Foldable iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro: First-Hands-On Notes

Ozan Sihay picked up the new lineup in a hotel room the day after the Apple Park event, trading a one-day delay for extra hands-on time. The star was Duo, Apple's first foldable, alongside the 18 Pro and Pro Max. This recording is a first impression, with a deeper review promised later.

Closed, Duo feels like a short, wide phone; opened, it becomes a small tablet with nearly iPad Mini-class space. The usage pattern changes: glance at messages closed, unfold to read or work. Apple did not invent the foldable, so expectations sit at the usual high bar.

The most-asked question was the middle crease, tested under varied light, screen on and off, during video and games. It stays out of the way while watching; you must angle the phone into reflections to spot it. A matte surface cuts glare and helps hide the fold line.

Dimensions are concrete: 5.4-inch outer display, 7.6-inch inner display, 11.3 mm folded, 254 grams. Two apps can run side by side and lock as a pair, with one tap on the seam to pin them and return later. Calendar and home-screen demos show the flow.

Long documents benefit most from the bigger canvas, showing more text at larger sizes. The OS is a foldable-tuned iOS with a side dock. For video, the phone tents on a table or keeps controls on the lower half. Travel stands become redundant.

The under-display inner camera stays invisible in normal use and appears only with the camera app, with a neat transition animation. It records 1080p inside and 12 megapixels outside, both demoed in the video. Image quality under a display layer remains an open question, since rivals retreated from similar attempts. The real foldable advantage is framing with the inner screen while shooting on the rear cameras.

Two 48-megapixel rear cameras cover main and wide, with no telephoto, which heavy zoom users will miss. Duo also lacks the physical aperture, matching the iPhone 17 camera system. A nice touch is a rear-screen animation that holds kids' gaze for photos.

Touch ID returns in the side power key, with no Face ID on this model. Volume keys moved to the top edge, which takes adjustment. Speakers keep stereo in both folded and open states. MagSafe is aboard, USB-C Pencil works on both screens, the frame is titanium, sealing is IP68, and the A20 Pro drives claimed video playback of 44 hours outer and 31 hours inner.

The 18 Pro and Pro Max gain a physical aperture with four steps: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4.0. Shutter speed spans 1/16000 to one second, bringing formerly app-only control in-house. White balance offers presets without manual Kelvin entry. A smaller Dynamic Island shows three live activities at once.

Pricing: Duo at 1999 dollars in the US and 229 thousand lira in Turkiye; 18 Pro at 1199 dollars and 138 thousand lira; Pro Max at 1299 dollars and 149 thousand lira. The low Pro Max figure heard in the video is an auto-caption truncation, corrected against independent sources. The Pro line carries roughly a 100-dollar rise, with Duo on sale October 23.

The watch highlight is a daily readiness score blending pulse, sleep and activity. Series 12 starts at 399 dollars and 28 thousand lira; Ultra 4 at 799 dollars and 75,999 lira. The crown double-press that turns the last 15 seconds of conversation into text slips to year-end and raises privacy questions. Both AirPods 5 versions include active noise cancellation at 129 and 149 dollars.