Why I returned my iPhone Duo

Last week I got an iPhone Duo. Six days later, I swapped it for an iPhone 18 Pro Max. Here’s my review of the Duo, and why I ultimately decided it wasn’t for me. I’ve had iPhones since the iPhone 3G in 2008 – almost twenty years now. In that time we’ve seen the screen size increase a lot and the removal of the home button, but the form factor has otherwise stayed the same. I used to think this was a bit boring. I’d get a new phone, restore it from a backup, and then think “what now?” It wasn’t usually appreciably different than my previous phone, and I felt like I missed the pre-iPhone days when I’d switch form factors all the time to try new things: a Sony Ericsson slab phone, a Samsung flip phone, a Nokia with a truly bonkers keypad layout. I even tried a Windows Mobile phone for a spell. Because of this I was really excited to get the Duo. The idea of a phone that was new and different sounded great; especially the way it could become a tablet when needed. However, there were a few…