# The long history of Duo devices before the foldable iPhone

> Apple's new foldable phone shares its Duo name with decades of obscure, ambitious, and failed gadgets.
- Title: The long history of Duo devices before the foldable iPhone
- Summary: Apple's new foldable phone shares its Duo name with decades of obscure, ambitious, and failed gadgets. Apple is far from the first tech giant to use the Duo…
- Keywords: apple, hardware, gadgets, tech history, foldables, technology, culture, long, history, Duo, devices, foldable
- Source: The Verge — https://theverge.com/tech/992755/apple-iphone-duo-history-of-devices
- Author: Andrew Liszewski
- Published: 2026-09-09T22:23:35+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: apple, hardware, gadgets, tech history, foldables, technology, culture
## Apple enters the foldable market
Apple announced its first foldable device, the iPhone Duo, featuring a custom nano-texture display designed to minimize crease visibility.
## The 1990s gaming console
The NEC TurboDuo combined TurboGrafx-16 cartridge gaming with a CD-ROM drive in 1993, though its lifespan ended by late 1995.
## Google's cross platform video calls
Google Duo launched in 2016 as a lightweight video calling service meant to replace Hangouts before it merged into Google Meet in 2022.
## Apple's forgotten lightweight laptop
Released in 1992, the PowerBook Duo shed built-in ports to stay lightweight, forcing users to buy external docks for connectivity.

> If you’ve ever had to buy a USB hub to connect all your devices to your MacBook, you can thank the PowerBook Duo.
## The short lived MagSafe Duo
Apple released the MagSafe Duo in 2020 to charge an iPhone and Apple Watch together, but discontinued it three years later.
## Microsoft's dual screen smartphone
Microsoft avoided flexible screens in 2020 by building the Surface Duo with two separate display panels joined by a visible hinge.

> Microsoft’s Duo instead had a very visible hinge between its pair of 5.6-inch OLED screens.
## Asus stacks dual gaming displays
The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo brought two 16-inch OLED displays to a high-end gaming laptop that allowed side-by-side or stacked setups.
## A secondary display for productivity
Before its gaming laptop, Asus released the ZenBook Pro Duo with an ultrawide secondary screen above the keyboard for docking chat apps.
## Pebble returns as a budget watch
Pebble creator Eric Migicovsky resurrected the brand with the Pebble 2 Duo, offering a simple and affordable smartwatch alternative.
## A robot vacuum inside a vacuum
The prototype iRobot Roomba Duo includes a heavy-duty docking base and a smaller deployable robot to clean under low furniture.

> The prototype includes a beefy mobile dock with clean and dirty water tanks and the most powerful floor-cleaning suction the company has ever made.
## A dual screen retro handheld
The Retroid Pocket Duo modernizes the dual-screen handheld layout with two 120Hz OLED panels inspired by the Nintendo DS.
## Key takeaway

Apple is far from the first tech giant to use the Duo name, following years of dual-screen hardware, video apps, and quirky gadgets.