What Did Instagram Announce?
Instagram announced something called Features (a silly name, I think): horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long. Right now it's only available to a small group of creators in the US to test. Instagram head Adam Mosseri and VP of product Tessa Lyons announced it together, and according to The Verge, Adam has been against long-form video on Instagram for a long, long time. So this is a real change of heart. Creators will even be able to make a short video and link it back to the long one.
They never said it was because of the iPhone Duo, and I'm not saying it is. But Tessa told The Hollywood Reporter that they think the best viewing experience for long-form horizontal content is on a big horizontal screen. And guess what has a big horizontal screen?
Will the iPhone Duo Sell Well?
After my first iPhone Duo video, the comments fell into two groups: people who think it won't sell, and people who think it's not for them. I don't have the numbers. Apple is the only one who knows. But the hype is real, and if I order one right now, I won't get it until January.
Some people compare it to the Vision Pro, the headset nobody wants. But not everybody uses a headset every day. The Duo is expensive, I'm not going to pretend it isn't (the 2 TB one I'm getting is over $3,000), but it's still a phone, something people use every single day. If you're buying a phone this year anyway, you might spend a little more just to see what it's like.
Is the iPhone Duo for Everyone?
No, and that's okay. This is a first-gen product. The first iPhone didn't even have an App Store. Think of Everett Rogers' bell curve from 1962: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards. The first Duo is on the left side of that curve, for early adopters who are okay paying a premium and living with a few rough edges. If that's not you, wait a generation or two.
To the people who say just get a Pro Max and an iPad mini: I already have an iPad mini, an iPad Pro and an iPad Air. The whole point of the Duo is a big screen that fits in my pocket, so I don't have to carry and charge two things. Phones are like shoes. There's no one best shoe. My Nikon Z8 is for photos, my Insta360 Luna Pro is for vlogging, and the Duo is the screen I look at all day.
How Could the Duo Change How We Create and Watch?
It goes step by step. Step one is hardware: a big horizontal screen in your pocket. Step two is software: apps start supporting that screen, like Instagram is doing right now. Step three is behavior: how we create, how we consume and how we watch.
Think of a park where people keep cutting across the grass and make a dirt path. Eventually the park paves it. Instagram is paving that path. We've seen this before with TikTok, which changed how everyone makes content and pushed YouTube to make Shorts and Instagram to make Reels. I also think people are tired of junk content. They want stuff where someone cared about lens, lighting, framing and story. Matti Haapoja, a creator I follow with over a million subscribers, said the same thing in his own video about watching long-form on the Duo.
Will 3:2 Photos Come Back?
That's my hope. My Nikon Z8, my film cameras and most full-frame cameras shoot 3:2. For the last 10 years I've had to shoot vertically for portraits and crop to 4:5 for Instagram. It's like buying an expensive painting and cutting it to fit a cheap frame. You wouldn't cut off the Mona Lisa's forehead because you got a frame from Target.
When I shoot with a friend, I have to tell her I'm leaving room top and bottom because Instagram will cut it off. Even Christopher Nolan shot The Odyssey on 70mm and showed it in theaters at 1.43:1, which is very close to 3:2. A screen like the Duo's can show more of that picture.
What Is Open Gate and Why Does It Matter?
Open gate lets you record with the whole sensor. Normally you shoot 16:9, but open gate gives you 3:2, the full sensor on most cameras, and it's showing up across brands, not just Nikon. For video it's like shooting RAW: keep the whole frame, then crop to 9:16 for vertical, 16:9 for YouTube, or 3:2 for a screen like the Duo.
It's like cooking the whole turkey instead of just the legs, then carving the piece you want for each plate. I'm thinking the same way about my anamorphic lens: the more frame I keep, the less I throw away. My tip: start shooting wide, place your subject so the frame still works when you crop, and decide the shape later.
Why the Screen Is the Last Mile
You can make the perfect product, but if the delivery guy chucks it on the porch and it breaks, that's what you remember. The screen is the last mile for photos and video. We spend thousands on cameras and lenses and hours learning lighting and editing, and then most people see our work on a phone, squeezed into a shape that wasn't made for it. I care about the screen not because I'm a phone guy, but because I'm a photo guy and a video guy.
Should You Get the iPhone Duo?
Don't stress about it. If you're happy with a Pro Max or already have a great phone like the iPhone 17 Pro Max, you don't have to upgrade. My quick gut check:
- Do you care more about what you see on your phone than how you shoot on it?
- Do you already have a camera you love?
- Do you like being an early adopter and paying a little extra for that?
If you said yes to all three, the Duo might make sense for you. If not, that's fine. Either way, start thinking about the phone other people have, not just your own, and shoot with that in mind.
Video Chapters
- 00:00 Instagram Goes Horizontal (Up to 90 Minutes)
- 01:07 JoSun, Everyone!
- 01:36 How I See It: Two Kinds of "No"
- 03:02 One Honest Answer, Three Parts
- 07:32 "It's Not For Me"
- 08:58 "It Won't Do Well" vs the Vision Pro
- 11:07 Back to the Instagram News
- 13:25 Hardware, Software, Behavior
- 15:44 High-Quality Content Is Coming Back Around
- 17:11 Another Creator Saw It Too
- 18:51 3:2 Is My Hope
- 21:35 Open Gate = RAW for Video
- 23:33 The Screen Is the Last Mile
- 24:31 Getting One
- 25:19 Gut Check
- 26:04 Final Thoughts