Windows 11 now runs on Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo, thanks to an open-source project by Google AI Studio’s Ammaar Reshi, built with help from Gemini.
Video: Windows 11 running on the iPhone Duo (posted by Ammaar Reshi)
Fold the Duo partway, and the top half shows the Windows desktop, while the bottom half becomes an on-screen keyboard and trackpad. The layout means, according to Windows Latest’s Mayank Parmar, “the Duo almost feels like a full-fledged laptop”, and Reshi’s video “looks like it works really well”.
Reshi heads product and design at Google AI Studio. According to the report, he used Gemini 4 Carbon to help build the project and show what the model can do. The sources don’t say Google backs the project, and it doesn’t come from Microsoft or Apple either. He calls it WindowsiOS, and it’s fully open source.
How it works
WindowsiOS doesn’t stream Windows from the cloud or connect to a remote PC. Instead, it runs the ARM version of Windows 11 24H2 in a virtual machine on the phone itself, with touch controls. The Duo isn’t jailbroken either. The project uses a software approach, including just-in-time (JIT) translation, to run ARM64 code without Apple’s restricted hardware virtualisation framework.
The project’s GitHub page says it was “Verified end-to-end on the foldable iPhone Duo (iPhone19,4 · Apple A20 Pro · iOS 27 TXM) — without Hypervisor.framework.” It also says it supports Prism, Microsoft’s translation layer for compatible x86 and x64 apps on Windows on ARM, though that doesn’t guarantee every app or game will work.
Asked how long the AI agents worked on it, Reshi replied, “Agents cooked for 2 hours with Swarm!” He described the installation as approximately 12GB, and he claims the build runs at “near-native” speed.
The catches
Reshi didn’t share any comparative benchmarks to back up the speed claim, and Windows Latest hasn’t tested the build itself. Parmar also calls it “not a particularly practical idea”, since Windows 11 “isn’t really optimized for touch, let alone foldables.”
Trying it requires more than a Duo. The documented setup requires an Apple Silicon Mac, development tools, and a Windows 11 ARM image. It uses an optimised Windows image whose script disables Defender real-time protection and Windows Update background services. The project’s README says it has been verified only on the iPhone Duo, so it’s unclear whether it’ll work on other iPhones. Windows Latest’s report includes no comment from Apple, Google, or Microsoft.
The Duo is Apple’s first foldable, with a 7.6-inch inner display. In the UAE it starts at AED 8,499 for 256GB, including 5% VAT. Apple took pre-orders from Friday, 16 October, and put the phone on sale on Friday, 23 October, shipping it with iOS 27.1.
| iPhone Duo storage | UAE price |
|---|---|
| 256GB | AED 8,499 |
| 512GB | AED 9,349 |
| 1TB | AED 11,049 |
| 2TB | AED 13,599 |
Microsoft gave up on Windows phones years ago
The stunt lands because Microsoft walked away from phones running Windows. According to RTE, Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore said on Twitter in October 2017 that new features and hardware for Windows 10 Mobile “aren’t the focus”. He blamed the lack of apps.
We have tried very hard to incent app devs. Paid money .. wrote apps 4 them .. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest
Joe Belfiore, Microsoft VP
According to Gartner, Windows Mobile had a 0.3% global market share in late 2016.
Windows 10 Mobile’s last feature update reached end of support on 14 January 2020. Microsoft has since released dual-screen phones under the Surface Duo brand, but they run Android.
The workarounds now run both ways. A few weeks ago, a developer told Windows Latest they used AI to help get iOS 26 running on Microsoft’s abandoned Surface Duo 2. Separately, Apple is building clipboard sync between the iPhone and Windows after an EU interoperability request by Microsoft.
WindowsiOS is on GitHub. For a foldable you can buy instead, see our guide to the best foldable phones in the UAE.
