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I hate when Android brands copy Apple — but the iPhone Duo is the exception
The iPhone Duo could make Android foldables much better.
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Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
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The iPhone Duo is no longer a dream. Apple officially unveiled its first foldable iPhone at its September launch event, and while we’ll have to wait until later this month to actually get our hands on one, Apple entering a new category with a particular direction in mind usually means one thing: Android brands are about to follow.
I’ve been pretty critical of Android OEMs over the past few years for blindly copying Apple’s strategies and bringing them to their own products. It often makes Android phones feel less interesting, less innovative, and, to be honest, sometimes just annoying.
But the iPhone Duo has put me in a slightly strange position. I actually wouldn’t mind Android brands copying Apple.
Should Android brands copy the iPhone Duo?
We all know what’s going to happen next
Whenever Apple launches a new product or takes a slightly different direction, Android brands usually tend to follow. It’s something we’ve seen time and again. When Apple was rumored to be working on the super-thin iPhone Air, Samsung quickly jumped into the category with the Galaxy S25 Edge last year. We’re now seeing something similar with the Galaxy S27 Ultra, whose rumored redesign is heavily inspired by the iPhone.
And it’s not just hardware either. As soon as Apple introduced Liquid Glass with iOS 26, more or less every major Android OEM, barring Google, started incorporating similar glassy, translucent elements into their Android skins.
And that means it’s going to happen again with the iPhone Duo. At this point, it’s less a question of if Android manufacturers will jump onto the wider, passport-style foldable bandwagon and more about when.
In fact, it’s already happening. Samsung has moved to a much wider form factor with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which looks quite similar to the iPhone Duo when unfolded. The recently leaked Razr Flex also suggests Motorola is preparing to enter the wider foldable market.
I’d have previously cribbed about Android brands blindly following Apple’s approach. But for probably the first time in years, I actually think Android brands copying Apple’s direction with the iPhone Duo would be a great thing.
Wider foldables are the future
Sanuj Bhatia / Android Authority
I’ve been using foldable phones for a long time. I’ve used everything from the original Google Pixel Fold to the crease-less OPPO Find N6 that launched earlier this year, and now the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as well.
One thing I’ve realized after using all these foldables is that the traditional tall-and-narrow form factor just doesn’t work for me anymore. It’s pretty darn difficult to use when closed; the cover display is usually too narrow to type on properly, apps can feel cramped, and overall, it just isn’t a great experience.
The inner display has its own problems too. As Apple showcased during the iPhone Duo launch, the traditional foldable display is often taller than it is wide. Instead of feeling like you’re using a tablet, it can sometimes feel like you’ve simply placed two phones side by side, which isn’t a great experience. And even today, plenty of Android apps don’t scale particularly well to that shape.
After using both styles for years, I don’t want to go back to a tall and narrow foldable.
The wider form factor isn’t perfect either. It’s certainly not as convenient for tasks like answering a call on the cover screen. But typing on a wider cover display has been a breath of fresh air for me and, in a weird way, almost takes me back to the BlackBerry days.
The wider inner display also makes much more sense for watching content. Videos have less letterboxing, meaning those black bars above and below the content are smaller, and you actually get to use more of that big foldable screen you’re paying for.
Android foldables have matured nicely and already offer plenty more
Paul Jones / Android Authority
The reason I’m actually excited about Android foldables adopting this wider design is simply that they can. More often than not, Android phones offer more than Apple does in the same product category or price bracket.
Take the iPhone Duo, for example. It’s an impressive device for sure. Apple seems to have solved some of the biggest problems we’ve had with foldables, including the crease, while also offering proper IP68 dust and water resistance. But there are some clear shortcomings as well.
For starters, there’s no telephoto camera, which means you’re missing a dedicated optical zoom lens. The iPhone Duo is also quite thick and heavy for a modern foldable. Android foldables, on the other hand, have matured nicely over the past few years and address some of these shortcomings. And we’re already seeing some examples of that.
Xiaomi has already launched an iPhone Duo competitor with the Xiaomi 18 Fold, and that phone manages to fit a dedicated telephoto camera inside. When it comes to the crease, OPPO showed us months before Apple, with the Find N6, that you can make an almost crease-free foldable display without relying on a nano-texture finish to hide it.
I’m pretty sure Android manufacturers are already looking at the iPhone Duo, figuring out what Apple got right, and, more importantly, where they can do better.
The iPhone Duo could finally force developers to fix foldable apps
Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
Finally, one of the biggest reasons why I think this push has been needed for a while is that Android developers have gotten away with half-baked foldable apps for far too long, and the iPhone Duo might finally change that.
At the iPhone Duo launch, Apple already showcased a number of apps properly optimized for the larger foldable display. Meanwhile, foldable phones have been around on Android for nearly a decade, and even today, plenty of apps still aren’t properly optimized for large-screen devices.
Take Slack, for example. Apple has already showcased a properly optimized version of the app for the iPhone Duo, whereas on Android foldables, it still largely looks like a stretched-out version of the regular phone app on the inner display.
With the iPhone Duo arriving, interest in foldable phones is only going to increase. And that should benefit Android foldables as well — something we’ve already started seeing with the recent boost in Galaxy Z Fold 8 sales. As more people start using foldables across both iOS and Android, developers will have fewer excuses not to properly optimize their apps for Android’s larger screens too.
All things considered, I think the iPhone Duo will be good not just for Apple but for the entire foldable space. It’s taken a long time for this form factor to really pick up, and with Apple preparing to sell millions of them, Android OEMs will be pushed to build better foldables and developers to build better large-screen apps. That ultimately means Android users will reap the benefits too.
Apple iPhone DuoSee price at Amazon
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