Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 debuted last week as Microsoft’s second take on the foldable phone genre. And what a take it remains. It isn’t styled like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or Galaxy Z Fold-series, which turn into flip phones or small tablets. It instead resembles something that’s more akin to a small laptop or the now obsolete Nintendo DS. With its wide chassis and a less flexible display, it’s very different in a way that some have found off-putting, but that’s not inherently a bad thing.
Microsoft has always been unconventional, zagging when others zig, for better or worse. Its Windows Phone operating system infamously came with Live Tiles where other mobile operating systems pushed icons, it sold its Windows tablets as a desktop replacement while the iPad and Android tablets leaned hard into mobility, and it shipped all sorts of laptop-like devices before straight-up making a laptop. Microsoft has never been one to take the easy road, but this just may be one market where being different pays off.
The weirdest thing about being an unconventional foldable? It’s that there are no rules just yet. While Samsung has so far dominated the foldables market, it’s easy to forget that the question of the “ideal” foldable is not settled. Heck, Apple hasn’t even stepped in yet, and the company does tend to steer the direction of the markets it chooses to dabble in for the most part.
Picked up the Flip 3 for the first time in probably a week to check something, and found that it was shattered inside along the crease. It didn't happen when I opened the phone, and wasn't like this last time I used it. pic.twitter.com/c8GARg7ETj
— Ben Schoon (@NexusBen) September 29, 2021
Samsung’s new Folds and Flips are its best foldables yet, but even they still suffer from the expected issues. There are certain constraints with smartphones just by virtue of physics. Glass breaks, batteries burn, and foldable phones flex. Samsung has done great engineering here, mind you, but no company can build around physics, only work to mitigate its effects. Microsoft’s approach is a different one, one that avoids its battle with physics by choosing not to play that game. Rather, the Duo is comprised of two screens connected by a hinge — and it works. Unlike the myriad of stories you hear about the Razr, Flip, or Fold shattering and breaking, Microsoft’s Duos don’t have the same reputation of fragility.
Foldables by their very nature are different. Is the Duo going to be niche? Yes, but which foldable isn’t? Microsoft excels when it makes niche, weird stuff that is very good at what it does. With the first Duo, the company made some very weird, very strange choices. For a device that’s built for the future, that Duo staked itself firmly in the past. It held on to 4G and an outdated processor, and ditched NFC. Being different in ways like this simply won’t work — and Microsoft learned from that.
The Surface Duo 2 remains an intriguing device. For all the concerns about its hardware, what Microsoft really has to nail — and keep nailing — is its software experience. From animations to reliability, all the way down to updates, the first Duo stumbled right out of the gate. Let’s hope the company can nail it this time so the hardware form factor can truly be evaluated on its own merits.
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Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.