming pool of gold coins, that’s a steep price to pay.
The cameras. They’re always the biggest factor when I decide on a phone. Last year, the iPhone Air was beautiful, but I’m not giving up the incredible three-lens camera powerhouse in my pocket just yet. It’s capturing the cutest little girl growing up, and I want those images to look amazing while I cry over them.
First generations are for the brave. While people love to complain about how boring phones are these days, they are also incredibly reliable and high quality. The first generation of anything will have a lot more bugs and glitches than most of us are used to. Developers will take some time to adapt their apps to the new screen sizes. And even Apple will be learning from how the
guinea pigsearly adopters use their new devices.
Even though Apple hasn’t convinced this accountant to part with his hard-earned cash for an iPhone Duo just yet, I’m excited to see a truly new form factor from Apple this year. Maybe foldables are finally worth caring about.
Tablet shipment stats show Apple leads the market: https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2026/aug/supply-pressures-weigh-on-global-tablet-market-as-shipments-decline-10-percent-in-q2-2026