A developer who goes by the name SmuOS reports that he has installed iOS 26 on an Android smartphone, which effectively turns the device into an iPhone Duo. The phone that he used is the long discontinued Microsoft Surface Duo, another foldable model. The two operating systems are so different that they are not meant to run on each other’s devices, which makes the result unusual. He shared his findings on X, where he joked with the words Hello from Surface DuiOS 26, and he also sent images to Windows Latest, which prove the authenticity of his work.
The experiment is not an emulation. According to Windows Latest, the port to the Surface Duo launches the open source XNU kernel of Apple with a customized Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) loader. The setup displays iOS 26.5.2, the model name iPhone 17 Pro Max, 5GB of storage, and N/A for the serial number, the Wi-Fi address and Bluetooth. The layout of iOS 26 does not translate perfectly to the Surface Duo, even though the shape of the device is similar, but the attempt is considered successful. Both displays are said to run at 37 frames per second, and touch control is not restricted, although it apparently took several hours before the phone showed the iOS setup screen.
The developer presumably obtained the source code of the XNU kernel from GitHub. To adapt it for the Qualcomm processor that is used in the Surface Duo, he had to put in a fair amount of work, since iPhones use chips that are based on the ARM architecture. He also used UniXNU, an open source project that allows iOS and macOS to run through UEFI on ARM64 hardware that is not made by Apple, as explained by Windows Latest. SmuOS writes that his Surface Duo is a test device, and that it already shows some damage to the display.
The whole project is a personal experiment that took two months to complete. In the end, SmuOS was able to demonstrate a largely functional Android device that runs on iOS 26, and his only aim was to keep his Surface Duo going, because it has not received any software updates since September 2023. Next, he says that he wants to use the Surface Pen as an Apple Pencil and to get an iOS 27 build running on his Surface DuiOS 26.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
