- Design
- Product Management
iPhone Duo and foldable screens: Designing digital interfaces that break the mold
October 23 — 2026
At Apple's most recent event, all eyes were on the announcement of this year's new products. Rumours had been circulating for months, anticipation was at its peak, and then the news landed: Apple's foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, made a notable entrance in the North American market. Foldable devices are nothing new, but the iPhone Duo could well bring the concept to a wider audience.
From an experience and design standpoint, how do we ensure the functional evolution of existing and future digital products? How do we take advantage of these new usage contexts to create the best possible products and improve the lives of thousands of people? These questions have been circulating in the industry for a while now. Design specialists will need to create an experience that, more than ever, can live beyond its established frame.
Foldables are nothing new
Samsung has offered the foldable format since 2019, using it for its most versatile devices. Adoption moved slowly in the years following that first model, and by 2023, foldable phones held an estimated 1.6% of the global market.
What makes the subject relevant now is Apple's ability to take a technology mainstream and accelerate its adoption. Historically, every major change Apple announces, whether software or hardware, is adopted quickly and puts immediate pressure on product teams to meet the new standard. Flat design with iOS 7, the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro, Liquid Glass with iOS 26. Apple has consistently set the direction.
With the iPhone Duo, the expectation is mainly a rise in the global market share of foldable devices, which could reach 5% by 2028. Backed by a 96% loyalty rate within the Apple ecosystem, the Duo should also capture more than a quarter of the global foldable market in its first year and lead the category by early 2027.
Adapting to context
For over a decade, horizontal navigation at the bottom of the screen was an undisputed standard for mobile apps. The iPhone Duo disrupts that habit. Depending on the mode and orientation, navigation can become vertical, move into a sidebar, or stay horizontal at the bottom. Apps now have to work with that added flexibility and the constraints it brings, including less room for text and visual personalization.
The flexibility isn't limited to the display. It also changes how people interact with the device. Across the Duo's six usage modes, new gestures such as folding, rotating and swiping between screens become natural shortcuts. Depending on the mode, people use two hands, a single finger, or don't touch the screen at all. Interfaces need to let people move between these interaction methods without friction.
Another significant challenge is a screen that can measure anywhere from 5 to 10 inches depending on whether the device is folded or open. Designing for a single width is no longer viable. The hinges, creases and asymmetrical bezels specific to foldables make full-width layouts risky. Safe areas and visual hierarchy need to be rethought entirely.
These constraints aren't only obstacles to overcome. They're also an opportunity to revisit existing and future digital products. Factoring them into the design process means not only meeting user needs, but creating added value through an experience that is adaptable, flexible and intuitive.
Creating adaptive mobile experiences
The iPhone Duo doesn't replace mobile, it transforms it. This device joins an existing mobile ecosystem, and supporting the formats it introduces calls for flexible design principles that will also benefit people on conventional devices.
These possibilities need to be explored to position a digital product at the forefront of adaptive technology. Digital life now plays out across more than one screen at a time, and multitasking has become the norm.
According to the Foldable Smartphone Market: U.S. Consumer Survey & Strategic Intelligence study, 47% of respondents would be inclined to use a foldable phone for multitasking, followed closely by reading documents and news at 39%.
Foldable devices should help make these new realities easier. Apps like Netflix will be able to offer new ways of interacting with video content, and photographers will be able to use these modes to rethink how they work with their device.
Beyond usage, adaptability is also a question of accessibility. The flexibility of these formats opens the door to more inclusive digital experiences. People with hearing loss could more easily read captions on a second screen during a video call without covering the image of the person they're speaking with.
Among all these possibilities, the real question is knowing which ones are genuinely worth exploring.
Making the right design decisions
The format introduces new ways to stand out in the market, and choosing the right opportunities is what makes people comfortable adopting it. Someone comparing wines or spirits could use the screen width for augmented reality and make a decision more easily. A museum looking to connect visitors more closely to its exhibitions could turn the open screen into an interactive companion to the works on display. Multiplayer board games using both screens could let a group play together in an entirely new way.
For these opportunities to be seized naturally, a few best practices are worth following:
Build a flexible, scalable hierarchy so interfaces can adapt to the space available.
Think about content before structure, so the right content appears at the right moment, based on how the device is positioned or oriented. Secondary information could be visible on the open screen and hidden when the device is folded.
Protect consistency, more than ever. Interactions, navigation patterns and features need to stay recognizable in every configuration. Only the density of information changes, never the logic.
To get the best result, relying on components native to the device's system is essential. On iOS, for example, apps built on native components and utilities adapt far more naturally to new formats. Choosing them over custom solutions is what makes it possible to take full advantage of the iPhone Duo and avoid costly technical debt later on.
Designing for movement
The iPhone Duo isn't just another device to support. It's an invitation to reconsider how mobile apps are designed. Adaptive navigation, new gestures, variable dimensions, augmented reality. Each of these shifts is a reminder that an interface is no longer fixed within a single frame, but has to live and adjust across many contexts. And while Apple may be the one taking this technology mainstream, the same thinking applies to Android experiences. The concept has existed there for several years already, and it's time everyone using these devices was offered an experience of equivalent quality.
These changes aren't the sole responsibility of Apple or device manufacturers. Product teams that anticipate this flexibility, rather than react to it once the format reaches the masses, will have a head start in creating digital experiences that genuinely fit people's lives, whatever the screen, the gesture or the context.
The future of mobile no longer fits on a single screen. What's left is to design accordingly.
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