Talk about the origin and evolution of "Duo" as a name for technology products.

"Is it Ultra, or Duo?"

Long before Apple's launch event kicked off, all sorts of rumors about the name of the foldable iPhone were circulating all over the internet. The debate online never stopped, and our editorial team members also argued fiercely over this issue.

As the new CEO John Ternus casually dropped the line "One more thing" — iPhone Duo officially debuted in his calm tone, putting an end to all speculations.

Thanks to Apple and Android vendors, we have long been accustomed to the naming system of Pro, Max, and Ultra, which is why the sudden arrival of Duo inevitably took people by surprise. The sense of disappointment largely comes from the fact that this name lacks the "domineering edge" of Ultra, and has less grandeur...

But on second thought, Duo is by no means a random whim of Apple, which is exactly contrary to public intuition.

Here's a little-known fact: Apple had already used the name "Duo" long before the arrival of the millennium.

Many people still remember the MagSafe Duo dual charger that debuted alongside the iPhone 12 in 2020.

Looking further back into history, there is an even earlier predecessor — the PowerBook Duo laptop launched in 1992.

Looking back at these three generations of products side by side, did Apple quietly lay the groundwork for today as early as dozens of years ago? (That's such a bad pun)

This is certainly not intentional. But as we dive deeper into these products that share the same name across decades, we will find that the design logic behind them is indeed connected in a single line.

Today is Friday, let's talk about the stories behind those tech products that have been named Duo.

From PowerBook Duo to iPhone Duo

In 1992, Apple released the PowerBook Duo.

You can think of it as the "lightweight laptop" or "ultrabook" of that era. Among them, the PowerBook Duo 210, which focused on lightweight design, not only had no built-in floppy drive, but also streamlined the body interfaces, forcing the weight down to about 1.9 kg — among the portable computers of that year, Apple wanted it to let users carry less weight.

But lightweight design means cutting many interfaces and functions, and the contradiction follows: the computer is easy to carry out, but what should you do when you get back to the office?

So Apple prepared a partner for it: the "Duo Dock".

When you get back to the office, you only need to shut down the PowerBook, close the screen, and push it into the slot on the front of the dock, and the internal electric mechanism will automatically complete the docking.

This action is quite similar to pushing a videotape into a VCR today, except that this time, an entire laptop is "swallowed" in.

After the docking is completed, the PowerBook can use external displays, keyboards, mice, as well as the floppy drive, expansion cards and optional hard drives on the dock, and a complete desktop working environment is ready.

For the PowerBook, Duo represents two lifestyles for one device: it is a lightweight laptop when you go out, and it can turn into a full desktop host when you sit at the desk. No matter how you use it, files, software and data are always synchronized.

At that time, when personal computers were generally bulky and rigid in form, few vendors could play with creativity like Apple. To this day, many people still follow this usage logic: bring the laptop to a meeting outside, connect to peripherals when back at the workstation, and resume work seamlessly. But the Duo Dock back then had a much stronger sense of ritual.

Let's fast forward to 2020, the MagSafe Duo dual charger debuted alongside the iPhone 12.

For this charger, Duo becomes a pair of partners for the phone and the watch: the two charging positions have their own responsibilities, but share a foldable and storable body.

Unfold the body, place the iPhone on one side and the Apple Watch on the other; fold and close it when not in use, the two charging positions share one power supply interface, and the two sets of accessories that originally needed to be stored separately are combined into one.

The ideal is very perfect, but the reality leaves regrets. The storage problem is solved smoothly, but the charging power is a pity.

The peak charging power of MagSafe Duo for iPhone is only up to 14W, and it needs to meet strict power supply conditions; when the Apple Watch Series 7 adds fast charging, this charger fails to keep up with the update pace, and is even "backstabbed" by Apple's own new products.

This week, Duo is finally printed on the iPhone model.

