iPhone Duo returns: 30% of early buyers sent it back, poll says

The poll followed a report on Duo buyers using Apple's 14-day return period to get their money back.

Why are people returning the iPhone Duo?

Apple called the Duo "the most transformational change to iPhone since the original." That change touches the weight, the aspect ratio of the front display and the whole way you use the phone. Add a very high price, and plenty of buyers probably saw it as an experiment, not a firm commitment.

Readers gave their own reasons. One couldn't go back to Touch ID. Another found the outside screen far too small. A third didn't want to open the phone every time they needed a bigger screen, disliked the permanent dock on the outer display, and uses phones left-handed.

Then there was the desert story. The reader was careful with the phone, but on the second day they heard a crunching sound from the hinge when opening it in a tent. Sand had got in. The inner display still worked, but the phone no longer opened fully and had to be forced shut.

Should Apple worry?

The author of the poll write-up doesn't think so. For most devices a 30% return rate would be a disaster, but he says it isn't surprising here. Delivery times are still long, with random checks showing shipping in late January. He wouldn't use the Duo as his only phone, because he leans on the camera, but says he still wants one.

One colleague, Ryan Christoffel, has used it for a week and has reached an interim conclusion that it's probably not for him.