Apple’s iPhone Duo, the company’s first foldable phone and its most significant hardware departure in years, is facing complaints from early buyers reporting cracked inner displays after just hours or days of use.
According to Bloomberg, which verified the problem with more than half a dozen customers, the typical sequence is the same: a crunching sound when unfolding the device, followed by a crack forming along the center crease. Some users also reported a white patch or display malfunction appearing on the right side of the screen.
Apple confirmed the problem in a statement, saying it was “aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units” and directing affected users to contact AppleCare for a replacement. The company added that most devices are unaffected, and that units with the defect tend to show it quickly.
Customers described a physical bump under the display near where cracking began. Tom Battle, an Apple customer from San Diego, told Bloomberg: “You could feel a bump or loose piece under the display.” Venture capitalist Jonathan King said he heard a crunch when opening his Duo on Monday. “The smaller outer screen works just fine, but the inner screen is now unusable,” he said, noting the device was registering phantom touches on the inner display.
Repair platform iFixit, which studies device components through teardowns, said it believes the cause is a hinge component failing and cracking the screen from below, rather than a fault with the display panel itself.
The timing is awkward for Apple. The Duo went on sale Friday, starts at $1,999, and is the product of more than a decade of development. Apple’s head of hardware engineering, Tom Marieb, had publicly encouraged customers to hold the company “accountable” for the crease’s durability, while CEO John Ternus had dismissed competing Android foldables as “cheap and crappy.”
One user, who goes by Centrino31A, told Bloomberg he was simply reading Apple News when the crack appeared. His local Apple store in Richmond, Virginia confirmed the issue as a defect requiring replacement, but had no available appointments, no inventory, and directed him to a second store which also had no stock. “It is extremely frustrating,” he said, noting the price point made the support gap harder to accept.
Bloomberg said it did not encounter the problem on either a review unit supplied by Apple or a separately purchased device.
IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo noted that Samsung ran into similar problems with the original Galaxy Fold in 2019, but said a fast response can limit the fallout. He described Apple’s move to direct users to customer care as “the right first step.” Apple has navigated hardware controversies before, including the bending iPhone 6 Plus in 2014 and antenna issues with the iPhone 4 in 2010, without lasting damage to the product line.
