New $2,000 folding iPhone Duo is cracking at the hinge for early buyers

Early buyers of Apple's $2,000 iPhone Duo are posting photos of inner screens cracked along the hinge, the spot where the phone bends. Reports are coming from the U.S., China and Australia, so the problem does not appear tied to one market. The cause is still unclear.

What owners are seeing

The photos look alike. A large crack runs along the hinge on the inner display. It causes a pixel problem that shows up as a bright white line down the right side of the screen. One Reddit user in Australia said that after about six hours they heard an audible crack and the screen broke right along the hinge. They estimated they had opened the phone fewer than 20 times.

How Apple responded

Apple first offered that owner an express replacement by phone. It required a hold on their card for the full cost of the handset, and Apple could not say when the replacement would arrive. The owner went to an Apple Store instead. Staff apologized and swapped in a new phone on the spot. That suggests stores may have spare units for early failures.

What a durability test found

YouTuber JerryRigEverything, whose real name is Zack Nelson, put the phone through his usual abuse tests. It did not hold up.

• Dust got into the hinge through several entry points, despite the phone's IP68 rating for dust resistance.
• The dust overpowered the magnets meant to keep the phone closed.
• A bend test left a permanent green line on the inner screen, which later stopped responding.
• The inner screen scratched at level 2 on the Mohs scale, a measure of how hard a material is. The outer screen held out until level 7.

The inner screen's matte coating did make some marks seem to disappear. It was not enough to save it. Nelson said he has tested folding phones since the first generation seven years ago and most survive. The iPhone Duo did not.

What is not known

It is unclear how widespread the cracking is. With so many people getting the phone this week, some defective units are to be expected. It is also unclear whether more hinge failures will surface over time. Early tests suggest the crease at the hinge becomes more visible the more the phone is folded.

What to do

Problems from normal use should be covered by Apple's one-year warranty. There is also a 14-day window to return the phone.

• Test the fold and the inner screen early, while returns are still open.
• Keep your receipt and the purchase date.
• If the screen cracks, consider going to an Apple Store in person.