Apple’s take on a wide foldable isn’t being received without some criticism as it makes its way into the hands of users. The biggest limitation might not even be the hardware.
Samsung has struggled with the implementation of Android on its foldables. That’s the natural way of things as the form factor has progressed through the years. As the Galaxy Z Fold line has been refined, Google and Samsung have improved Android to be friendlier on big screens.
But this is Apple’s first try, and even on hardware that looks promising, iOS leaves something to be desired on the iPhone Duo.
This comes from a couple of second impressions. One short review via The Verge‘s Allison Johnson notes a couple of small complaints. The first details its usability. Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the iPhone Duo reportedly feels harder to use with one hand. Because the Fold 8’s taller and narrower physical presence, the cover screen is more easily navigable. That’s a big deal for those of us who gravitated towards the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for its unique outer screen.
The iPhone Duo also restricts that small 5.4-inch display by implementing a sidebar, which was intended to make navigation easier. But because the dock sits on the right side, there’s a big chunk of the display that’s essentially left unused. Another post on Twitter/X highlights the severe difference.
In The Verge‘s video, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is set to use a navigation bar instead of gestures, which makes the difference a little less blatant. But for those who use navigation gestures on the Galaxy Z Fold 8, there’s very little wasted screen space.
What Apple is trying to do with the iPhone Duo is to approach a small display with a space-saving solution. By shrinking the space allowed, you stretch media so it appears taller, like on a slab device. But the Galaxy Z Fold 8 proves that leaving the space free for main content works pretty well.
The iPhone Duo is already available, but its availability is limited. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is continuing to prove a success for Samsung.
If you want to see more from Allison and 9to5Google, be sure to check out her appearance on our episode of The Sideload!
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