The incomplete history of Duo devices

Duo 设备的不完整历史

Apple announced the company’s first device with a folding screen today, the iPhone Duo, but that’s where the firsts end. The Duo is not only far from the first foldable on the market thanks to the efforts of Samsung and Google, but it’s also not the first product to be called the Duo.

苹果公司今天发布了其首款折叠屏设备 iPhone Duo，但这仅仅是它在“折叠”领域的尝试。得益于三星和谷歌的努力，Duo 远非市场上首款折叠屏手机，而且它也不是第一款被命名为“Duo”的产品。

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs popularized the saying “good artists copy, great artists steal,” but will the iPhone Duo’s folding screen, which features a custom nano-texture display material to help minimize the visibility of its crease, be enough to make us forget these other Duos that have come before it? Only time, or how aggressively Apple plans to market its Duo, will tell. Is there a Duo we missed? Let us know.

苹果前首席执行官史蒂夫·乔布斯曾推广过那句名言：“优秀的艺术家模仿，伟大的艺术家窃取。”但 iPhone Duo 的折叠屏——采用了定制的纳米纹理显示材料以尽量减少折痕可见度——是否足以让我们忘记之前出现的那些 Duo 产品呢？只有时间，或者苹果计划如何大力推广其 Duo，才能给出答案。还有我们遗漏的 Duo 设备吗？请告诉我们。

NEC TurboDuo

Merging the functionality of the TurboGrafx-16 console and the TurboGrafx-CD that added CD-ROM functionality, the NEC TurboDuo (later rebranded to just the Duo) launched in North America in 1993 after debuting in Japan a few years earlier as the PC Engine Duo. The console was developed as part of a joint venture between NEC and Hudson Soft but never reached the popularity of the original TurboGrafx-16; its short run ended on Christmas Day in 1995.

NEC TurboDuo（后来更名为 Duo）融合了 TurboGrafx-16 主机和增加 CD-ROM 功能的 TurboGrafx-CD 的功能。它于 1993 年在北美推出，此前几年已在日本以 PC Engine Duo 的名义首发。该主机是 NEC 与 Hudson Soft 合资开发的，但从未达到原版 TurboGrafx-16 的普及程度；其短暂的生命周期于 1995 年圣诞节结束。

Google Duo

First released in 2016 and eventually merged into Google Meet in 2022, Google Duo was the company’s proprietary VoIP service meant to compete with products like Skype or Zoom and replace Hangouts. Its cross-platform availability included Android and iOS mobile devices as well as web browsers, and while it supported hi-def video calls, the service was also optimized for slow mobile networks.

Google Duo 于 2016 年首次发布，并最终于 2022 年并入 Google Meet。它是谷歌自有的 VoIP 服务，旨在与 Skype 或 Zoom 等产品竞争并取代 Hangouts。它支持跨平台使用，包括 Android 和 iOS 移动设备以及网页浏览器。虽然它支持高清视频通话，但该服务也针对缓慢的移动网络进行了优化。

Apple PowerBook Duo

The iPhone Duo isn’t even Apple’s first Duo. The PowerBook Duo predates everything Apple announced today by decades. It was an ultraportable laptop, and when Apple introduced it in 1992 it was the smallest and lightest PowerBook available, but still weighed over 4 pounds. Apple managed to shrink the Duo using an approach it still uses today: omitting built-in ports and expansion features. If you wanted to connect peripherals and accessories you had to rely on optional docks. If you’ve ever had to buy a USB hub to connect all your devices to your MacBook, you can thank the PowerBook Duo.

iPhone Duo 甚至不是苹果的第一款 Duo 产品。PowerBook Duo 比苹果今天发布的所有产品都要早几十年。它是一款超便携笔记本电脑，1992 年苹果推出它时，它是当时最小、最轻的 PowerBook，但重量仍超过 4 磅。苹果通过一种至今仍在使用的策略缩小了 Duo 的体积：省略内置端口和扩展功能。如果你想连接外设和配件，必须依赖可选的扩展坞。如果你曾经为了将所有设备连接到 MacBook 而不得不购买 USB 集线器，那么你应该感谢 PowerBook Duo。

Apple MagSafe Duo

Twenty-three years after the PowerBook Duo was discontinued, the company announced the MagSafe Duo charger that could wirelessly charge an iPhone and an Apple Watch at the same time. However, it felt like a consolation prize for the Apple AirPower wireless charger, which was announced in 2017 but never materialized. The MagSafe Duo was discontinued just a few years later in late 2023, paving the way for the foldable iPhone to steal its identity.

