Apple’s Joz says developers will have a ‘field day’ on iPhone Duo — MLB shows what that actually means in time for the World Series
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Kate Kozuch is the head of video at Tom’s Guide, where she has spearheaded multimedia storytelling and consumer tech coverage since joining the team in 2019. In her role, Kate leads video strategy across platforms while serving as one of the publication’s primary product testing authorities. Her beat spans wearables, home entertainment, premium audio, culinary appliances and an ongoing personal quest to build the ultimate DIY smart home. With well over 100 hands-on reviews under her belt, her deep-dive evaluations frequently anchor the site's most popular buying guides, product face-offs and seasonal gift roundups. Beyond written reviews, Kate is an experienced broadcast contributor and digital host. She regularly breaks down fast-moving tech trends, consumer advice and major industry events on television networks. Online, she anchors coverage across the Tom’s Guide YouTube channel and runs the brand’s TikTok presence, building an audience of over 400,000 followers with dynamic, bite-sized product explainers and show-floor dispatches. She also documents real-world gear testing for an active community on Instagram. When she’s off-camera and away from the studio, Kate is usually tackling a new sport, solving the daily NYT Crossword, or experimenting in the kitchen as an aspiring celebrity chef. Ask her about her trade-show adventures and she’ll gladly share the story of Guy Fieri mixing her a margarita at CES, or the time her clip of Martha Stewart sipping a margarita became a viral sensation, proving that great tech reporting pairs exceptionally well with culinary royalty and tequila.
“When we were working on it, we knew that developers were gonna have a field day.”
That’s what Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, told me when I asked how experiences like watching live baseball helped shape iPhone Duo . We were at MLB headquarters, looking at what happens when a sports app gets a phone screen with a little more room to play ball.
It was an optimistic answer, as expected. But whether developers are having a field day and whether buyers are getting their money’s worth are two different questions.
In early reactions to iPhone Duo’s splashy launch, app optimization has become a dividing line. Some see unfinished or inconsistent experiences as an obvious reason to hold off. Others think expecting every developer to have a fully realized foldable app at launch is unreasonable.
I understand both arguments. But after trying MLB’s app , I think there’s a more useful question: How much better does an app need to be on a foldable to justify the fold — and a $2,000 starting price?
Watching baseball (or really, any sport) on a bigger display is an easy sell. But that’s the least interesting part of what MLB has built for iPhone Duo ahead of the first pitch of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.
The updated @MLB app and iPhone Duo are ready just in time for the World Series! I saw a preview of the new experience today and they really hit it out of the park! https://t.co/mU9xwiUvSF October 22, 2026
With iPhone Duo partially folded in a tabletop position, the app puts the video on the upper portion of the display and a synchronized box score below it. You can follow the game and check the numbers without making one replace the other.
Fully unfolded, there’s room to use the phone’s multitasking features to read articles, send messages or even get some work done — especially helpful during weekday games.
“For years, pundits have been talking about second-screen experiences for live sports,” Kenny Gersh, MLB’s executive vice president of Media, Business Development and Product, said at the event. “To me, it's amazing how this is the second screen, on one device, in your pocket.”
“To me, it's amazing how this is the second screen, on one device, in your pocket.”
Kenny Gersh, MLB’s executive vice president of Media, Business Development and Product
There’s a business incentive for MLB, too. When I asked what would make this a success, Gersh pointed to engagement, or whether fans spend more time in the app and return more often. Letting people message friends without putting the game away could help with that.
MLB wants me to keep watching. I want to keep watching while doing something else. Those interests happen to line up when a device like the Duo is available.
To me, the app did seem a little rough around the edges, especially compared to some other “optimized” Duo apps I’ve had the chance to explore. But MLB acknowledged that the version we’re seeing now will likely look quite different from the one that’ll be ready for Opening Day in 2027.
MLB is using this World Series as a learning experiment. When asked what he hoped to discover throughout the next four to seven games, Gersh said: “Really, just to see how they use it.”
Will fans gravitate toward the tabletop layout? Will they open two instances of MLB? Will they watch alongside social feeds or messages? And what will they ask for that the team hasn’t considered?
Gersh also pointed out a limitation of this first test: there’s only one World Series game happening at a time. A regular-season night with multiple games will reveal more about what fans want to watch and follow simultaneously.
There’s a difference between designing for a new screen and discovering how people actually want to use it. MLB’s acknowledgment that there’s still plenty to learn is something I expect we’ll hear from more developers adapting their iOS apps for a foldable iPhone.
If they need examples to follow, Netflix and NYT Cooking are two that stand out to me for how thoughtfully their experiences adapt to different orientations and positions. The layout changes in ways that reflect what users might realistically be doing with the phone.
MLB gets there with the game above and the box score below. It’s a straightforward change that understands why someone would use that position in the first place. But MLB also shows why a launch-day checklist can only tell us so much. An app can already offer something useful while still having plenty to figure out.
I think the apps that’ll ultimately win on iPhone Duo will give us reasons to unfold it. A bigger version of what I already do on a regular iPhone doesn’t do enough to justify the phone’s price tag. As developers like MLB’s spend the next few weeks and months designing around the device, I want to see experiences that are easier, more useful or more enjoyable because the phone folds.
Joz says developers are going to have a field day. With the right apps, I, as a user, should feel like I’m having one, too.