The placement of the under-display camera on the iPhone Duo's inner screen has puzzled some early observers, and a well-known leaker says there's a technical reason behind it. According to Chinese leaker Instant Digital, Apple's foldable iPhone Duo could not fit the front-facing camera into the top-right corner of its inner display because of engineering constraints, not a deliberate design decision.

What the leaker says caused the offset placement

In a post on Weibo, Instant Digital explained that the current generation of the iPhone Duo has its under-display camera positioned away from the corner of the inner screen specifically because engineers could not overcome the technical hurdles required to tuck it into that space. The leaker added that a future version of the device will likely relocate the sensor to the top-right corner so that it lines up with the camera on the device's outer display.

That alignment matters because the iPhone Duo is built around the idea of a seamless transition between its two screens. Apple has said the two halves of the device share the same aspect ratio and are designed to feel continuous whether the phone is open or closed. Having the inner and outer cameras sit in mismatched positions works against that sense of visual consistency, which is likely why Apple would want to fix it in a later redesign.

Why aligning the cameras is a tough engineering problem

Instant Digital acknowledged that shifting the under-display camera to match the outer screen's camera placement is a legitimate engineering challenge. The primary obstacle appears to be thickness: the opposing rear camera modules are reportedly the bulkiest components inside the iPhone Duo, and fitting a camera assembly underneath the display in that same corner area would require solving space constraints that don't currently allow it.

Apple has positioned the iPhone Duo as its thinnest iPhone yet when fully unfolded, which only adds to the difficulty of relocating internal components without affecting the device's slim profile. Squeezing an under-display camera into a corner already crowded by other hardware, while preserving that thinness, is not a trivial redesign.

What this means for future iPhone Duo models

If Instant Digital's claim proves accurate, buyers of the current iPhone Duo may see the under-display camera repositioned in a subsequent generation rather than in a near-term update. Camera alignment across the inner and outer displays would be a cosmetic and functional refinement rather than a core change to the device's foldable design.

As with most early claims from leakers, this should be treated as an informed prediction rather than a confirmed Apple roadmap item. Instant Digital has a track record of sharing supply chain and engineering details ahead of official announcements, but Apple has not commented publicly on any camera repositioning plans for future iPhone Duo hardware.

For now, the offset camera placement appears to be a limitation of current under-display camera technology combined with the thin, dual-screen design Apple chose for its first foldable iPhone, rather than an intentional aesthetic decision.