iPhone Duo Owners Complain About Cracking Folding Display; iFixit Teardown Tries to Explain Why

iPhone Duo was unveiled on September 9 as the Cupertino-based tech giant's first book-style foldable handset. Last week, the smartphone became available for purchase, hitting online retailer platforms and the Apple Store shelves. In India, some platforms reported that the foldable sold out within minutes, while a few offline retailers have also flagged that they have run out of iPhone Duo stock. However, some iPhone Duo users are now reporting that the inner display of their expensive foldable iPhone cracked before they could even get through the initial setup process. Reports suggest that the issue could be because of defective hinges.

iPhone Duo's Cracked Foldable Screens Show a Horizontal Green Line

In a post on October 24, Reddit user u/leftyhyzer16 on the subreddit r/iPhoneDuo posted a picture of his new iPhone Duo, which had developed a crack on its foldable screen right in the middle of the display, where the crease exists. Along with the crack, the display of his unit has seemingly also developed a green line of pixels running vertically and another band running horizontally.

The iPhone Duo owner said that he “maybe” folded the smartphone four times before the hinge became rigid. This was reportedly followed by a “loud pop” when the user tried to force-fold and unfold the handset, which caused the foldable display of his smartphone to break. He is one of tens of users posting similar complaints with photos and videos on the subreddit and other social media platforms.

As a possible explanation, a few users said that the issue could be related to the iPhone Duo's titanium hinge, which has a relatively high number of moving parts compared to other foldable phones. Later, the Reddit user posted an update claiming that Apple replaced his unit at no extra cost. However, when he visited his telecom carrier, he was told that he would be put at the end of the waitlist if he wanted to get a replacement for the handset because they did not have a unit in stock at the time.

iFixit, in his iPhone Duo teardown video and blog post, called Apple's foldable the most repairable foldable, while highlighting that it has a “huge screen problem”. iFixit writes that the issue could possibly be because the support bar in the middle failed to retract properly in specific cases, which put pressure on the flexible screen of the iPhone Duo, causing the cracks. The second theory says that the curved rails of the hinge could be causing the screen to break.

Separately, YouTuber JerryRigEverything also put the iPhone Duo through his durability test. Apple claims that the foldable offers an IP68-rated build for dust and water resistance, better than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8's IP48 rating. However, when attempting to unfold backward, the display of the iPhone Duo broke in the YouTuber's test as well, whereas its competitors had been able to survive.