iPhone Duo history includes Apple, NEC and Google products
The reported iPhone Duo name has earlier ties to an Apple laptop, an NEC console and Google’s former calling app.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
2 min read
The reported iPhone Duo history reaches beyond Apple’s new folding-screen device. The Verge reported on September 9 that Apple announced a folding-screen iPhone called the iPhone Duo, while noting that the name has been used for several unrelated products and services.
The reported announcement is significant as a naming choice, not as a claim that Apple created a new category of “Duo” devices. The examples below are a limited history rather than a complete record of products carrying the name.
What products have been called Duo?
One early example was NEC’s TurboDuo. According to The Verge, the console combined the TurboGrafx-16 with the CD-ROM capability of the TurboGrafx-CD. It arrived in North America in 1993 after appearing in Japan under the PC Engine Duo name.
The Verge said the console came from NEC and Hudson Soft’s joint venture and did not match the popularity of the original TurboGrafx-16. Its run ended on Christmas Day in 1995.
Google used the name for a communications service. Google Duo launched in 2016 as the company’s proprietary voice-over-internet-protocol service, The Verge reported, with Android, iOS and browser access. It supported high-definition video calls and was designed to work on slower mobile connections.
Google later folded Duo into Google Meet in 2022, according to The Verge. The service had been intended to compete with video-calling products such as Skype and Zoom and to replace Hangouts.
What was Apple’s PowerBook Duo?
Apple introduced the PowerBook Duo in 1992, decades before the reported iPhone Duo. The Verge reported that it was then Apple’s smallest and lightest PowerBook, although it still weighed more than four pounds.
The laptop pursued a compact design by leaving out many built-in ports and expansion features. Users turned to optional docks to connect peripherals and accessories, a design trade-off also described by Wikipedia and Six Colors.
That combination made “Duo” describe a relationship between a portable computer and add-on hardware, rather than a foldable display or a video-calling service. Six Colors reported that the model had one standard port and used docking equipment for functions including external drives and monitors.
Apple also later used the name for the MagSafe Duo charger. The Verge said Apple announced that product 23 years after the PowerBook Duo was discontinued, though the available account does not provide further specifications.
The shared label therefore has covered different ideas: a console with CD capability, a calling app, a dock-dependent laptop and an Apple charger. The reported iPhone Duo adds another use, but the available record does not establish an exhaustive history of the name.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.