Launching a brand new product is always a risk, and it looks like the iPhone Duo is not immune. Users from around the internet are reporting that their new Apple foldables are developing cracks after being folded just a handful of times.
At least two product teardowns have suggested why this might be happening, but nothing has been confirmed as yet. That hasn’t stopped Samsung from making fun of its American rival, though. Perhaps the funniest bit is that Samsung’s ad, run on Instagram, doesn’t specifically target the Duo’s display woes. The South Korean company was going to do this before anything was obviously wrong.
iPhone Duo that again
Reports suggest that the iPhone Duo is having trouble in more than one country. The screen issues — cracks near the hinge that can destroy the inner display — are common across reports. One of these happened to someone whose phone lasted a claimed six hours before it needed to be replaced. Whether the problem is inherent to the iPhone Duo’s design or whether its users are simply holding it wrong has yet to be established.
There are possible problems with the Duo’s durability, with both JerryRigEverything and iFixit showing that there are ways for Apple’s hinge to damage the inner display. It seems like a silly thing for Apple, generally enormously meticulous, to overlook, though. It’s also possible that a bad or poorly assembled batch got out and into users’ hands. That’s still a problem, but not as serious as it could be otherwise.
Apple hasn’t directly addressed the issue. Likely, the company has its engineers working furiously to figure out what’s going on before it says anything.
