Tech brief Breaking

iPhone Duo Teardown Points to a Possible Cause of Those Cracked Screens

By , Tech Cheat Codes Team

Published 6 min read

Two hands hold up iPhone Duo phones, one folded and one unfolded to show the large inner screen.
Image: Apple
On this page · 4 sections
  1. Where the screens are breaking
  2. The repair bill if it isn't covered
  3. What to do if you own one
  4. References

One iPhone Duo owner on Reddit described it this way: "Maybe folded it 4 times, hinge got tight and then made a loud pop when I pushed past it." Then a bright line showed up across the inner screen. Stories like that have been piling up since Apple's first folding iPhone went on sale Friday, and on Sunday the repair site iFixit published a full teardown that tries to explain them.

The short version is that iFixit thinks the problem lives in one small spot inside the hinge. It hasn't proven it. But the damage in owners' photos lines up with that spot closely enough that it's the best lead anyone outside Apple has right now.

Apple hasn't commented publicly on the cracked screens as of Sunday evening. Owners have reported that Apple Stores are swapping affected phones for new ones, and iFixit notes the same, but there's no official repair program or recall.

Where the screens are breaking

The pattern in owner reports is strikingly consistent. Someone opens or closes the phone, hears a crunch or a pop, and then sees a short line running down the fold and a bright line of pixels running across the right side of the inner screen. One owner had it happen within six hours of buying the phone, before they'd finished setting it up.

To figure out why, iFixit built a 3D model of the hinge from its teardown footage, CT scans and Apple's own patents, then laid owners' photos of broken screens over it. The breaks cluster in the same place: just below the gap where the cable linking the phone's two halves crosses the hinge, right where that gap meets the hinge's center support. Several edges and parts meet there, and each one changes how the thin screen is held up as it bends.

That cable was the obvious first suspect, since that cable is a common weak spot in foldables. iFixit doesn't think it's the cause here, because the damage sits a little lower than where the cable actually passes through.

Its leading theory is about the center support bar. When the phone closes, that bar is supposed to drop out of the way so the screen can curve into the space inside the hinge. In iFixit's closing simulation, the bar doesn't drop far enough, and the curved screen comes down onto it, creating a small pressure point near where owners are seeing breaks. iFixit also raised a second possibility, involving the curved rails that guide the hinge as it moves.

A YouTuber who goes by CuriousHagi reached a similar place a different way. He managed to crack an iPhone Duo screen during his own durability testing, then took the phone apart. The piece that broke was one of the hinge's middle links, which is thinner than the links above and below it, and it snapped at a small notch. He also found marks where the hinge had rubbed against the support plate, which hints that something got caught.

Neither teardown proves the cause. Two different approaches pointing at the same middle section of the hinge is still worth knowing about if you own one.

The visible damage also looks worse than it probably is. A tiny fault in the screen's electrical connections can light up a whole row or column of pixels, so a crack you can barely see can still put a line across half the display. Some owners can't spot any physical damage at all.

The repair bill if it isn't covered

The inner screen sits under a removable matte cover layer, and iFixit found that layer is fairly easy to replace without touching the screen underneath. Apple charges $49 (price as of ; official source) to replace it without AppleCare and $19 with it (price as of ; official source).

The folding screen itself is a different story. Out of warranty, inner screen damage costs $999 in the U.S. (price as of ; official source), which iFixit puts at about half the price of a new phone. With AppleCare+ or AppleCare One, the fee for inner screen damage is $99 (price as of ; official source). Apple inspects each phone to decide whether damage is a manufacturing defect, which the one-year warranty covers, or accidental damage, which it doesn't.

iFixit gave the iPhone Duo a provisional repairability score of 5 out of 10, the highest it has given any foldable. Most of that credit goes to the parts you'd rarely worry about, like batteries that release with an electrical current. The inner screen is still slow, delicate work, and iFixit doesn't sell a replacement yet.

There was one more finding that matters day to day. In iFixit's dust test, fine powder worked into the hinge and made it crunch, though less got in than with Samsung's and Google's latest foldables. Cleaning the hinge means taking off the folding screen.

What to do if you own one

If your phone folds smoothly, there's no reason to stop using it. Pay attention to how the hinge feels, though. Several owners describe the hinge getting tight or catching just before the crack. Our read, based on those accounts and iFixit's theory, is that if you feel resistance partway through a fold, don't force it. Stop and take it to Apple instead.

If your screen has already cracked or shows a bright line, stop opening and closing it, take clear photos, and book an appointment at an Apple Store. You're inside the one-year warranty, and if you bought from Apple you're also inside its 14-day return window, which for launch-day buyers ends in early November. Carrier and retailer purchases follow the store's own return rules. You can confirm your coverage by entering your serial number at Apple's coverage checker.

If you don't have AppleCare yet, you can still add it within 60 days of buying the phone, and the gap between $99 and $999 for the inner screen makes that worth a hard look on this phone.

Keep it out of sandy or gritty pockets and bags, too. Given what the dust test showed, that's cheap insurance for a hinge that can't easily be cleaned.

If you're still deciding whether to buy, there's little downside to waiting a bit. Apple's next move, whether that's a statement, a repair program or a quiet fix in newer units, will tell you a lot. Our first report on the cracked screens, Some iPhone Duo Screens Are Cracking Along the Hinge, has the earliest owner accounts. We'll update this story if Apple responds.

References