Apple is exploring changes to Safari that would let websites use more of the iPhone Duo's outer display, according to a report from MacRumors based on a WebKit blog post.
Today, Safari on the outer screen keeps its controls in a column along the side. Apple chose that placement because the outer display is shorter and wider than other iPhone screens, and a side-mounted bar preserves vertical space for apps and webpages. The trade-off, as MacRumors describes it, is a cramped layout: in Safari 27.1, pages are confined to the area beside the controls, and the remaining strip is filled with the page's background color. That limits the usable content width on the outer display.
The details come from a WebKit blog post titled "WebKit features for Safari 27.1," published on Friday, October 23, 2026, by Jen Simmons. The post says Apple is investigating a way to let pages extend beneath the side controls without making parts of a site unreachable. One example given is a header whose background spans the full screen while its navigation links stay in the unobstructed area.
Simmons notes that an existing web setting, viewport-fit set to cover, could enable such an expanded layout. It allows a page to extend into areas that would otherwise be reserved, but developers must leave enough space around important content so the interface does not cover it. According to the post, Apple's research suggests many sites would not handle this correctly, because many fail to make the necessary allowances on every edge. Apple has not settled on an approach, and the change is not available yet.
The same post covers other Safari 27.1 additions for the iPhone Duo. When the device is partially folded like a book, Safari automatically shows PDFs in a two-page view, and returns to a single page when the phone is flattened or closed. Apple is also adding experimental support for detecting the screen's folding posture and positioning content around the middle fold. Developers can try these features behind Safari feature flags.
For now, the outer-display behavior is a design choice Apple says it is still working on rather than a promised fix. Web developers who want to prepare may want to check how their layouts respond to extra safe-area space, since any future change would put the responsibility for keeping key content visible on the sites themselves.
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