iPhone Duo's $2,000 Price Tag Meets Its Best Apps Yet

Apple's first foldable phone starts at $2,000, and that price is the reason developer support matters so much right now, according to TechCrunch.

How Much Does the iPhone Duo Cost?

The iPhone Duo starts at $2,000, TechCrunch reports, a figure that reviewer Sarah Perez says made her question whether "propping up the phone as a little tent to watch Netflix" was worth the money before she tried Duo-built apps. That early hesitation, she writes, faded once developers started pitching software designed specifically for the device's folding screens.

Which Mainstream Apps Were Ready for Launch?

Apple picked a small group of partners to have Duo-optimized versions ready on day one, per TechCrunch: Netflix, the MLB app, NYT Cooking, Slack, and the calendar app Fantastical. TechCrunch notes that many other everyday iOS apps were not ready at launch, appearing instead with black bars, misplaced controls, or scaled-up layouts reminiscent of early iPhone apps running on the iPad.

How Does Netflix Use the Duo's Two Screens?

Netflix is TechCrunch's lead example of what a well-built Duo app looks like. Rather than simply stretching its interface across the folding display, the streaming app treats the Duo's outer and inner screens as two distinct surfaces with different jobs, according to the review, which was conducted on a review unit Apple supplied to TechCrunch. The design lets one screen handle quick glances while the other handles full playback — the kind of split-screen behavior the Duo's hardware was built to support.

What Other Apps Take Advantage of the Foldable Design?

Beyond Apple's launch partners, independent developers have built apps around the Duo's two-screen hardware, including a retro-style cassette player, a virtual notebook, a flight tracker, and even a digital toaster app, TechCrunch reports. The common thread, per the outlet, is that these apps do not just resize to fit the fold — they assign different functions to each screen, the same approach Netflix takes.

What Should iPhone Duo Buyers Watch For Next?

• Whether more mainstream apps — the ones still showing black bars or oversized buttons — get Duo-specific updates in the coming weeks, per TechCrunch's reporting on launch-week app support.
• Whether independent developers keep building niche, two-screen-only apps like the cassette player and digital toaster TechCrunch highlighted, or whether that early creativity tapers off.
• Whether Apple expands its list of hand-picked launch partners (currently including Netflix, MLB, NYT Cooking, Slack, and Fantastical) to cover more categories of daily-use software.
• Whether the $2,000 starting price becomes less of a sticking point for buyers as more apps are built specifically for the fold, rather than merely resized to fit it.

The full breakdown of apps and screenshots is available in TechCrunch's original review.