After the launch of the iPhone Duo on Friday, several owners reported that their internal screens cracked and broke on their own (top image via scary_duck23 on Reddit).
The affected drives all seem to break the same way. The screen cracks along the center line of the hinge, and a horizontal block of pixels on the screen gets stuck with a white light.
The scope of the problem remains unclear. We’ve seen about ten unique cases so far, many of whom have posted their (similar) experiences on the iPhone Duo subreddit.
The time it takes for cracking to occur varies, but obviously it doesn’t take long as customers can only start unboxing the device from Friday morning. A couple of people even said that theirs broke during the first setup process.
From what we’ve seen so far, most buyers who have encountered this issue have been able to return to the Apple Store and get a device replacement directly.
People who purchased from couriers may have had less luck, as couriers do not have immediate supplies to provide a replacement. One person said they were told the phone had been dropped to cause the damage and that it was up to them to pay for the repair.
As for why this is happening, there is a working theory that a batch of iPhone Duos have a faulty hinge component. The suggestion is that a piece of the hinge is slightly misaligned and protruding upwards onto the internal screen, causing it to break.
Some on social media have suggested that users shouldn’t close the iPhone Duo by pressing on the center of the internal display, and perhaps this is contributing to this issue. It is unclear whether this is actually relevant advice. Officially, Apple has not provided any guidance on how users should handle the phone when folding and unfolding it.
While the reports are concerning, it’s worth remembering that Apple has likely already shipped hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of units, and only a small percentage of people have had their phones broken. Hopefully, most people can enjoy using their new iPhone Duo without any issues. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.
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