Apple Is Asking iPhone Duo Buyers What They Would Change — Starting With the Crease and the Camera

Apple is asking early iPhone Duo buyers what they would change about its first foldable iPhone, with a new customer survey focusing on the screen crease, display size and camera experience just two weeks after launch. The questionnaire, shared by MacRumors, has been emailed to some iPhone Duo owners. It asks how they feel about several aspects of the device, including whether the crease in the folding display is noticeable and how satisfied they are with the under-display camera.

What Apple is asking

The first question asks why the buyer chose the iPhone Duo now, with answer choices covering enthusiasm for trying the company's first foldable phone, an unplanned purchase and concerns about future smartphone price increases. Four questions follow on the phone itself. One asks about the size of the display when the phone is closed — the outer display measures 5.4 inches, about the same size as the discontinued iPhone mini line. Another asks how visible the crease is. The other two ask whether the under-display camera is distracting and how good its image quality is. The final question is open-ended and asks what the buyer would add or change about the iPhone Duo.

Two known weak spots

The questions highlight some of the trade-offs that come with the Duo's design. Its folding inner screen has a crease that can be seen under certain conditions. Apple has designed the display to make that crease less apparent, rather than claiming it is invisible — its nano-texture finish is meant to minimise crease visibility, and a lab test by HTX Studio measured the crease at 48 microns on a new iPhone Duo and 167 microns after 3,000 folds. The other focus is the 4-megapixel camera positioned beneath the inner display, with an f/1.8 aperture recording 1080p video at 30 or 60 frames per second. That arrangement keeps the larger screen uninterrupted by a conventional camera cutout, but image quality is a potential compromise compared with a traditional front-facing camera — it was one of the main complaints in reviews. For higher-quality selfies, Apple points to the 48MP rear cameras, with the outer display as the preview.

What the survey does not ask

Just as telling is what is missing. The survey does not ask about Touch ID, the experience of using applications that have not been optimised for the foldable display, or the reports of inner displays cracking around the hinge on a small number of devices. Apple said on October 26 that the inner display cracking affects a small number of units and told owners to contact AppleCare for a replacement. Post-launch customer surveys are a regular part of product research, so the questionnaire does not establish that Apple is preparing specific changes to a future iPhone Duo. It does, however, show which parts of the new design Apple is seeking direct feedback on from early buyers — and the crease and the camera are at the top of that list.

Sources

• The Apple Post — Apple Surveys iPhone Duo Owners
• iThinkDiff — Apple's iPhone Duo Survey Asks Buyers About Crease and Camera