QUESTION · MEDIA PRODUCTION Q&A

The foldable iPhone Duo is real for creators. Is a fold-out screen a monitor, a teleprompter, or a gimmick? What would the panel actually do with it on set?

ASKED BY · Paul Valhus · AUSTIN, TEXAS · 11 SEP 2026 · ▶ 00:20:11

THE PANEL'S ANSWER

The inside camera has pixels in front that degrade image quality; as a teleprompter, the external screen works better, and the device has potential for field journalism and on-air messaging.

Jason BachePANELIST

The camera is limited compared to the iPhone 18 Pro, making it primarily a consumption device and compelling iPad alternative in pocket form.

Summarised by AI from what the panel said. Watch the moment for the full answer.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

From the transcript.

Machine-transcribed, so it may contain errors. Every timestamp opens the episode at that second.

19:51and you're trying not to have a million cords everywhere when you plug in just that little one thing on the bedside that has a watch charger on one side and a phone charger on the other, I found myself just throwing the AirPods on it as opposed to the watch a lot of the time. Next question. Paul Valhus in Austin, Texas asks, The foldable iPhone Duo is real for creators.

20:15Is a fold-out screen a monitor, a teleprompter, or a gimmick? What would the panel actually do with it on set? That's interesting. We didn't talk about it from a teleprompter point of view before, but that's actually a pretty neat idea. Jason? It's not a bad idea. You'd have to get it high enough for your eyeline to make sense. I mean, honestly, what I think it really is because the camera is hobbled compared to the 18 Pro is the ultimate consumption device and the insanely cool iPad in your pocket.

20:51Courtney? Yeah, I watched Marcus Brownlee's review of the Duo, and I can't remember which the selfie cam is under the screen, so it doesn't have a cutout for it. And it degrades the quality of the camera quite a bit. So bear that in mind because it's got those pixels in front of it, which is going to soften the image quite a bit.

21:18So if you're using it as a teleprompter, if the inside camera, I don't know if it's the inside camera or the one when it's closed as the selfie camera. I'm not sure. It's the inside camera. The inside camera is underneath the screen. So it's got pixels in front of it. So bear that in mind. So it's not going to be near as sharp as the cameras on the back are.

21:40So if you're using it as a teleprompter, you're going to degrade your quality. You could put that, but if you had it unfolded, you could have the teleprompter on the outside screen. And then your eyeline's a little messed up, but it's not in front of the camera anymore. But if it was just notes or just for messaging to on-air talent, I think there's potential there.

22:03And again, this is not, it's a cell phone. I don't want to oversell it. It's a cell phone, but if you look at how many, if you take a look at the footage that shows up on cable news and on weather channels, it is not the top, top, top quality of what shows up on television. It is whatever we can get out with the lowest friction kit we can get.

22:34And that's where I think there's an opportunity to raise the level up and to give people who are creating in that little slice of broadcast an ability to have a pretty innovative tool. And right now, because it's so new, it's all just possibility of, okay, well, what sort of production-focused app could you build so that you have the return feed and you have the ability to have either a teleprompter or text instructions if you're in a situation where you don't have comms?

23:11again if people are doing stand-ups or a remote hit not even a remote hit if they're doing a pre-recorded stand-up there's not there's not necessarily comms in that situation but again if you I was at the was if it was a few years ago I think this was actually it was a couple it was 2019 so it was seven years ago there was something going on that was of note in the Vatican and I was

23:40there not for that. But I went into St. Peter's Basilica and there were like seven people right in a row all doing a little stand-up with a one or two person crew with just, again, it was at the time, a phone and a one by one and a wireless microphone. So all of those people just now got a tool that puts them in a completely different space than they were before. And that's the cool

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