If Apple Made A Dual Screen Foldable

Some phones bend in half. Some tablets fold. All have a giant crease in the display that you can see and feel. I don’t like that. And I think there’s no way Apple would make such a thing; it’s not elegant. But I do think if Apple made a dual-screen device (like the Microsoft Surface Duo), it would sell more units than the Apple Vision Pro headset. And I’d probably buy it.

Put two iPhones side-by-side, connect their shared edges, and you have the idea of a dual-screen Apple foldable, like a pocket notebook. It would feature two discreet displays - no crease. Sure, twice as distracting, maybe, but twice as productive and double the fun too, yeah?

The real magic would be Apple’s unique hardware/software synergy. It could make the two adjacent displays work together as one, with current technology like Continuity and Universal Control. I use these features now between my MacBook and iPad - it really works fluidly and seamlessly.

So a two-screened Apple device, with a new operating system paradigm, could easily utilize distinct displays to act as one cohesive whole. Call the new software, “duOS” for dual-OS. Or if Apple sticks with the “i” prefix, call the device the iFold with foldOS.

One obvious use case would be to have a web page open on one side and a notes app on the other, and you could drag-and-drop a URL link with your finger from one side to the next. It would be like dragging a file from my MacBook display to my iPad display, which spans a large gap.

Another use-case could be a single-app view that spans both displays. I would love (sincerely) to have the Mail app show my email list view on the left display with a selected email open on the right display. Or likewise the Notes app: my list of notes on the left side, a selected note open on the right. Basically, iPhone apps could look and work more like their iPad versions.

How could video work? I imagine videos and photos would not span the hinge gap between screens. Instead, media would take up one full screen while playback controls, nav buttons, or a media list view would consume the other screen. The hinge would be strong enough, with the battery weight distributed smartly, so that the device could lay on a flat surface with the media screen angled upright for viewing (like laptop).

How would web pages work? Like media apps, I think a web browser would use one full screen for the web page and the other screen for all the browser “chrome” and controls. Though there might be an option to smartly flow web content from the “lower” display to the “upper” display (when turned “landscape”) so that a web page looks and feels bigger. As you scroll, the web content would be fluid across the hinge gap. I’m sure Apple has the tech chops to make this work well.

Such a dual-folding gadget from Apple, a melding of iPhone and iPad, seems like an obvious next-step for the company. It’s something well within their reach and grasp, unlike a motor vehicle (the cancelled Project Titan).

Another benefit of a dual-screen iPhone is that, while thicker than a regular phone, each display could be relatively small, like the iPhone 12 mini or smaller, since there would be two displays. The doubled screen real-estate would more than make up for the smaller screens.

The iPad mini could also benefit greatly. Imagine two of them side-by-side with a shared hinge. It’d be a double-mini. I’d not be surprised if it outsold other iPads. Think of how easily Apple could market Apple Books or the Kindle app, with two adjacent pages, you know, like a physical book.

Apple wouldn’t need another platform or app store to manage. It can use the existing iPhone and iPad app store and platforms to fuel the sale of a dual-screen device. And it could enable developers to make minor app tweaks to ensure their iPhone or iPad apps fit a dual-screen phone.

The company already makes foldable clamshell laptops; it knows hinges. Even Nintendo made a successful dual-screen handheld, the DS. It’s time for Apple to step up its device game, creating something that would be more accessible to people than a fancy 3D headset computer.

If Apple made a dual-screen foldable, it’d be cool. I’d likely trade in my iPad and iPhone to buy it.