Yes, the iPhone Duo has MagSafe. It will not be widely compatible with the accessories we already own, and love, and that’s okay.
On September 9, 2026, Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, hit us with a “One More Thing” that, at least everyone at AppleInsider, saw coming:
The iPhone Duo.
Apple’s first foldable. A squat little smartphone that looks like the result of putting the iPhone mini and the iPad mini in the machine from the 1986 Cronenberg horror flick “The Fly.”
I’ve known about the iPhone Duo’s squat form factor for a while, and I’m a fan. You might remember me as “the AppleInsider staffer who has endlessly complained that Apple canned the iPhone mini.”
The iPhone Duo, if not for the $1999 price tag, is actually something I’d be interested in getting. Especially because it’s going to work with the Apple Pencil.
When I looked at the iPhone Duo, I didn’t really see an iPhone in the traditional sense. Which is probably why I didn’t immediately stop to think about how the iPhone Duo’s form factor could be a problem for existing iPhone-compatible accessories.
Casetify is getting ready to launch iPhone Duo cases
Specifically, I’m talking about MagSafe wallets and MagSafe batteries.
Currently, there aren’t a ton of MagSafe batteries that are going to work well with the iPhone Duo. There’s just no space between the ring and the camera island, and/or they will hang over the bottom of the device.
Apple will come out with a first-party solution in the future, probably, like it did for iPhone Air. Other companies will come up with a sleek little square you slap on the back.
That will happen. There is going to be a huge market for batteries that work with the three-screen device, without compromise.
It’s the MagSafe wallet market that I’m less sure about. I don’t have an iPhone Duo in hand to test it with.
What I do have, however, is access to a US passport, which Apple has said is fairly similar in size to the iPhone Duo. Based on the size of a credit card compared to a U.S. passport, I don’t think a MagSafe wallet is going to fit onto the iPhone Duo, thanks to the camera bump. Even if it did, you’d have to pull it off anyway to get your card out.
Here’s more proof: Apple has chosen to exclude the iPhone Duo from the list of compatible devices on the official MagSafe Wallet listing.
Nary an iPhone Duo to be found
Wes says it could be possible if a third-party accessory developer really wanted to make it happen. He pointed out that there may be a way to make one work horizontally.
To which I replied “Well, that would look dumb as hell.” And I stand by that statement, given what we’re seeing for sale by some vendors on Amazon with too many adjacent consonants in their name right now.
But also you don’t actually need to put a wallet on the back of your phone. As it turns out, the iPhone has existed for roughly 19 years, and MagSafe only made its first appearance in 2020.
We’ve been toting around things long before either of those came into existence. I trust that the average person could probably figure out how to carry both a phone and a credit card at the same time.
You could carry a separate wallet. You could go wallet-free if you’re just doing your daily errands to places that take Apple Pay.
You could just throw your cards directly into the bottom of your bag and hope for the best. I don’t recommend doing that, but you could.
Point being, you’ve got options. You don’t have to eat the bean soup if you don’t like beans.
Bean soup theory
The internet has led to a new theory being crafted. A theory affectionately referred to as the Bean Soup Theory.
The origin of the term is as follows: A crunchy granola girl posted a recipe for bean soup with her followers. While many people thought the recipe was great, seemingly more people arrived to yell about how they didn’t like beans, and therefore demanded the recipe be augmented for them.
I’d still be willing to bet that the iPhone Duo is less divisive than the average bowl of bean soup
I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to thousands of people that if they don’t like beans, they don’t need to make bean soup. Especially because that specific recipe was almost entirely beans.
But it’s not just bean soup recipes that get bean souped. It’s everything.
Pretty much anything that catches the attention of social media or YouTube will inevitably draw out people who feel compelled to comment on it. And yes, I’m aware of the irony, considering I’m AppleInsider’s resident crank.
But ultimately, it boils down to is this:
Not everything is for you. Or for me. And that’s okay!
If a specific accessory doesn’t work for the iPhone Duo, that might just be something you learn to live with. If that incompatibility prevents you from dropping over two grand on a novelty smartphone, that may also be something you need to learn to live with.
As of right now, Apple makes six smartphones you can either currently purchase or purchase in the near future.
- iPhone Duo
- iPhone 18 Pro
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 17
- iPhone 17e
- iPhone 16
If you don’t like something in that list, there are hundreds of other smartphones for you to choose from. Sure, Apple would prefer if you bought from them, but you don’t have to. You could even just keep the iPhone you have. You don’t need to buy something.
If there’s anything you take away from here, it’s this: The world is your oyster. The iPhone Duo might not be your pearl.