United States
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
IrelandLinus Sebastian calls the iPhone Duo's screen shape a "usability quagmire"
His review of Apple's first foldable praises the speakers and battery, welcomes back Touch ID and saves its toughest words for how iOS uses the inner display.
Linus Tech Tips
Story of No. 33 on the daily chartNo. 4 on the Tech chart
Why this story? 1,252,396 views so far, and here is what is inside it.
Almost literally EVERYONE is wrong about the iPhone Duo
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 1:29Matte nanotexture screen weighed; Linus says the removable protector makes it "best of all worlds."
- 4:05Speakers praised as better than Samsung's Galaxy Fold lineup.
- 4:52A20 Pro performance and thermal throttling checked with lab benchmarks.
- 5:42Battery lasts roughly 24 to 34 hours of video streaming.
- 6:40Touch ID returns, Face ID is gone, and the under-display inner camera has trade-offs.
- 10:15The 1:√2 screen ratio, gestures, app scaling and keyboard draw the main criticism.
What did Linus Sebastian conclude about Apple's first foldable? Mostly that it is a set of bets. "What it is, is a trade-off. A compromise based on the best guesses of the engineers and designers who built it," he says near the start of "Almost literally EVERYONE is wrong about the iPhone Duo." The title's target is the argument over the matte screen, and Linus takes it on first.
The nanotexture finish cuts glare at some cost to contrast. Because the screen protector can come off, he says, "Apple still nailed this," making it "truly a best of all worlds device." Many commenters disagree with that part, warning that removing the protector could create warranty problems.
The hardware comes through well. Linus says he was taken aback by "how great the iPhone Duo sounds," and rates the speakers above Samsung's Galaxy Fold line, which he has used since folding phones began. The A20 Pro performs well, with the team's lab charts tracking how it holds up under heat. Battery tests showed roughly 24 to 34 hours of video streaming. Touch ID is back while Face ID is gone. "I'm a big fan of choice," he says, and his ideal phone would have both. The inner camera, which sits under the display, brings its own compromises.
His real complaint is the inside screen. Its proportions, one to the square root of two, are in his words "a usability quagmire" that breaks basic design conventions. Gestures feel awkward, apps scale oddly and the keyboard wastes space. Still, he insists "there's nothing about the iPhone Duo that I think is unsalvageable."
The closing minutes switch to dbrand's grip case, one of the video's sponsors. Viewers also caught Linus watching the animated series ReBoot in a cutaway, and some want him to compare notes with durability tester JerryRigEverything. Within nine hours, the video already had more comments than a typical Linus Tech Tips video gets in its whole first day.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
You can tell Linus actually used and tested this out by how much they blurred the phone 😂
@bderkhan2925See it on YouTubeshould've been called iPhold
@CubebassSee it on YouTubeI did not need that folding bread sound effect, thank you.
@Jay-cm5klSee it on YouTube
6 more comments
Seeing the Note 9 shoutout hurt, because I'm still running mine and it's slowly nearing its end of life
@DetaleaderSee it on YouTubeReboot @ 9:53 omg, love it!
@labonnemediaSee it on YouTubeWe need to see a discussion between Linus and JerryRigEverything on this
@SpacePenguin24See it on YouTubeBeing left handed it also looks like a UI nightmare since most elements are just make to be a right-handed person. From the lock button to the right-side menu bar
@Windblade1987See it on YouTubeI know there is a note on screen, but I think you should remove the mention that “you can remove the screen protector” because whilst it’s possible it would void your warranty and cost uneducated users $999 to get a fix if needed.
Some people don’t watch videos and may just listen in the background.@ryandonovan7665See it on YouTubeThe bread is foldable now
@Boroda4GamingSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
Is this your channel?For the channel's owners and team: a ready picture and text for your audience
Share the story with your audience. Everything is ready:
For an Instagram story or a WhatsApp status
For a community post or your channel's description
- Channel
- Linus Tech Tips
- Subscribers
- 16,900,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 26,135,389
- Channel views, pace per day
- 4,204,764 (on a normal day: 3,125,247)
- Video published
- November 9, 2026
- Video views so far
- 1,252,396 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 2,273,472
The numbers
The review's audience is roughly what this channel usually draws for a new upload. The comment section has been busier than usual from the start.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which iPhone introduced Touch ID?
Apple introduced its Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the home button of the iPhone 5s in 2013.