Dubbed the Hermès in the smartphone industry, the 15,999-yuan iPhone Duo is forging ahead by drawing on the proven practices of Huawei and Xiaomi, ushering in the era of luxury smartphones?
Counting on my fingers, the annual "tech Spring Gala" is here again.
At 1 a.m. Beijing Time on September 10, Apple's autumn launch event arrived as scheduled. This year's theme is "Shine New Chapter, Come Dazzling", with its official English version being "Surprise and shine". This is also the first launch event after Tim Cook stepped back from the front line and John Ternus took office.
At this time in previous years, I, Xiao Lei, had almost gone through all the leaks of the new iPhone, stayed up late to watch the launch event, waiting for Apple to announce the pricing, and thinking about how many more years my old phone could still work properly.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
However, this year is different, there is a new product that everyone has been looking forward to for a long time.
That's right, Apple's foldable phone finally meets everyone today. From the earliest patent drawings to the later mockups, this phone has been circulated in countless leaks, and finally comes to us under the name of iPhone Duo.
Just looking at the unfolded state of the product, I feel that staying up late this night is totally worthwhile.
Of course, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max also made their debut on the same stage today, for friends who are planning to change phones, there is another tough choice to make this time. As usual, I have sorted out all the new mobile products from this autumn launch event, let's take a look together at how the first batch of new iPhones after John Ternus took office performs.
iPhone Duo: Wide iPhone when closed, iPad mini when unfolded
As usual, let's start with the phone that interests me the most.
If we talk about the most interesting device this year, it must be the iPhone Duo. After all, everyone is already used to annual upgrades of chips and color schemes, now that Apple finally put some thought into the design, is there any Apple fan who can resist this sense of novelty?
In terms of appearance, the iPhone Duo adopts a horizontal inward folding design, which is close to the size of a passport when closed, with a 5.4-inch outer screen, and a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display after unfolding. The inner screen has a 50% larger display area than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which is almost on par with the iPad mini.
However, the combination of large rounded corners and flat edges does look a bit like the design style of Xiaomi devices.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
In particular, the punch hole for the outer screen camera is quite prominent, it's hard to ignore it on this not-so-large screen, the front viewing experience can only be described as... just so-so.
The inner screen adopts an under-display camera, the idea is similar to the solution previously used on Samsung foldables. In fact, you can see from the promotional video that the camera area does not have the same display fineness as the surrounding area, it looks like a small piece of pixels are misaligned, and this display difference also affects the viewing experience.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
I have used large foldable phones, and I also use regular foldables as my daily driver for years. In my opinion, this wider aspect ratio is not a problem, when unfolded for browsing web pages and editing documents, it provides more layout space than the slim outer screen.
Of course, Apple also added a side Dock bar design for this screen. No matter the user is using the inner screen or outer screen, the far right of the screen is fixed as the system Dock bar, in the app adaptation specially demonstrated by the official, many manufacturers also choose to place many function buttons on the side.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
This design has two advantages. First of all, the wide foldable itself has a relatively wide screen aspect ratio, it is difficult to reach the buttons on the far side when using it with one hand, and it is difficult to reach the buttons near the middle when using it with two hands. Moving the Dock bar to the right makes it more convenient for right-handed users to call up various quick functions.
Secondly, when the toolbar occupies one side like this, the aspect ratio of the middle content area is more conventional, apps do not need to force the content to fill the entire wide screen, and the operation entrances are also more concentrated.
But this design will inevitably occupy the effective display area, it can only be said that there are both advantages and disadvantages.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
As for the crease that everyone cares about, Apple spent a lot of time introducing it at the launch event.
From the displayed footage, the crease is indeed relatively faint, but for me who has seen many domestic foldable phones, this effect is no longer rare, we still need to see its performance under side lighting and after long-term use.
