Apple's first foldable iPhone wastes screen space on its small outer display

Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, is drawing criticism for how it uses its small outer screen. Early impressions say a software sidebar eats into the 5.4-inch display and leaves part of it empty. The problem appears to be software more than hardware.

What reviewers noticed

The sidebar is meant to make navigation easier. It sits on the right side of the screen, so a big chunk of the display goes unused. A post on Twitter/X compared the same website on both phones, and the gap was easy to see.

The Verge's Allison Johnson also found the iPhone Duo harder to use with one hand than Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8. The Fold 8 is taller and narrower, which makes its outer screen easier to navigate.

How Samsung compares

In The Verge's video, the Fold 8 used an on-screen navigation bar, which made the difference less stark. With swipe gestures turned on, very little of its screen is wasted. Apple's approach shrinks the usable area so media looks taller, like on a regular phone. The Fold 8 shows that leaving the space free for content works well.

Samsung had years to fix Android on foldables, with help from Google. This is Apple's first attempt. The iPhone Duo is on sale, but availability is limited. The material does not say whether Apple plans to change the sidebar, and these are early impressions, not full reviews.