It looks like the iPhone Duo's vertical Dock can currently only house four apps maximum. In his hands-on with the device, Marques Brownlee attempted to add a fifth app to the Dock, but was unable to do so. Apple does not mention the four-app limit in its tech documentation, but those hoping to add a fifth or sixth app to it may be out of luck.

For the iPhone Duo, Apple made the Dock vertical along the right of the screen, with unused space at either end of it. It will likely take some getting used to for iPhone users – especially left-handed ones. We don't know if Apple will provide a left-handed mode for the rest of us.
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Code sleuth "pdfu" has uncovered iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate private frameworks that show Apple has designed its new Siri architecture to work with third-party AI models at what appears to be a surprisingly deep level.


One mechanism called Model Delegation allows Claude to appear as a Siri extension in the same way as the existing built-in ChatGPT extension. In pdfu's video, shared on X, the macOS user brings up the "Search or Ask" bar and chooses Claude as the AI model via an "Ask..." contextual menu.

After enabling the Claude extension, the user asks Siri to "Ask Claude" to set a reminder in Apple's Reminders app. Claude then interprets the natural language reminder request and Siri subsequently creates the reminder. The implication is that if the request requires access to an Apple system feature, Claude hands the task back to Siri.

In another example, Claude can be seen in a Siri app conversation window receiving a request to create a CSV file – something Siri itself cannot handle – and successfully returning the result.

What's more intriguing is the second protocol demonstrated in the video that appears to go considerably further, and could really open up the AI landscape for Apple software requests.

An inference provider in "Model Manager Services" apparently allows Apple's own server-side Siri model to be completely replaced by another model, such as GPT-5.6. In this scenario, ChatGPT receives Apple's Siri planner prompt and tool definitions, which enables it to request system actions, receive the resulting personal data, and formulate an answer that Siri presents using its own interface and voice.


In the demonstration video, the user asks the ChatGPT model (within the Siri app) to find emails about a specific topic, summarize their contents and action points, then send a message to a person in the user's contacts via the Messages app. The response is then shown as logged in OpenAI's platform web interface.

The European Union's Digital Markets Act may have helped shape Apple's approach here, as it requires Apple to give third parties effective access to iOS hardware and software features available to Apple's own services, and the European Commission has specifically said this principle extends to Siri.

The "Ask..." implementation is currently limited to the ChatGPT extension in the macOS 27 Golden Gate Release Candidate (which is effectively the final version of the software set to be released later today), so Claude is not yet available. Meanwhile, Apple has not yet opened up the model delegation entitlement to third parties and it isn't front-facing to users, but it at least shows how extensively Apple has engineered Siri for future model interoperability.
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Apple will prioritize adding Face ID and a telephoto lens to future iPhone Duo models, argues Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The device debuted with Touch ID and dual rear cameras, likely owing to physical constraints.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says his guess is that Apple will use a combination of component miniaturization and advances in AI to eventually fit them into the iPhone Duo by its third-generation, "allowing Apple to use smaller, less sophisticated depth-sensing and camera hardware while making up some of the difference computationally," he writes. The iPhone Duo officially launches on October 23.
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Apple's new iPhone Duo has a special option in its display settings that adds a narrow black border to the left side of the front screen.


Blogger Nicolas Lellouche discovered the setting in the Display & Brightness menu during his hands-on time with the device shortly after Apple's iPhone event stream last week.

The idea behind the "Shift Left Edge" setting – which roughly doubles the width of the black border – is to accommodate cases that slightly cover that edge of the iPhone Duo's display while making the iOS back swipe gesture work as expected.

Apple offers two official cases for its new foldable: an iPhone Duo Case and a Folio with Kickstand.

It's unclear if either of these cases covers the left edge of the display, but it seems unlikely that Apple would design them to do so. What's more likely is that Apple is trying to accommodate bulky protective third-party cases that tend to cover the left edge.

We'll know for sure when the first reviews of the iPhone Duo hit the web. Pre-orders for the iPhone Duo go live October 16, with availability starting October 23.
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Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has suggested Apple will release an "iPhone Duo Max" in the coming years, highlighting why Apple chose the "Duo" moniker over other names.


In the months leading up to Apple's iPhone Duo unveiling, Gurman reported that employees within Apple had begun referring to the device as the "iPhone Ultra," possibly having been influenced by media coverage of the device and leaker speculation.

In the end, however, Apple chose to go with a three-letter "Duo" suffix, which Gurman says matches Air and Pro, and leaves room for additional suffixes that wouldn't have worked with "Ultra."

Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman foresees the company releasing an "iPhone Duo Max" in the future, which would likely feature a larger display, and perhaps even a "Duo SE" or "Duo Mini," with stripped-down specs and a clamshell design, respectively.

Gurman says he fully expects the iPhone Duo to become the "predominant foldable phone on the market," thanks to its software adaptations, high-quality hardware, and durability compared to other foldables. Indeed, he argues that the device is "so impressive" that it will "turn foldables into the new normal." Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.
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The first iPod touch went on general sale on September 14, 2007, nine days after Steve Jobs unveiled it at Apple's "The Beat Goes On" media event. The device brought the iPhone's multi-touch interface, Wi-Fi, and Safari browser to the iPod lineup for the first time, but it lacked cellular phone functionality and a camera.

iPod touch launched at $299 for 8GB and $399 for 16GB, and was pitched as a pocket-sized way to browse the web and buy music wirelessly through the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. It went on to see seven generations, before Apple discontinued it in 2022.
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