It doesn’t have a ProMotion display. It doesn’t fold. It doesn’t really fit in my pocket. Technically, it’s heavier.

By pretty much every metric, the iPhone Duo is a better product than the new iPad mini.

And yet, the mini is the device I can’t put down.

The iPhone Duo is still an amazing product that has reinvigorated my interest in the iPhone. But after a couple of days with the new iPad mini, I’ve realized what the Duo is missing. Its inner display is nearly as big as the mini’s, but it’s still running iOS. The mini is a full iPad, and that matters more to me than anything on the spec sheet.

Not All Nanotexture Is Made the Same

For a very long time, my buddy Tim Chaten from the iPad Pros podcast (on which I’m a frequent guest) has expounded to me the joys of the nanotexture display on the iPad Pro. I’ve always avoided it on my iPads because I was afraid of what it would do to the colors on a device I’d be watching a lot of video on. I figured I’d be paying a lot of money for the same hazy, unappealing look you get when you put a matte screen protector on your iPad.

Boy, was I wrong.

On the iPad mini, the optional nanotexture finish is etched directly into the glass itself, rather than being a layer applied over the glass like on the Duo. On the mini it feels super smooth to the touch, and gliding my finger along it is strangely addictive.

And while, yes, it does affect the colors of video content, it’s not nearly as bad as you might think. In fact, when watching YouTube videos in bed, I didn’t even notice that blacks were more grayish.

Overall, I prefer the nanotexture finish on the mini over the iPhone Duo’s.

That Slim and Svelte Design

If you compare the spec sheets of the two devices, the iPad mini is technically a few grams heavier than the iPhone Duo. But in reality, they feel worlds apart in weight, likely due to the different material choices between the two devices.

Picking up my iPad mini after using the iPhone Duo for an extended period reminds me of the first time I picked up the iPhone 5 and it felt like a dummy unit.

If you’ve followed the site or my YouTube channel, you may know that the best way to part this fool from his money is with the words “thinner and lighter.” Nothing says “futuristic” to me more than a super slim, fanless device that you can actually use to get real work done.

But it’s not just about work. The mini has always been the perfect size for a portable video-watching device. And now that it’s thinner and lighter and has a larger, beautiful OLED display, I literally never want to put this thing down.

Less Fragile

The iPhone Duo is an engineering marvel, but like all foldable phones, its inner display is something of a weak point, so I feel like I need to treat it pretty delicately.

The iPad mini is a proper tablet, with no structural concerns over hinges or fragile displays. I’m not going to go out of my way to beat this thing up, but I feel more confident in normal use. It is, however, a miss that Apple didn’t add Ceramic Shield to the mini.

(BTW, this isn’t commentary on “crackgate.” I’m speaking to how, in general, foldables are more fragile than a standard candybar phone.)

The ProMotion Dilemma

I want to be crystal clear on this: the iPad mini should at least have the option of a ProMotion display. Period. I don’t want to come off as a ProMotion apologist.

But that being said, I’d be lying if I said its exclusion has made one bit of difference in the experience so far (though I haven’t really tried gaming yet). Can you see the difference between this display and a ProMotion display? Absolutely. But I really do think the faster response times of the OLED display help here.

Everything, and I mean everything, looks phenomenal on this display, and because of how nanotexture is applied, less hazy than the Duo’s inner screen.

It’s just so nice for the mini to have a display that doesn’t feel stuck in the 2010s.

It’s a Full iPad

There’s been a lot of talk about how the iPhone Duo can take the place of an iPad. Well, as someone who’s tried to do that over the past couple of weeks, let me tell you: the biggest thing I missed from that experience is iPadOS.

The changes Apple made in iPadOS 26 unlocked freeform multitasking and took the iPad to another level. And the iPad mini gets all of these features, despite having a screen that’s not much bigger than the iPhone Duo’s inner display. It makes the two-app split on the Duo feel restrictive.

For creatives, it runs all of Apple’s creative pro apps: Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro.

Even better, the new mini gets extended display support, which means I can plug it into a display and do more than just mirror my tablet’s screen. I can take full advantage of a larger display to spread out my work and run multiple live, interactive apps at the same time, just like I might on a MacBook.

Conclusion

It probably says something about me that my expectations were so low for this iPad mini update. I was expecting Apple to add an OLED display to the existing design, put out a press release, and call it a day.

But they actually redesigned it. And gave it the current A-series Pro chip. And invested resources in a feature they really didn’t have to: the new Acoustic Display, which projects audio through the screen. The mini feels legitimately modern and impressive now.

Which brings me back to the Duo. It’s an amazing iPhone that I’m actively using, instead of leaving it on the charger like my Air. But it’s still just an iPhone, and without iPadOS, that big inner display can only do so much.

And while the mini may not fit in my pocket, it’s small enough to slip into most shoulder bags, purses, or backpacks without taking up much space.

Both are great products, but for me, the new iPad mini might be my favorite device of the year.