The iPhone Duo went on sale last week, but some users reported inner screen damage. Teardown site iFixit said the device may face problems linked to its hinge design. "The breaks cluster near the transition from the gap for the crossing flex cable to the central hinge support," the blog noted.
The iPhone Duo is officially on sale. But some buyers have already started complaining about the inner display on Apple's first foldable. Teardown site iFixit may now have an answer for such failures.
The iPhone Duo is finally here. After years of rumours, Apple is in the foldable smartphone market. But foldables may not be as durable as your regular slab-like smartphone. After the iPhone Duo went on sale last week, some users online have claimed that the inner screen on their device was damaged within hours. Now, teardown website iFixit seems to have found the potential reasons behind such cases.
In its iPhone Duo teardown, iFixit says that the device may be facing an early inner-display problem linked to the design of its hinge. Owners have reported hearing a crunch or pop while folding or unfolding the device, followed by cracks or bright lines across the screen.
Though before we take a look at what might be causing such problems, you should know that these are just a handful of incidents related to the iPhone Duo, and unlikely to be an issue that most users would have faced.
What could be causing display failures on iPhone Duo?
The team built a 3D model of the iPhone Duo hinge to understand the reason for such cases. It found that reported failures cluster near the transition between the opening for the cable connecting the phone's two halves and the central hinge support.
"To see where the stresses build up from folding, we built a 3D hinge model from teardown footage, patents, and CT scans, then compared it with the reported damage locations," the blog post said. "The breaks cluster near the transition from the gap for the crossing flex cable to the central hinge support."
One possible cause, according to the teardown, is the central support bar failing to retract far enough when the phone closes. This could cause the curved portion of the display to press against it and create a stress hotspot near the reported failure area. In a foldable device like the iPhone Duo, the inner screen folds inwards, and forms a curve. This curve is also the reason for the crease that you see on foldables.
Another possibility, the blog notes, involves the curved rails that guide the hinge. These rails rise above nearby flat components during folding and could interfere with the screen if they do not move as intended.
Several structural edges also meet near the affected area, which could concentrate stress on the display's thin layers. As per the teardown, a local fault in the screen's electrical connections could affect an entire row or column of pixels even if the display has not visibly snapped. However, these are possible explanations for display failures on the iPhone Duo, and not a definitive cause.
Apple is reportedly offering free replacement units for the iPhone Duo for those who face any such issues with the device's display. Though out-of-warranty repair for the inner display would cost you Rs 1,49,900.
iPhone Duo is the most repairable foldable?
While the iPhone Duo may have problems related to the hinge, it seems that in other areas, the device does fairly well. During a fluorescent dust test, teardown found that relatively few particles reached the phone's internals, although some entered the hinge and caused it to crunch. The iPhone Duo collected less visible dust than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold in similar tests. Apple's foldable does get an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
The teardown also found that removing the nano-texture cover on the iPhone Duo's inner display was not a hard task. After removing this layer, the phone could still work like before, without any disruption. Though, the blog said that without this layer, the crease on the Duo became more apparent.
The teardown gave the iPhone Duo a provisional repairability score of 5 out of 10, its highest for a foldable smartphone. "This is the most repairable foldable smartphone we've seen so far, and it's still going to be a bear to repair," it said.
The iPhone Duo starts at Rs 2,99,900 in India for the base 256GB variant. The device goes all the way to Rs 4,49,900 for the 2TB model. But you may have to wait a few weeks before the Duo ships to you. As India Today Tech previously reported, Apple may be facing a supply crunch for the iPhone Duo, with some retailers asking for an extra Rs 1 lakh over its official price.