iPhone Duo takes on iPad tablets with dual page layout for reading PDF books

The price of Apple's iPhone Duo may be pegged at $2,199 for the 512 GB version, but if it replaces both an iPhone and an iPad, users may find the most expensive iPhone ever worth the cost.

Apart from bragging rights that they own the first foldable phone from Apple, fans would apparently get iPhone Duo functionality that their favorite fruit company had heretofore made possible only on its famed line of iPad tablets on account of their larger screen real estate.

iPhone Duo two-page document layout

A promo video suggests Apple's upcoming foldable could tackle one of the iPhone's weaknesses, namely reading documents. Apple's first folding handset, the iPhone Duo, appears to support a dual-page layout in Quick Look, and it could make a real difference for anyone who handles PDFs on the go.

The unfolded iPhone Duo can display a PDF as two side-by-side pages, much like an open book. Swiping flips through the spreads left to right, and developers are already teasing that one can load and read PDF books with their respective app updates for the iPhone Duo that will drop on the day of its release, October 23.

Anyone who has tried to read a PDF on a regular iPhone knows the pain. Pinching, zooming, and constant panning are part of the routine, which is why many people simply reach for an iPad instead. The Duo's larger inner display looks set to change, as the two-page view appears well suited to textbooks, reports, and long documents. Users can also stick with a single-page layout, which still benefits from the bigger canvas when the phone is unfurled. Switching between the two seems to depend on the task at hand.

There could be more to come, as Apple Pencil support is expected to arrive on the iPhone Duo later this year, too. With it, the foldable would handle handwritten annotations and markup directly on documents. If that holds true, the Duo would become the first iPhone with a complete PDF workflow, from reading to reviewing to signing off.

Apple has long kept the iPhone and iPad in separate lanes, so a pocketable device that can mimic its tablet's document handling blurs that line. This may convince a future iPad owner or two to make do with just the iPhone Duo instead, which could cannibalize some sales, especially of the iPad mini, which would save them at least $499 with the current Amazon discount that can go towards the purchase of an iPhone Duo.