Apple told Tom's Guide in a briefing that Reachability is coming to the iPhone Duo later this year. It didn't give a date. Left-handed buyers have the most riding on it, because the $1,999 foldable's controls are locked to the right side and there's no setting to move them.
The reporter, Scott Younker, is left-handed and counts the controls among the phone's biggest drawbacks. Getting a thumb across the display to tap apps or controls is a real stretch. With shorter thumbs or smaller hands, it's worse.
On standard iPhone models, Reachability is an accessibility setting. You swipe down on the bottom edge of the screen and the top half of whatever is showing slides down, where one thumb can reach it. It isn't a way to put the control dock somewhere else, so on the Duo the dock will still sit on the right.
The Duo goes on sale on October 23 with supply tight, and Tom's Guide expects most people won't get one until December or January. Plenty of buyers may have the fix before the phone arrives.
Younker's colleague Dave LeClair found the Duo heavy, expensive and not quite optimized outside Apple's own apps. Their lab tests were kinder. The phone came out powerful and efficient, with battery life that lasts most of a day.
For a left-handed owner, the update should make the Duo easier to use with one hand, whether that means tapping an app near the top or reaching a control. It won't make the layout match the hand you hold it in.