iPhone Duo Memes: The Duolingo Owl Is Hooting Mad That Apple Stole His Name

Apple announced its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, at Wednesday’s “Surprise and shine” event. It’s a huge product drop from an iconic tech company, so naturally, people have thoughts to share. The reactions are pretty funny.

Many tech observers thought Apple might name its folding phone the iPhone Ultra, but the company went with Duo instead. That ruffled the feathers of a certain fictional owl: Duo, the mascot of language app Duolingo. (Duo’s used to wading into newsy issues — he once pretended to be murdered by a Tesla Cybertruck.)

“What an exciting Apple event!” Duo snarked on X. “I sure hope my brand doesn’t get infringed upon.”

Welp, guess what, Duo?

The name news led to a witty monologue of Duo discovering the news. “it’s called the iPhone WHAT??? oh god oh god my SEO my SEO.”

Duo even went the “Can I speak to your manager?” route, reaching out to new Apple CEO John Ternus to complain.

One X user suggested the app “just change your name to Foldlingo, since they should have just called it the iPhone Fold/iFold to begin with.”

Samsung: Apple’s reheating its leftovers

Apple rival Samsung, which released its first folding phone, the Galaxy Fold, in 2019, and has been bringing out new models ever since, commiserated with Duo, writing, “I’m so sorry, @DuoLingo. They copied us too #Solidarity.”

Samsung was a little more bitter than Duo, though. It also posted, with Apple unmentioned but clearly implied: “Let us know when you’re done reheating our leftovers.”

While a folding phone is new to Apple, that’s not the case with phone-makers in general. Google, Motorola and Chinese brands like Honor, Oppo and Huawei are already there. This led to jokes about Apple being late to the party.

“Excited for Apple to finally invent the folding smart phone today!” snarked one Bluesky user.

Wrote another: “Can’t WAIT for Apple to call their folding phone ‘revolutionary’ a DECADE into the folding phone market.”

‘We have a folding phone at home’

Shark researcher David Shiffman brought the Apple news back to his topic of interest, posting a photo of a small, curled-up shark with the dialogue: “Me: Can we get the new Apple Duo folding phone? Mom: We have a folding phone at home.”

‘Folds like we did on Lake Ontario’

More than one person used the iPhone Duo announcement to jab at Apple Maps for renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to get US agencies to relabel the lake, which straddles the US-Canada border.

‘Cracking noises ensue’

Although folding phones aren’t new, some people joked about the sheer idea of folding up a phone. Wrote one, “Welp. Apple has normalized folding your phone. [cracking noises ensue].”

And another wrote, “just a reminder that apple CANNOT stop you from folding your current phone in half.”

Hand over $2,000, please

The iPhone Duo doesn’t come cheap: Its starting price is $1,999, and a fully tricked-out version soars to more than $3,000, which naturally led to more jokes.

“Wow, I could buy a PS5 and a Switch 2 and still have plenty of money left to not get an XBox,” wrote one Bluesky user.

And another Bluesky user offered a sarcastic solution to the price problem, writing, “buying the left half of an iphone duo until i can afford the right half of an iphone duo.”

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line. See full bio