Early iPhone Duo screens are cracking near the hinge

Within hours of the iPhone Duo's launch, photos of cracked screens began circulating on social media. Users from Australia, the U.S., Canada and China posted images of broken inner screens with a bright, L-shaped line. The damage appears near the hinge.

Early owner reports

One Australian owner, u/Midnight_Slump, said the crack appeared six hours after he bought the phone, after he had opened it fewer than 20 times, with no marks on the screen. Another Reddit user saw a similar break before finishing the initial setup. Most photos show a break running along the fold, with a bright line of pixels stretching toward the right edge. One Reddit user suggested the inner display could be getting pinched near the hinge.

Apple's phone support offered an express replacement but required a hold for the phone's full price, and could not say when it would arrive. The owner instead went to an Apple Store, where staff immediately granted a full replacement. Without AppleCare+, repairs and replacements run from $49 to $1,499. Apple has reportedly faced manufacturing problems and low yields, and demand has outpaced supply.

Reviewers who folded the Duo thousands of times reported no cracks, which suggests the problem may be limited to some units. One user speculated that the tension springs that hold the phone in various positions are to blame. Others pointed to assembly tolerances or a faulty hinge component as possible causes. Galaxy Z Fold models have also seen display failures over several generations.

Apple has yet to publicly address the specific display-failure reports. It remains unclear whether the cases point to a wider hardware flaw or a small batch of defective phones, and it is too early to know how widespread the problem is.