iFixit’s iPhone Duo teardown has begun, revealing some interesting (and some worrying) details about what it calls the most repairable foldable phone ever made. Here are the details.
You know the drill: new iPhone, now iFixit teardown
iFixit’s highly anticipated iPhone Duo teardown is now live. Among the many interesting results of its teardown process, perhaps the most positively surprising is the repairability score: the iPhone Duo gets a 5 out of 10, which according to iFixit is the highest score it has ever given to a foldable smartphone.
Of course, this is a provisional score, pending the availability of replacement parts, but it is still an encouraging result for Apple’s first foldable.
As usual, the teardown is very detailed and I encourage you to watch the video below and read the in-depth iFixit blog post here.
Unsurprisingly, much of the teardown focuses on the hinge, which is the biggest new feature on this iPhone. As iFixit notes, Apple’s patents have been offering clues to its design for years. However, now that it’s here, the disassembly reveals an even more intricate and fascinating mechanism than the documents suggested.
The iFixit teardown begins with the now-traditional fluorescent dust test, which allows the team to monitor how dust particles enter the device as they disassemble it.
The iPhone Duo has an IP68 rating, meaning it is dust-proof and can withstand immersion in water up to 6 meters deep for 30 minutes.
They quickly notice that the zipper starts making creaking sounds after the dust test. As the disassembly progresses, however, they discover that relatively little dust has gotten inside the hinge, especially compared to other foldable phones they’ve tested.
The hinge itself features an intricate combination of interconnecting gears, springs, and metal joints, along with a teardrop design that leaves room for the display to bend without bending too sharply. This waterdrop design is now pretty common for foldable phones, although Apple’s implementation adds some interesting engineering tricks.
Apple also uses curved guides to control the movement of the joints, to reduce the stress placed on the display when opening and closing the phone.
About those screen failures
Speaking of stress, however, iFixit has found a few possible culprits in the early screen failures reported by iPhone Duo owners, many of whom described hearing a creaking sound as they closed or opened the device, followed by bright lines appearing on the internal display.
Interestingly, many of the reported failures appear to occur around the same area of the display, near the transition between the opening for the cable connecting the two halves and the central hinge support.
Using CT scans, teardown footage, and Apple patents, iFixit created a 3D model of the hinge to investigate possible causes of the damage.
One possibility is that the center support bar doesn’t retract properly when the phone closes, potentially putting too much pressure on the display. Another involves the curved rails that guide the hinge’s movement, which rise above surrounding components during folding and could, in theory, interfere with the screen if they don’t move as intended.
iFixit also points out that several edges and structural components converge around the affected area, potentially concentrating stress on the delicate layers of the display.
The iFixit teardown doesn’t definitively establish what’s causing the failures, but the similarities between the reported damage and the hinge’s internal geometry give the team some promising clues for further investigation.
Other interesting curiosities
The iFixit teardown also takes a closer look at the iPhone Duo’s matte nanotexture display, which Apple says helps disguise the crease by dispersing reflected light. Under the microscope, the team found a surface covered in tiny, rounded bumps that scatter reflections, making the crease less noticeable.
Another interesting discovery came when examining the display pixels under a microscope. iFixit noticed that some subpixels are oval-shaped and oriented in different directions, rather than following a uniform pattern.
iFixit noted that an Apple patent suggests this arrangement could help reduce diffraction artifacts, potentially making the crease even less noticeable. The teardown blog post offers a fascinating look at the model and how Apple could use it to make reflections less distracting.
And speaking of pixels, iFixit also examined the area above the internal display’s selfie camera. Just like the infrared camera under the iPhone 18 Pro’s display, the Duo uses a modified pixel scheme with larger gaps that allow light to reach the camera underneath. In this area the pixels also become rounder and more regularly arranged.
Finally, on the display, iFixit notes that the bezel surrounding the internal screen can be removed without breaking, thanks to Apple’s use of clips rather than relying entirely on adhesive. The external display is also surprisingly easy to remove, which is particularly good news, given that several internal repairs require its removal first.
Moving on to the batteries, iFixit shows how Apple placed the two cells, one under the back glass and the other under the external display (which means replacing both requires opening both halves of the phone). The larger battery has a capacity of 11,567 Wh, while the smaller one has a capacity of 7,506 Wh, for a total of 19,073 Wh.
iFixit also praises Apple’s use of electrically releasable adhesives on both batteries, allowing them to be removed without forcible prying. The team called it the best battery removal experience ever in a foldable smartphone.
The teardown also explores the iPhone Duo’s new logic board design, multiple display layers, and how they move independently to accommodate folding, and you can watch it in full below:
For iFixit’s in-depth blog post on the iPhone Duo teardown, follow this link.
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