Apple also specifically talked about the hover scenarios, for example, half-folding the phone and placing it on the table can eliminate the need for a stand, these play methods have already been demonstrated by domestic manufacturers long ago. Especially the scene where the outer screen displays the alarm clock after hovering, it immediately reminds people of Honor's similar features, it's really hard to feel the surprise of seeing something for the first time.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
As the most flagship new product this year, the iPhone Duo unsurprisingly carries the A20 Pro processor, which not only greatly improves the image performance, but also is equipped with a new display engine to support dual-screen display and multi-window operation.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
In terms of imaging, the iPhone Duo sacrifices the telephoto lens, only retaining a dual-camera combination of wide-angle main camera and ultra-wide-angle on the back. Both sensors have a resolution of 48 million pixels, support 2x in-sensor zoom, can output 12 million pixel photos, and of course, the square front camera that is standard on the entire line.
I know all the logic behind this, but it's inevitable that people will whisper behind their backs that there is no independent telephoto lens at this price point.
Another familiar configuration has also changed, Face ID does not appear on the Duo, unlocking is handled by the Touch ID on the side power button. For friends who are used to picking up the iPhone and scanning their face to unlock, they will have to re-adapt after changing to this new device.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
As for the price... The iPhone Duo comes in Starlight White and Night Sky color, the 256GB version is priced at 15999 yuan, the 512GB version at 17999 yuan, the 1TB version at 21499 yuan, and the 2TB version at 26499 yuan. Pre-orders will open at 8 p.m. on October 16, and it will go on sale on October 23.
The entry threshold is indeed not low, Apple fans who come for the foldable screen have to do some psychological construction for their wallets. But if you are already used to going out with both an iPhone and an iPad mini, this product can perfectly fit your usage scenarios, and I am also very curious about the actual experience of domestic apps like WeChat and WPS after unfolding.
iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max: Finally has a variable aperture, the imaging performance is barely competitive now?
After looking at the foldable Duo, let's take a look at the familiar iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.
This year, the two models still use the aluminum alloy body and the large horizontal camera module, after all, the design was just updated last year, and Apple will naturally continue to use it. This time, the back glass and the body adopt a more consistent color scheme, and the obvious splicing feeling of the previous generation is also reduced.
In terms of colors, this year it offers Wine Red, Glacier Blue, Black and Silver, the overall performance is just acceptable. The Chinese names here are translated according to the official English color names of the launch event, the official names shall be subject to the China mainland official website.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
I personally quite like this deep red, it's calm, low-key yet distinctive, and it's somewhat innovative. Many colleagues think this color is more purple, it can only be said that Apple's color tuning this time is very subtle.
However, under the familiar camera module, the iPhone 18 Pro series has added something new for imaging enthusiasts.
That's right, the 48 million pixel main camera of the iPhone 18 Pro series has added a variable aperture structure, which can directly adjust the light intake and depth of field. When shooting close objects, narrowing the aperture can expand the clear range and reduce the out-of-focus situation of the front and back parts of the subject; widening the aperture can get more light intake and retain more obvious optical bokeh effect.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
In terms of video recording, the existence of variable aperture adds a brand new way for users to control exposure. Under strong outdoor light, narrowing the aperture can reduce light intake, reduce the dependence on high-speed shutter, and help the picture retain natural motion blur. It can be said that the iPhone is one step closer to professional cinema equipment.
In terms of configuration, the two phones are equipped with the 2nm process A20 Pro processor, the CPU adopts a brand new architecture of 2 super performance cores + 4 efficiency cores, paired with a 7-core GPU. Apple claims that it has the fastest mobile CPU core, and the GPU performance is 40% higher than that of the A19 Pro, this improvement is very impressive.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
The game demonstrated at the launch event is actually "Monster Hunter: Wanderer", this game is a work that even current Android flagships cannot run at full frame rate, I wonder how the iPhone 18 Pro series will perform when running it.
Of course, heat dissipation still matters during long-time operation, Apple has also upgraded the VC vapor chamber this time to improve the heat dissipation performance under continuous loads such as gaming and video processing.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
In terms of screen, the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max still retains the original sizes,