From The Verge · Andrew Liszewski · · 2 min
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.
In brief
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 name, following years of dual-screen hardware, video apps, and quirky gadgets. Originally reported by The Verge.
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.
In short
Apple is far from the first tech giant to use the Duo name, following years of dual-screen hardware, video apps, and quirky gadgets.
