Following the iPhone Duo launch on Friday, a number of owners are reporting that their inner screens have cracked and broken on their own.
The affected units all seem to break in the same way. The screen cracks down the center line of the hinge, and a horizontal block of pixels on the screen is then stuck glowing white.
The scale of the issue remains unclear. We’ve seen about ten unique instances so far, with many posting their (similar) experiences on the iPhone Duo subreddit.
The amount of time it takes for the cracking to happen varies, but obviously it doesn’t take too long since customers have only been able to start unboxing the device since Friday morning. A couple of people even said theirs cracked during the first setup process.
From what we’ve seen so far, most buyers experiencing this problem have been able to return to the Apple Store and get a straight device replacement.
People who bought from carriers may have had less luck, as the carriers do not have immediate stock to give out a replacement. One person said they were told that they must have dropped the phone to cause the damage, and that it was on them to pay for repair.
In terms of why this is happening, there is a working theory that a batch of iPhone Duos have a defective hinge component. The suggestion is a piece of the hinge is slightly misaligned, and pokes upwards onto the inner screen, causing the breakage.
Some on social media have suggested that users should not close the iPhone Duo by pressing in the center of the inner display, and perhaps that contributes to this issue occurring. It is unclear if this is actually relevant advice. Officially, Apple has not given any guidance on how users are expected to handle the phone when folding and unfolding it.
While the reports are concerning, it is worth remembering that Apple has probably shipped hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of units already and only a small percentage of people have had their phone break on them. Hopefully, most people will be able to enjoy using their new iPhone Duo without issue. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, and will update if we hear back.
Lol I predicted this to friends months ago. Apparently the era of phones with hinges taught us nothing.
If they made two screens that meet when you unfold it, with little to no gap, it would be almost the same and surely more durable. But no, it had to be the New Gimmick!
Except even the first generation Samsung folding phones seem to be sturdier than this.
I think your memory might be fuzzy. Samsung had to delay the rollout of the new 1st gen Fold because of hardware issues that showed their faces before they even sold them to customers.
I should retract my statement after remembering how good the G1/HTC Dream was. The hinge on that thing was sturdy as hell!
The problem isn’t the hinge itself. Laptops have had hinges for ages without significant issues. The problem is the flexible screen that has to bend around the hinge. That’s a significant engineering challenge. A challenge which Samsung is apparently much better at, even if Samsung’s hinges definitely have their issues.
I bought a used Pixel Fold at the beginning of the year because it was cheap. It was clearly used, needed a good cleaning and has some scratches when I got it. I’ve been using it heavily since, opening and closing it daily. There are a few dead pixels but I think those were there when I got it, otherwise it still works fine.
Didn’t even need to go back to flip phones to know this was going to happen. The smart flip phones from Motorola and Samsung always end up breaking. It’s inevitable.
Well i heard the hinge is not the problem and is designed with a high durability. ;) Maybe they should have made a Keyboard on one side instead of a Folded screen
Or… hear me out. Get rid of the hinge, make the phone smaller, put the screen on top and keyboard on the bottom half. I think people would love it.
This was my very last phone before I got a smartphone. It was so awesome.
This was my last dumbphone, I still have it in a box somewhere. It had the nicest glide! It would snap between open and closed, very satisfying. Also it was tiny tiny.
God I miss slide out keyboards. They were so tactile and nice. I had a sony experia pro for a while many many years ago, it was the last slide keyboard I could find that wasn’t a Bluetooth case. Was very sad when flashing roms borked my governator chip and it could never be off the charger again… (it had an issue with upgrading and then downgrading, so playing with different roms was a bad idea)
That and the razr were pretty slick phones by Motorola.
The same idea was revived with the original Jolla phone. I hope someone makes an updated version for the Jolla phone 2.
It’s the addition of a moving part. That alone is a death knell for the device.