在 PowerBook Duo 停产 23 年后，苹果发布了 MagSafe Duo 充电器，可以同时为 iPhone 和 Apple Watch 无线充电。然而，它感觉像是对 2017 年发布但从未面世的 Apple AirPower 无线充电器的补偿。MagSafe Duo 在几年后的 2023 年底停产，为折叠屏 iPhone 沿用其名称铺平了道路。

Microsoft Surface Duo

That’s right, the iPhone Duo isn’t even the first folding mobile device to be called the Duo. Microsoft’s Surface Duo launched in 2020 and managed to get around the issues with early foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which debuted a year prior, by skipping flexible screen technology altogether. Microsoft’s Duo instead had a very visible hinge between its pair of 5.6-inch OLED screens. But software issues, a disappointing camera, and outdated specs when it launched all resulted in the Surface Duo’s failure, even with an improved Duo 2 that launched a year later.

没错，iPhone Duo 甚至不是第一款被称为 Duo 的折叠移动设备。微软的 Surface Duo 于 2020 年推出，它通过完全跳过柔性屏幕技术，避开了像一年前发布的三星 Galaxy Fold 那样早期折叠屏设备的问题。微软的 Duo 在两块 5.6 英寸 OLED 屏幕之间有一个非常明显的铰链。但软件问题、令人失望的摄像头以及发布时过时的规格，最终导致了 Surface Duo 的失败，即使一年后推出了改进版的 Duo 2 也未能挽回。

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo

Trade shows are the birthplace of weird laptops, but sometimes the prototypes that often debut just to draw visitors to booths make it into the mainstream. Such was the case with the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo, a powerful gaming laptop with excellent specs, a wildly expensive price tag, and a pair of 16-inch OLED screens that can be vertically stacked or placed side by side.

贸易展是各种奇特笔记本电脑的诞生地，但有时那些仅仅为了吸引展位访客而亮相的原型机也能进入主流市场。华硕 ROG Zephyrus Duo 就是如此，这是一款功能强大的游戏笔记本电脑，规格出色，价格昂贵，并配有一对 16 英寸 OLED 屏幕，可以垂直堆叠或并排放置。

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo

The ROG Zephyrus Duo wasn’t Asus’ first attempt at creating a dual-screen laptop, or the first time it named a laptop a Duo. The ZenBook Pro Duo predates it by several years with a slightly different design. Beneath the ZenBook Pro Duo’s primary 15.6-inch OLED screen was a secondary 14-inch display located above the laptop’s keyboard. With an ultrawide 32:9 aspect ratio and less color fidelity, the smaller screen was designed to be a place to dock productivity tools like Slack or Gmail so they were still readily accessible but less of a distraction while working (or gaming) on the primary display.

ROG Zephyrus Duo 并不是华硕首次尝试制造双屏笔记本电脑，也不是它第一次将笔记本电脑命名为 Duo。ZenBook Pro Duo 比它早几年问世，设计略有不同。在 ZenBook Pro Duo 的 15.6 英寸主 OLED 屏幕下方，键盘上方有一个 14 英寸的副显示屏。这款小屏幕拥有 32:9 的超宽纵横比和较低的色彩保真度，旨在作为 Slack 或 Gmail 等生产力工具的停靠点，这样它们既易于访问，又不会在主屏幕工作（或游戏）时造成干扰。

Pebble 2 Duo

After convincing Google to open-source the Pebble’s operating system last year, Eric Migicovsky, the creator of what was arguably one of the first truly successful and capable smartwatches, resurrected the wearable under a new company called Core Devices. The Pebble 2 Duo, one of the first smartwatches from Migicovsky’s new company, isn’t as capable as the Apple Watch or devices running Android’s Wear OS, but its careful balance of simplicity, functionality, and a budget-friendly price make it a tempting alternative.

在去年说服谷歌将 Pebble 的操作系统开源后，Eric Migicovsky（被认为是首批真正成功且功能强大的智能手表之一的创造者）在一家名为 Core Devices 的新公司旗下复活了这款可穿戴设备。Pebble 2 Duo 是 Migicovsky 新公司的首批智能手表之一，虽然它的功能不如 Apple Watch 或运行 Android Wear OS 的设备强大，但它在简洁性、功能性和经济实惠的价格之间取得了巧妙的平衡，使其成为一个诱人的替代选择。

iRobot Roomba Duo

It’s still just a prototype and may never find its way into consumers’ homes, but at IFA 2026 in Berlin last week, iRobot debuted the bizarre Roomba Duo. The prototype includes a beefy mobile dock with clean and dirty water tanks and the most powerful floor-cleaning suction the company has ever made.

它目前还只是一个原型机，可能永远不会进入消费者的家中，但在上周柏林的 IFA 2026 展会上，iRobot 推出了奇特的 Roomba Duo。该原型机包括一个强大的移动底座，配有净水箱和污水箱，并拥有该公司有史以来最强大的地板清洁吸力。