What with all the rumours surrounding a folding phone from a certain fruit-based brand this week, you might have forgotten that there's already a new, exciting foldable in town. And Microsoft's Surface Duo has two pretty major advantages over Apple's rumoured iPhone Flip: it actually exists, and it's available now.
First announced in 2019, the Surface Duo landed in the US last September. Now, five months later, the exciting (and expensive) smartphone/tablet hybrid is finally available in the UK. Whether it will hit our best camera phones list (or best tablets for that matter) remains to be seen, but Microsoft's innovative new device is certainly a tantalising proposition for creatives.
Those in the UK can finally get hold of the Surface Duo today (Image credit: Microsoft)
We'll get the bad news out of the way first: this thing is going to cost you. At £1,349, the Surface Duo is anything but cheap. Indeed, even Apple's priciest smartphone offering, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, comes in £250 cheaper. But when you consider that the Surface Duo offers two 5.6-inch screens which can be used separately or as one whopping 8.1-inch display, it starts to look a little more reasonable (although you can still bag any of our best flip phones for much less).
Plus, the unique device could be worth a hole in the pocket for creatives. Used in combination, the screens offer more real estate than the iPad Mini's 7.9-inch display, and the prospect of a tablet-sized digital canvas within a phone-sized package could be a game-changer for designers. And while Apple's iPhone Flip is rumoured to be compatible with Apple Pencil, this is a foldable you can use for sketching right here and now, thanks to Microsoft Surface Slim Pen support.
The Surface Duo is compatible with the Microsoft Surface Slim Pen (Image credit: Microsoft)
And as any creative with a dual-monitor setup (check out the best 4k monitors) will know, using two displays separately can be essential for productivity. The ability to open multiple apps side-by-side on mobile could be a new frontier for creatives on the go, finally turning portable multi-tasking into an actual thing.
If you're in the UK, the Surface Duo is available to order now from Currys or the Microsoft Store. For the best price in your area, check out today's best Surface Duo deals below – and don't forget to visit out main Microsoft Surface deals page for more brilliant offers.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
