iPhone Duo looks odd on calls, but who picks up a call in 2026?
A heated debate emerged online about whether Apple’s first foldable iPhone Duo looks awkward against the caller’s ear. Some web dwellers have a more pressing question: why are you answering calls at all?
The Duo was the highlight of Apple’s September presentation, introducing a folding screen to a line-up of familiar handsets, watches and earbuds. But once the excitement over Apple’s first foldable settled, an X thread turned to the less glamorous business of holding it against your face.
Sharing an image depicting the closed handset against someone’s ear, @immasiddx delivered a blunt verdict: «It just looks so weird and uncomfortable.»
Still Rising imagined the emergency meeting in Cupertino: «Apple probably has 37 design teams working on how to make answering a call look normal on that thing.»
Apple probably has 37 design teams working on how to make answering a call look normal on that thing 😭
— Still Rising. (@HopeezQuiet) September 11, 2026
A folding display is one engineering challenge. Answering your mum without looking peculiar is apparently another challenge.
Read more: On the hinge: Inside Apple’s 15-year journey to foldable iPhone Duo
The BlackBerry veterans would like a word
Other replies treated the complaint as a failure of historical memory.
«Phones used to be around that size… the world will not end, sir,» wrote Wakko, supplying pictures of BlackBerry handsets as evidence.
Phones used to be around that size… the world will not end, sir pic.twitter.com/T8T0FQkXM9
— Wakko (@IfYouSeekJuan) September 10, 2026
Playintraffic invoked another veteran of pockets and pavements: «Dude, we’ve held Nokia 3310s; I think we can handle holding this.»
Dude, we’ve held Nokia 3310s I think we can handle holding this. The bigger issue is the removal of the action button that to me is a genuine crime.
— P1ayintraffic (@p1ayintraffic) September 11, 2026
Read more: Apple rolls out iPhone Duo, 18 series, AirPods 5 and new Apple Watch
Then came a different defence, which rather abandoned the phone’s original purpose.
«Who still picks up a call?» asked Leon Mast.
Who still picks up a call?
— Leon Mast (@leonmastcom) September 10, 2026
Eddi was equally puzzled: «Who holds their phone up to their ear in 2026?»
Who holds their phone up to their ear in 2026?
— エディ 𝙀𝙙𝙙𝙞 🛜 (@schassis_eddi) September 10, 2026
Straelight offered the inevitable Apple accessories joke: «it’s because you have to use it with your $1000 AirPods.»
it’s because you have to use it with your $1000 AirPods
— Straelight 🇿🇦 (@KarmanKekana) September 10, 2026
In this corner of the thread, the solution to an awkward-looking phone call was to stop having one.
Someone actually tried it
Amid the speculation, Nicolas Lellouche posted a photograph of himself holding the Duo against his ear.
«Honestly, that doesn’t seem weird when I tried,» he wrote.
Honestly that doesn’t seem weird when I tried. pic.twitter.com/cYAh1hddiY
— Nicolas Lellouche (@LelloucheNico) September 10, 2026
That is a useful distinction: looking unusual in a picture does not establish that a handset feels uncomfortable. At least one person who had held it felt relatively unconcerned.
Mike Thompson, meanwhile, supplied the thread’s neatest verdict: «I forgot this is supposed to be a phone.»
I forgot this is supposed to be a phone
— Mike Thompson (@mikejthomp) September 10, 2026
Read more: iPhone Duo hands-on: perks, flaws and $1,999 trade-offs
