{"id":23659,"date":"2026-09-15T18:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/?p=23659"},"modified":"2026-09-15T19:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:48:11","slug":"xiaomi-18-fold-shows-just-how-much-apple-changed-ios-for-the-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/15\/xiaomi-18-fold-shows-just-how-much-apple-changed-ios-for-the-duo\/","title":{"rendered":"Xiaomi 18 Fold Shows Just How Much Apple Changed iOS for the Duo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s a surprisingly easy detail to miss when comparing the iPhone Duo<\/a> with other foldables: Apple didn\u2019t just make the screen bigger<\/em>. It moved the furniture<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"\"
iPhone Duo (L), Xiaomi 18 Fold (R)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Take the Dock, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the iPhone Duo<\/strong>, iOS 27<\/a> moves the Home Screen\u2019s Dock from its traditional position at the bottom of the display and places it vertically along the side. Apple has also moved navigation and other essential controls to the side, freeing up more of that unusually tall display for actual content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there\u2019s the Xiaomi 18 Fold<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaomi \u2014 one of the company\u2019s biggest foldable competitors \u2014 has built a very different interpretation of the same basic idea: a wide, book-style foldable that becomes a large canvas when opened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HyperOS 4 brings plenty of foldable-specific multitasking features, including multiple app layouts and floating windows. (tech-ish<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the traditional Dock hasn\u2019t been given the same dramatic relocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sounds like a tiny<\/em> thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Apple treated the fold as a new interface<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The interesting thing about the Duo<\/a> isn\u2019t simply that the Dock is on the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s why<\/strong> it\u2019s on the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A conventional bottom Dock makes perfect sense on a conventional phone. But open up a foldable and suddenly you\u2019ve got a much wider, taller canvas. Keeping everything anchored to the bottom means you\u2019re continuing to design for the old shape of the device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple instead seems to have asked a slightly more fundamental question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Apple<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What if iOS stopped pretending this was a normal iPhone?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where the Duo<\/a> starts to feel different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controls move depending on how you\u2019re holding the device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interface can adapt when the phone is folded, partially folded, rotated or propped up. Apple even describes the content as reacting to the device as it changes orientation<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dock is just one visible consequence of that thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

And Xiaomi makes the contrast easier to see<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Xiaomi 18 Fold is hardly a simple foldable. In fact, its software does some seriously clever<\/em> things<\/a> with the additional screen real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But putting the two devices next to each other makes Apple\u2019s approach stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaomi has essentially made a very capable foldable interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple has tried to make iOS behave<\/em> like it was designed for a foldable \u2014 from the beginning<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Apple<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a much bigger undertaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it explains why so many of the Duo<\/a>\u2019s little touches feel connected<\/a>: the side Dock, the redesigned status area, the way apps transition between screens, Split View, the way content moves away from the crease and even the behaviour when the phone is sitting on a desk. (MacRumors<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of those things individually is revolutionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, they make the Duo<\/a> feel considerably more deliberate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Dock might be the best example of Apple\u2019s care for the finer details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is why I\u2019ve become increasingly interested in Apple\u2019s decision to move something as perceptibly boring as the iPhone\u2019s Dock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MacObserver<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It isn\u2019t flashy<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It won\u2019t sell a $1,999 phone<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s the sort of decision you make when you\u2019re designing around the shape of the computer<\/strong>, rather than simply putting a larger screen on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Xiaomi 18 Fold<\/a> proves that you can build a great wide foldable without completely reinventing where everything lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The iPhone Duo<\/a> suggests Apple wasn\u2019t interested in doing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

It wanted iOS to change <\/em>and adapt with<\/em> the physical hardware<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s probably the part of the Duo<\/a> that other foldable makers should be watching most closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a surprisingly easy detail to miss when comparing the iPhone Duo with other foldables: Apple didn\u2019t just make the screen bigger. It moved the furniture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2786,174,16],"tags":[4,2719,3754,15,1763,3610,3581,3355,3511,32,3753,805],"class_list":["post-23659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple-blog","category-blog","category-iphone","tag-apple","tag-dock","tag-foldables","tag-hardware","tag-interface","tag-ios-27","tag-iphone-duo","tag-multitasking","tag-navigation","tag-software","tag-synergy","tag-ui"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23659"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23672,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23659\/revisions\/23672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}