Split View, a layout that puts two apps side by side on one screen, is coming to an iPhone for the first time. It ships on iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable, and Apple states it plainly on the product’s own pages: nothing in Apple’s published history of the iPhone lineup describes anything like it on a phone before now.
iPhone Duo ships with iOS 27.1, not the iOS 27 build that iPhone 18 Pro gets on September 14, and Apple pre-orders it Friday, October 16, with availability Friday, October 23. Split View is one of several software changes Apple names specifically for the new device, alongside a reimagined StandBy, a redesigned Dynamic Island and a new Call Context widget.
Key facts
| Item | What Apple has published |
|---|---|
| Feature | Split View, two apps side by side |
| First appears on | iPhone Duo |
| Ships with | iOS 27.1, not iOS 27.0 |
| Runs on | The 7.6-inch inner display |
| Also new alongside it | Reimagined StandBy, redesigned Dynamic Island, Call Context widget |
| Availability | Pre-order October 16, in stores October 23 |
What Split View actually does, per Apple
Apple’s own description is short: two apps run side by side on the inner display, and the software adapts to how the phone is held or positioned, including StandBy, landscape, portrait, seated and standing layouts that Apple sums up as “anything’s posable.” The same adaptive approach carries over to StandBy itself, which Apple describes as reimagined for the folding display rather than simply carried over from iPhone 18 Pro. Apple has not published a list of every app that supports the side-by-side layout, and has not said how many apps can run this way at once.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Why this counts as a first for iPhone
No iPhone before Duo has ever shipped with a documented way to run two apps side by side on the same screen. That capability is new to the iPhone lineup specifically because Duo has a screen large enough, at 7.6 inches unfolded, to hold two apps at a usable size at once. Apple’s own comparison points to why: the inner display is, in Apple’s words, “the largest, thinnest iPhone display ever,” and about 50 percent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max screen. Apple also describes the A20 Pro inside Duo as carrying a custom display engine built to drive both the inner and outer displays at once, which is the kind of hardware detail that has no equivalent on a single-screen iPhone.
iPhone Duo vs iPhone 18 Pro on this one feature
| iPhone Duo | iPhone 18 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Split View | Yes, on the inner display | Not offered |
| Screen it would need | 7.6-inch folding display | 6.3-inch fixed display |
| Software build | iOS 27.1 | iOS 27.0 |
| Ships | October 23 | September 18 |
iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max keep the same single, fixed display Apple has used for years, and Apple has published nothing suggesting Split View is coming to either model. The feature is tied to the fold, not to iOS 27 generally.
What ships alongside it
Apple names two companion changes in the same breath as Split View: a redesigned Dynamic Island for Duo’s outer display, and a new Call Context widget that surfaces relevant information during calls. Both are described only in the product announcement; Apple has not published a support document walking through either one step by step. Apple Intelligence features are described as matching iPhone 18 Pro, and Siri AI arrives on Duo in the same beta, English-first state, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish following in October.
What Apple has not said
Apple has not published which third-party apps support the adaptive, posable layouts beyond its own examples, has not said whether Split View could ever reach a non-folding iPhone through software alone, and has not given a country list for October 23 availability beyond naming more than 70 countries and regions, with 28 more following October 30. iPhone Duo pre-orders open Friday, October 16, at 5 a.m. PT, which is the next date Apple has attached to any of this.
