Final thoughts and a checklist for Apple after returning the DUO

The beautiful interior screen wasn’t enough to make me give up my four-year-old iPhone 14 Pro Max. After using it in everyday life, I returned it.

1. The biggest surprise was how unfinished the iOS experience felt for this particular phone design. The hardware offered something new, but the software didn’t always seem comfortable with it. I expect that to improve over time, but it affected how useful the phone was to me today.

2. The outer home screen felt too small for many of the things I routinely do on my phone. I suspect plenty of other users would find it limiting, too. Instead of quickly completing a task, I often felt I was looking at a preview of something I needed to open the phone to actually use.

3. That became especially frustrating while commuting around New York City. Between the subway, work, and dinners, I needed a phone I could pull out and use with minimal effort. Opening the Duo added friction to interactions that were already easy on my Pro Max.

4. Authentication ultimately pushed me toward returning it. The lack of a dependable Touch ID experience that worked the way I needed was probably the deciding factor. I found myself entering my passcode more often than I wanted, and the Apple Watch integration didn’t consistently make the experience feel seamless.

There were things I loved.

1. The interior screen was beautiful. Once I was sitting down with the phone open, I could appreciate the appeal immediately.

2. I also didn’t miss the larger camera system as much as I expected. I rarely use the high-zoom lens on my Pro Max, so that tradeoff was perfectly acceptable to me.

3. Apple deserves credit for making the return easy. There were no questions asked, and my refund was processed right away, including my prepaid AppleCare coverage. Returning a product I wanted to love could have been frustrating; the store experience made it straightforward.

4. Moving back to my 14 Pro Max was easy as well. The phones synced, and transferring my cellular service back went smoothly. The tech encountered a few software glitches and worrying delays, but restarting the phone resolved them.

My takeaway for Apple is simple: the everyday experience needs as much attention as the beautiful interior display. The outer screen, authentication, and software all need to make quick interactions feel effortless.

For now, this experiment reinforced how much I like the large Pro Max format. My iPhone 14 Pro Max still works extremely well after four years, and I’m happy to keep using it.

I’ll be watching what Apple introduces next year. I’m still interested in what comes next—but this time, my old phone won.