The iPhone Duo has been in buyers’ hands for less than a day, and the first broken ones are already showing up. Photos posted to Reddit and the MacRumors forums show inner displays failing in nearly the same spot: right along the hinge, usually with a line of bright pixels running across one side of the screen.
It’s too early to call this a design flaw. But if you just paid $1,999 or more for Apple’s first foldable, it’s worth knowing what’s being reported and what your options are.
What owners are describing
The most detailed account comes from an owner in Australia, quoted by MacRumors, The Verge and Android Authority:
Had my iPhone Duo for about six hours and had probably opened it fewer than 20 times. I was showing it to a friend, and as I opened it, I felt something around the internal hinge, underneath the screen. As I continued opening it, I heard an audible crack, and the screen broke right along the hinge.
The owner said there were no marks on the inner screen or the outside of the hinge beforehand to suggest anything had gotten caught. They took it to an Apple Store, and Apple replaced it on the spot.
Most of the other images come from demo units in China, where the Duo went on sale hours ahead of the U.S. MacRumors notes that the backstory on most of those photos is unknown, and that user damage could be a factor on display units handled by crowds all day. Android Authority points out the uncomfortable part: the damage sits in almost exactly the same place on every device pictured.
On the MacRumors forums, the thread’s author wrote that the Australian owner was told the unit would go back to Apple for a full failure analysis. Forum members are guessing at causes, from the hinge’s tension springs to a misaligned part pressing up on the panel from underneath. None of that is confirmed.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
How this squares with the reviews
Reviewers didn’t run into this. As Android Authority notes, Joanna Stern and YouTuber Tim Pan both put the Duo through long folding tests. The screen and hinge showed wear after thousands of folds, but neither cracked.
That’s a small sample, though, and review units aren’t the same as millions of retail phones coming off a brand-new production line. This morning, we covered DigiTimes’ report that Apple raised its build target to 14 million units despite earlier reports of manufacturing trouble with the Duo’s displays and hinges. A handful of launch-day failures doesn’t prove those problems made it into shipping phones. It’s just the thing to watch.
If your Duo’s screen fails
- Go to Apple, not a repair shop. MacRumors says hinge failures from normal use should be covered by the standard one-year warranty. The Australian owner got a replacement right away.
- You also have a return window. Buyers who got their Duo today have two weeks to return it, per MacRumors. If a failure, or just these reports, makes you nervous, that’s your out.
- Know the stakes if it’s ruled accidental. Apple charges $999 to fix the inner display out of warranty without AppleCare+, versus a $99 deductible with it, as we broke down last week. If you’re still on the fence about AppleCare+, this is the week to decide.
- Document it. Photos of the screen, the hinge and the date you got the phone will help if there’s any question about how it happened.
What this means
Every first-generation foldable has had early hardware stories, and some failures are expected when this many phones ship on one day. The question is whether the reports stay a trickle or turn into a pattern over the next couple of weeks. If complaints keep landing in the same spot along the hinge, expect pressure on Apple to say something. For now, if yours works, use it normally. If it doesn’t, it’s Apple’s problem to fix, not yours.
Reporting reference: MacRumors ↗