The Duo of iPhone Duo refers to two forms between closing and opening: when the body is closed, the outer screen maintains the operation experience of a daily mobile phone; when fully unfolded, the inner screen leaves enough space for large-size content and side-by-side windows.

When the iPhone Duo is closed, it has a 5.4-inch outer screen; when fully unfolded, it is a complete 7.6-inch inner screen. Apple unifies the aspect ratio of the two screens, the picture can be scaled proportionally, and the visual transition is always smooth between opening and closing.

When the body is unfolded, the split-screen function allows two apps to run in parallel, a single app can also open two windows, and commonly used combinations can be saved with one click. The inner and outer screens can also work together: when taking photos, Duo Preview projects the viewfinder image to the outer screen, so the subject can see the composition in real time; Duo FaceTime allows other people to join the call through the outer screen and the lens, without all crowding in front of the same screen.

If it was named Ultra, people would naturally first look for what top-level configurations it has added compared to the Pro Max, but the name Duo immediately draws attention to the two forms of the body, and all the new gameplay after the large screen is unfolded.

Thirty-four years ago, the PowerBook Duo needed to be connected to a dock to switch to another desktop working environment. Today, the iPhone Duo condenses the entire form switch into a small hinge. There is certainly no direct technical inheritance between the two, but the original intention of "portable devices expanding space on demand" has remained unchanged across thirty-four years. Apple has thus delivered its own foldable screen answer through the iPhone Duo.

And there is a little easter egg: every product named Duo by Apple can be opened and folded...

What happened to other brands' Duo products?

Speaking of Duo, most people first think of that bad bird from the game...

Hold on! Let's put that little guy aside first, and talk about two other vendors: Microsoft and Google.

Both Microsoft and Google have launched products named Duo, and their exploration paths echo today's iPhone.

Let's start with Microsoft's Surface Duo.

The core idea Microsoft set for Duo is that the two screens have their own responsibilities and work in collaboration. It wants to fully compress the dual-screen parallel office workflow of computers into a portable mobile phone.

The Surface Duo launched in 2020 connects two separate hard screens into one through a 360-degree rotatable hinge. The device runs the Android system, and Microsoft has loaded the entire Office, Outlook productivity suite into this dual-screen architecture.

The seam in the middle of the screen naturally divides the area when processing emails and documents: open Outlook, the left screen displays the inbox list, the right screen opens the email body and attachments, you can directly switch to the next email after reading one, no need to go back and forth between pages.

In addition, you can also bind two apps into a quick combination and launch them at the same time with one click; between adapted apps, text and pictures can be directly dragged across screens. For people who are used to working with dual monitors, Microsoft's logic of putting the full split-screen efficiency of the desktop into a pocket device is very familiar.

As for the seam in the middle, it just plays the role of zoning when processing documents and sending and receiving emails.

But the problem also arises from this: once you fill the entire screen with photos or videos, the crack will be particularly glaring — after all, they are two separate screens, which cannot achieve the coherent viewing experience of a full complete panel.

In order to eliminate the sense of separation between the two screens, Microsoft has made great efforts on the hardware. The color and brightness of the two panels are strictly unified, and the touch cannot be disconnected when the finger swipes across the seam; customized cables for cross-screen transmission are arranged inside the hinge, and the motherboard, battery and sensors all need to be rearranged to accommodate the dual-screen structure.

Unfortunately, this dual-screen exploration did not go further. The first and second generation Surface Duo have long stopped system updates, no longer pushing new Android versions and security patches, and this product line has come to an end.

Looking at the dual-window and app combination functions of the iPhone Duo, it is inevitable to have a sense of deja vu. Apple has taken a brand new path: using a full continuous flexible inner screen to carry side-by-side windows, and additionally equipped with an outer screen to retain the mobile phone form when the body is closed.

Both named Duo, the two companies have delivered two completely different answers. As for whether multi-window dual-tasking can truly integrate into daily use, the final answer can only be obtained when the real device is in the hands of users.

And of course we regret that Surface Duo and Neo were born at