Apple’s vice president of hardware engineering Tom Marieb spoke with TechRadar and shared some candid thoughts about Apple’s upcoming iPhone Duo. The iPhone Duo uses a matte nano-texture display, which aims to reduce glare and minimize crease visibility. When asked if the iPhone Duo’s crease would be more visible over time, since that’s what tends to happen on other foldable devices, Marieb said the nano-texture display would help. He asked people to hold the company “accountable” for the increasing visibility. Hold us responsible for that, please. Choosing a matte finish, in addition to being beautiful, is part of that equation. When you look at glossy screens, their specularity makes it very easy to detect topology differences. That’s part of the reason we chose the matte finish: not only is it beautiful in terms of glare prevention, but it’s also more tolerant of glare. [hinge] changes over time. Marieb said the iPhone Duo’s hinge was something he was “especially proud of” because it took a long time to get the design right. Apple wanted a durable hinge that felt solid when opened and closed. We really did a lot of work on the torque profile, and that means changing a lot of the mechanical properties of the hinge so that it feels solid, like a high-end car door, when you close it. That was the intention of the design, so that people would have the feeling of, ‘Oh, okay.’ This is well made and safe for me to use without worrying about it.’ Apple didn’t want the hinge to be “flexible,” so the torque had to be refined for different use cases. The hinge that Apple came up with allows the iPhone Duo to be used in partially folded sitting and standing modes, as well as open and closed. Marieb said “a lot of blood, sweat and tears” went into designing the hinge. Marieb also talked about Ceramic Shield 2, her dislike of screen protectors, and more, with the full interview available on TechRadar. The iPhone Duo will be available for pre-order on October 16 and will launch on October 23. Pricing starts at $1,999.
