Apple announced its long-rumored foldable, the iPhone Duo at its Surprise and Shine event on September 9th — and it could be the device that finally takes foldables mainstream. It has an anti-glare coating, almost no visible crease, and is only the second foldable in the U.S. to be rated for both true dust and water resistance (IP68 rating).
Also: iPhone Duo hands-on: The $2,000 foldable has some magical touches
But it also comes with a $2,000 price tag; a price that really starts to sting when you look at its camera capabilities and compare them to the new $1,199 iPhone 18 Pro (or even last year’s iPhone 17 Pro).
The iPhone Duo not only lacks a telephoto sensor (like Samsung’s wide-screen Galaxy Z Fold 8), but also doesn’t support certain pro camera features. I’m stoked to try the iPhone 18 Pro’s new variable aperture feature and Pro controls, but by comparison, the iPhone Duo’s shooting capabilities may fall short.
No ProRAW is a big miss
Kerry Wan/ZDNETThe iPhone Duo features a two-camera setup on the back. It has a 48MP main camera accompanied by another 48MP ultrawide-angle sensor, and the megapixel count is similar to its more affordable Pro siblings.
However, it doesn’t give you the ability to shoot ProRAW photos or ProRes videos. There’s no variable aperture, so I kind of understand not having these Pro controls, but the absence of ProRAW and ProRes puts these cameras on par with the $799 (now $899) base iPhone 17.
Not having access to ProRAW photos hurts, as I’m an amateur travel photographer who loves the ability to take ProRAW photos on the iPhone 17 Pro Max and later edit them on Lightroom. It’s always a joyful experience to be in a new place, capture hi-res photos and add your own personality to them through color correction.
Also: How to preorder the new iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and everything else Apple announced
For context, Apple’s ProRAW combines the information of a standard RAW format along with iPhone image processing to give you more flexibility when editing the exposure, color, and white balance in your photo. It has been available on every Pro iPhone since the iPhone 12 Pro models in 2026. Six years later, we have a $2,000 foldable iPhone, which doesn’t support this feature.
At that price, I’d like my phone to be more capable than a base iPhone model.
Apple’s iPhone Duo makes a strong case for on-the-go photo-editing with its full-screen experience on the 7.6-inch folding display. Don’t get me wrong, you can still edit photos on it, but they’ll simply not have the flexibility of ProRAW. And for creators, there’s no ProRes video support either, so no scope for color correction in post-editing.
Pro vs. non-Pro: The distinction is clear
Kerry Wan/ZDNETThe new Pro controls are one of the most interesting upgrades for the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models. They let you add manual controls like aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and histogram in the viewfinder. While there’s no variable aperture on iPhone Duo’s main camera, it would have been nice to adjust shutter speed and white balance from the viewfinder itself.
The new foldable iPhone also has a lower-resolution front camera. It features a 12MP front camera rather than an 18MP sensor from last year’s models. Thankfully, you still get Center Stage features like auto-framing and better stabilization in videos. And you can always use the rear cameras for selfies on a folding phone.
Kerry Wan/ZDNETMaybe Apple is setting this as the base model for an upcoming Pro Duo model next year, or maybe ProRAW and Pro controls are just one of those features that remain exclusive to the Pro models for as long as possible (like ProMotion).
You’d expect a $2,000 model to get you everything a $1,199 model does, but that’s not the case with the iPhone Duo. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max remain the creativity-focused phones, built for pushing the limits in videography and photography, while the regular iPhone 17 is enough for most people.
Also: iPhone Duo or 18 Pro? 8 reasons why I’m skipping Apple’s first foldable
Meanwhile, the first foldable iPhone sits between those two models in terms of camera capabilities. I just wish it’d get me access to a feature that has been available on iPhones since 2020 (after all, they had a less capable processor, smaller sensors and a lower megapixel count). But for now, we’ll have to put novelty ahead of functionality to justify the $2,000 asking price.
