Apple recently held their ‘Surprise and Shine’ event, but for those who had been scurrying around the internet for all the pre-event rumours (like us 😉) the big surprise wasn’t that big a surprise. That DOES NOT mean we were disappointed though. Far from it. And we’d go so far as to say you shouldn’t be either.
In his first event as the new CEO, John Ternus talked about how our ideal daily device should act like an intelligent personal hub with AI baked in, a battery we can rely on, and a form factor that fits in with how we live & work. This breakdown sounds just like the iPhone we know & love already, but this announcement brought with it the biggest step change to the lineup in a long time.
Coming soon is the iPhone Duo – Apple’s first foldable and a device that could conceivably spell the end of business users carrying both a smartphone and a tablet.
iPhone Duo
For a while now, we’ve known what to expect with an iPhone. The aspect ratio on the mainline devices has been the same for around a decade so when picking up a new one you’ve been able to see how it’s made an improvement, but still also feel immediately at home because it’s running the same software as before but in slightly better hardware.
We can’t say the same thing with the iPhone Duo.
The iPhone Duo is a foldable device which, when folded, is about the size of a passport. This invites you to open it up and see the 7.6” inner display – the largest iPhone display ever made – hosted on the thinnest body Apple have ever released. Both screens run a consistent 16:9 aspect ratio meaning that the switch between folded & unfolded content feels intuitive and seamless.
Apple aren’t the first company to market with a foldable (Samsung have been doing it for a while and have also just updated their range), but in a very ‘Apple’ way they are aiming to redefine the experience of using these devices. The goal is to make it feel less like two phones stuck together, but instead to bring the intuitiveness of an iPad to a foldable and make the transition between screens feel uninterrupted.
The design allows it to do some funky things that you’ve never been able to do with an iPhone before like have it be self-supporting for when you want to dial into a video call or run a presentation in the background as you work on another device.
But who is this for? At Aerial Direct we talk to business users all day long, and we know that many of you are often using both smartphones & tablets on the road to fulfil different tasks.
Maybe you’re calling the office with your phone but filling in site surveys on your tablet. Or find that your phone is too small to effectively review documents when out & about, so have to take a laptop with you. Or perhaps it’s simply that you think a phone is fine for phone calls and small tasks, but for video calls & presentations you need that bigger screen.
Well iPhone Duo could be just the device for you and your business as it could be the ‘one device to rule them all’ we’ve been waiting for.
Like the iPhone Air last year, the Duo will only be available with an eSIM and pre-orders officially open on 16th October with the first units being delivered on 23rd.
iPhone 18 Pro Max and 18 Pro
That wasn’t all that was announced though. The Pro and Pro Max variants of the iPhone have also had an upgrade, and these bring some material changes over the 17.
In short, they have better processors, better cameras, and more battery life than before. Apple claims that the battery on the Pro Max runs for 45 hours continuous video playback and the 18 Pro gets the same battery as the 17 Pro Max from last year, so you can have a battery that was top of the range 12 months ago, without needing to get the top tier phone.
It almost sounds boring, but one of the most impressive feats with the new phones is that the charging capability of these has really been ramped up. Apple claim that you can get up to a 50% charge in only 15 minutes via a wired connection, which is seriously impressive. And useful for those of us who might occasionally forget to charge our devices overnight (guilty as charged).
The new phones come in four colours and are available for pre-order from 12th September with the first units shipping arriving on the 18th.
Interested?
The good news is that you can register your interest in these new devices with Aerial Direct TODAY. Simply fill in the form on the following page and our team will be in touch.