Apple nailed iPhone Duo split screen, even as iPad multitasking feels convoluted
Apple has introduced the iPhone Duo, its first foldable smartphone, which features a highly praised split-screen multitasking system. The article contrasts this elegant implementation with the current iPadOS 26 interface, which is described as convoluted and restrictive for users who do not use external keyboards. The author argues that Apple should bring the simpler multitasking capabilities of the iPhone Duo to the iPad to improve the overall user experience.
- ▪Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable device, which allows users to split the screen while still viewing the full home screen to select other apps.
- ▪The iPhone Duo supports saving app pairs for quick swapping and enables split-screen video playback, a feature currently unavailable on iPads.
- ▪iPadOS 26 is criticized for its all-or-nothing approach to multitasking, forcing users to choose between full-screen apps or a complex windowing system.
- ▪The author suggests that the iPhone Duo's software design offers a viable and simpler model that could be adapted for iPadOS 27 to enhance usability on smaller iPads like the iPad mini.
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| Original publisher | 9to5Mac |
| Canonical URL | https://9to5mac.com/2026/09/12/apple-nailed-iphone-duo-split-screen-even-as-ipad-multitasking-feels-convoluted/ |
| Publication time | Sat, 12 Sep 2026 16:47:34 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-12T16:49:59.447Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-12T16:49:59.447Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | RHWjzD7G-Iry · 1 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
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