The incomplete history of Duo devices

Apple announced the company’s first instrumentality pinch a folding screen today, the iPhone Duo, but that’s wherever the firsts end. The Duo is not only acold from the first foldable connected the marketplace acknowledgment to the efforts of Samsung and Google, but it’s besides not the first merchandise to beryllium called the Duo.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs popularized the saying “good artists copy, awesome artists steal,” but will the iPhone Duo’s folding screen, which features a civilization nano-texture show worldly to thief minimize the visibility of its crease, beryllium capable to make america hide these different Duos that person travel earlier it? Only time, aliases really aggressively Apple plans to marketplace its Duo, will tell. Is location a Duo we missed? Let america know.

Merging the functionality of the TurboGrafx-16 console and the TurboGrafx-CD that added CD-ROM functionality, the NEC TurboDuo (later rebranded to conscionable the Duo) launched successful North America successful 1993 aft debuting successful Japan a fewer years earlier arsenic the PC Engine Duo. The console was developed arsenic portion of a associated task betwixt NEC and Hudson Soft but ne'er reached the fame of the original TurboGrafx-16; its short tally ended connected Christmas Day successful 1995.

First released successful 2016 and eventually merged into Google Meet successful 2022, Google Duo was the company’s proprietary VoIP work meant to compete pinch products for illustration Skype aliases Zoom and switch Hangouts. Its cross-platform readiness included Android and iOS mobile devices arsenic good arsenic web browsers, and while it supported hi-def video calls, the work was besides optimized for slow mobile networks.

The iPhone Duo isn’t moreover Apple’s first Duo. The PowerBook Duo predates everything Apple announced today by decades. It was an ultraportable laptop, and erstwhile Apple introduced it successful 1992 it was the smallest and lightest PowerBook available, but still weighed complete 4 pounds. Apple managed to shrink the Duo utilizing an attack it still uses today: omitting built-in ports and description features. If you wanted to link peripherals and accessories you had to trust connected optional docks. If you’ve ever had to bargain a USB hub to link each your devices to your MacBook, you tin convey the PowerBook Duo.

Twenty-three years aft the PowerBook Duo was discontinued, the institution announced the MagSafe Duo charger that could wirelessly complaint an iPhone and an Apple Watch astatine the aforesaid time. However, it felt for illustration a consolation prize for the Apple AirPower wireless charger, which was announced successful 2017 but ne'er materialized. The MagSafe Duo was discontinued conscionable a fewer years later successful precocious 2023, paving the measurement for the foldable iPhone to bargain its identity.

That’s right, the iPhone Duo isn’t moreover the first folding mobile instrumentality to beryllium called the Duo. Microsoft’s Surface Duo launched successful 2020 and managed to get astir the issues pinch early foldables for illustration the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which debuted a twelvemonth prior, by skipping elastic surface exertion altogether. Microsoft’s Duo alternatively had a very visible hinge betwixt its brace of 5.6-inch OLED screens. But package issues, a disappointing camera, and outdated specs erstwhile it launched each resulted successful the Surface Duo’s failure, moreover pinch an improved Duo 2 that launched a twelvemonth later.

Trade shows are the birthplace of weird laptops, but sometimes the prototypes that often debut conscionable to draw visitors to booths make it into the mainstream. Such was the lawsuit pinch the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo, a powerful gaming laptop pinch fantabulous specs, a wildly costly value tag, and a brace of 16-inch OLED screens that tin beryllium vertically stacked aliases placed broadside by side.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo wasn’t Asus’ first effort astatine creating a dual-screen laptop, aliases the first clip it named a laptop a Duo. The ZenBook Pro Duo predates it by respective years pinch a somewhat different design. Beneath the ZenBook Pro Duo’s superior 15.6-inch OLED surface was a secondary 14-inch show located supra the laptop’s keyboard. With an ultrawide 32:9 facet ratio and little colour fidelity, the smaller surface was designed to beryllium a spot to dock productivity devices for illustration Slack aliases Gmail truthful they were still readily accessible but little of a distraction while moving (or gaming) connected the superior display.

After convincing Google to open-source the Pebble’s operating strategy past year, Eric Migicovsky, the creator of what was arguably 1 of the first genuinely successful and tin smartwatches, resurrected the wearable nether a caller institution called Core Devices. The Pebble 2 Duo, 1 of the first smartwatches from Migicovsky’s caller company, isn’t arsenic tin arsenic the Apple Watch aliases devices moving Android’s Wear OS, but its observant equilibrium of simplicity, functionality, and a budget-friendly value make it a tempting alternative.

It’s still conscionable a prototype and whitethorn ne'er find its measurement into consumers’ homes, but astatine IFA 2026 successful Berlin past week, iRobot debuted the bizarre Roomba Duo. The prototype includes a beefy mobile dock pinch cleanable and soiled h2o tanks and the astir powerful floor-cleaning suction the institution has ever made. To guarantee it tin cleanable each areas successful your home, atop the Roomba Duo is simply a deployable car shed pinch a smaller Roomba Plus 757 wrong that tin easy fresh into tight spaces and beneath furniture.

Mere hours earlier the iPhone Duo made its debut, Retroid revealed the afloat creation of its latest dual-screen handheld it’s been teasing. The Retroid Pocket Duo is simply a modernized type of the Nintendo DS pinch dual 120Hz OLED screens featuring a 16:9 facet ratio connected apical and a 4:3 facet ratio betwixt its controls. Full specs and pricing aren’t confirmed yet, but the Pocket Duo features a symmetrical dual thumbstick design, 2 pairs of enarthrosis buttons, and a headphone jack.