Samsung, Google and Huawei have all been shipping foldable phones for several years now, and Apple has taken plenty of criticism over that time for being slow to enter the category. But when we sat down with Apple CEO John Ternus and marketing chief Greg Joswiak ahead of the iPhone Duo’s release, both executives made it clear that Apple was never chasing a release date. It was waiting until the software experience actually matched what a good foldable should feel like, and their criticism of the current Android foldable landscape was pretty direct.
This interview was originally conducted by Tom’s Guide, where Apple CEO John Ternus and marketing chief Greg Joswiak sat down for an exclusive conversation about the iPhone Duo.
Apple’s Blunt Assessment of Android Foldable Apps
Joswiak did not hold back when describing what Apple has seen from the existing foldable app ecosystem on Android. He said what other companies have shipped simply was not particularly inspiring, and that Apple has never wanted to rush a product out half finished just to claim it arrived first in a category. It is a pointed comment, but anyone who has actually used a Galaxy Z Fold 8 running a stretched version of a normal Android app knows exactly what he is talking about.
The specific examples that came up were telling. Slack on a Galaxy Z Fold 8 largely just looks like an oversized version of the standard phone app rather than something redesigned to take advantage of the extra screen real estate. Scrolling through comments on Instagram on a foldable often just ends up covering the content you are trying to read entirely, which defeats the purpose of having a bigger screen in the first place.
How Apple Approached the App Problem Differently
Apple’s answer to this has been to work directly with major developers well ahead of launch, rather than simply opening up the iPhone Duo’s larger display and hoping app makers would eventually get around to optimizing for it. Netflix, Slack and Zoom were specifically named as apps that received dedicated attention from Apple’s development teams to make sure they actually take advantage of both the Duo’s cover display and its larger 7.6 inch unfolded screen.
Joswiak compared this approach directly to how Apple handled the original iPad launch back in 2010, describing the extensive work Apple did with third party developers at the time to avoid the iPad simply feeling like an oversized iPhone. He argued the same philosophy applies here, and that avoiding the mistakes Android tablets made with app scaling was a major reason the software side of the iPhone Duo took as long as it did to get right.
A New Control Layout Built for Two Screens
Beyond individual app optimization, Apple CEO John Ternus also detailed a broader interface change coming with iOS 27 on the iPhone Duo. The redesigned system moves primary navigation controls toward the right edge of the display on both the cover screen and the larger interior screen, so the experience stays consistent whether the phone is folded shut or fully open.
Ternus explained the goal was making sure your thumb naturally lands on the same controls whether the device is closed or open, which keeps the transition between the two screen states feeling continuous rather than like two completely separate devices stitched together. It is a detail that will only really be judged once real people are using it every day, but it lines up with the pattern across this entire launch of Apple prioritizing a coherent software experience over simply matching the hardware specs of its Android competition.
Whether that translates into an actual advantage once the iPhone Duo ships in October remains to be seen, but Apple’s messaging throughout this entire interview made one thing clear. The company is betting that software polish, not being first to market, is what will ultimately decide who wins the foldable phone category long term.
