I Didn’t Fold for the Folding iPhone

After 20 iPhone launches, Apple has finally broken my preorder habit and my annual splurge.

Every September, I would wake before dawn, start refreshing the Apple Store at 4:59 a.m., and race to place my order before delivery dates begin slipping.

I missed three of those years because I was in a financial pickle.

This will be the fourth. This time, money has nothing to do with it. Apple simply failed to make either of the new phones compelling enough.

The iPhone 18 Pro is practically the same phone again. The variable-aperture camera is quite interesting, but that's it. The updates are so thin that Apple is describing the color-matched back glass as a feature.

The iPhone Duo looks promising, especially for a first-generation device. But I feel uneasy about giving up Face ID and the dedicated telephoto camera while paying almost double the price. And I worry it will take a generation or two for Apple to sort out the kinks of the foldable's hinge.

So I’m left choosing between the phone I don’t want and the phone I don’t yet trust.

To be fair, though, the transition animation as the Duo folds and unfolds got me immediately. The wallpaper dissolves and appears to pass through the hinge from one display to the other. It put a grin on my face but earned me an eye roll from my wife when I tried to explain why.

Apple has underwhelmed me before, and I still upgraded. But not this year.
Maybe the reviews will change my mind. I hope so.

Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, needed a Steve Jobs-sized reality distortion field to get me to pre-order. He didn't have one.