Digesting all the details from Apple’s iPhone Duo foldable phone reveal has been quite revealing. As usual with such a newsworthy new device, there are lots of little details you only find out over time. The displays have different pixel densities, for example. Check out our full iPhone Duo hands on, too.
However, one feature leapt out at me and it’s the Touch ID used in the power button on the side. That’s because it feels like a bit of a retrograde step not to have the newer Face ID tech. Now, we know that Face ID requires quite a lot of tech in the notch/Dynamic Island and presumably there was a space concern around it. However, other manufacturers do have face unlock in their foldable devices.
When unlocking, the lack of Face ID is unlikely to be too much of an issue because you’ll usually touch the power button to wake the phone. There is also device unlock with your Apple Watch (an Apple Watch can be used to able to unlock a Mac, for example) and I expect Apple has some comprehensive research that 99% of people who buy an iPhone Duo already have a Watch.
However, Touch ID is not going to be as convenient as Face ID for purchases and authenticating things like downloading apps. And given that it is nine years since Face ID appeared in the iPhone X you’d have thought Apple would have been able to work it into the Fold in some way. Of course, internal space is at even more of a premium with the Fold than with any previous iPhone and a compromise has therefore been made.
Touch ID had previously disppared from the iPhone of course – appearing for the last time (before the Duo!) in 2022’s iPhone SE (3rd gen).
Of course one issue that there are – obviously – two displays for this phone and that also probably caused an problem. So say Apple could add Face ID to the external display, perhaps it couldn’t to the 7.6in internal one and therefore the experience would be inconsistent. Clearly this is something Apple was keen to avoid.
I also think it’s a bit bizarre the phone doesn’t include the Action Button, which in turn replaced the old silent/ringer slider when it does have the Camera Control button. Again this would presumably be because of space concerns and maybe also logic, with too many buttons on the outer edges. Even so, the lack of Face ID remains the main drawback for me.
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