Apple’s Craig Federighi Explains iPhone Duo’s Role alongside iPad

In a recent interview with tech reviewer MKBHD, Apple senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi described the newly announced iPhone Duo. He noted that the device may intersect with the iPad lineup, especially the iPad mini, because both can serve as “a deeper-view” platform for reading and browsing content. Federighi said that when he starts a task on the iPhone Duo and then sits down, he often prefers to “open up” the experience in portrait mode to page through material, a use case he believes the Duo can fulfill for users who already own an iPad mini.

9to5Mac

Federighi emphasized that Apple approached the Duo’s form factor differently from many competitors.

9to5Mac

During the interview, Federighi likened the emerging usage patterns of the iPhone Duo and iPad to the earlier relationship between iPad and Mac, where users settled into “very natural patterns” for choosing one device over the other. He expressed confidence that consumers will “find their way” between the two products, even as the Duo may fill a niche previously occupied by the iPad mini. The discussion was part of a broader conversation about how Apple’s software engineering team adapts iOS for novel hardware.

9to5Mac

• “I think on a lot of other devices, it’s been, ‘We’re just going to stretch out or cram some other experience into whatever the new form factor is.’ For us, this was like, ‘This whole thing, we’re going to design it right from the start,’” — Sc Craig Federighi — Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Software Engineering, Apple.

9to5Mac