Apple just introduced its first foldable device called the iPhone Duo and it is turning heads with its design, wide double screen, and even its opening animation. However, achieving that impossibly slim profile required a few notable hardware compromises. The most notable omissions on the iPhone Duo are Face ID in favor of a side-mounted Touch ID sensor and a dedicated telephoto camera.
Addressing this in future iterations is likely at the very top of Apple’s internal wish list, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
In the Q&A section of his Power On newsletter, Gurman shared his personal take on where the foldable lineup is headed. It is important to emphasize that Gurman’s comments represent his own educated bet based on industry patterns and technical knowledge—not an official confirmation or leaked product roadmap from Apple.
A fundamental physics problem
Squeezing depth-sensing facial recognition hardware and complex optical zoom lenses into a foldable frame is primarily a depth constraint. Standard Face ID modules require specific sensor depth to project and read infrared dot patterns. Meanwhile, traditional telephoto lenses depend on physical distance between glass elements to achieve optical magnification.
“Both are difficult to squeeze into such a thin device because the necessary components require significant depth — it’s fundamentally a physics problem,” Gurman noted in his newsletter.
Solving hardware limits with AI and miniaturization
Rather than waiting for a breakthrough that suddenly allows thick camera modules to fit into paper-thin chassis, Gurman expects Apple to solve the dilemma through a hybrid approach.
His guess is that Apple will combine further hardware miniaturization with advanced computational artificial intelligence. By using smaller, less sophisticated depth sensors and camera hardware, Apple could rely on software processing to make up the difference in quality and security.
According to Gurman, tech enthusiasts might even get an early preview of this scaled-down facial-recognition technology in Apple’s upcoming smart-home hub before it ever hits a foldable phone.
The expected timeline
Gurman guesses that Apple could overcome these physical constraints by the time the third-generation iPhone Duo rolls around.
For now, early adopters picking up the first-generation iPhone Duo will have to weigh the benefits of a foldable form factor against the absence of optical zoom and Face ID. If Gurman’s predictions hold true, the third iteration could finally bridge the feature gap between Apple’s foldables and its flagship Pro phones.
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