The iPhone Duo might be suffering from ‘crackgate’ — but it’s unclear whether the broken hinges are design flaws, manufacturing defects, or just a sign of misuse

The hinges on some iPhone Duos are reportedly breaking and causing damage to the screen in the process. But a lot of questions remain.

Apple iPhone Duo REVIEW

Some users report their iPhone Duos have already broken due to a possible design flaw with the hinge
A teardown shows that the hinge does indeed seem to be the weak link, but they could only recreate this issue by misusing the phone
Apple now says it's "aware of an issue" with a "small number" of iPhone DuosUpdate, October 26: Apple has provided an official statement to TechRadar on the reported iPhone Duo issues:
“The response to iPhone Duo from early users has been incredibly positive, and we are seeing exciting things from developers who are rapidly updating their apps to take advantage of its unique form factor. We are aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units. If users experience issues with their iPhone Duo display, they should contact AppleCare for a replacement.”

So there we have it — it appears that some of the cracked screens we've reported on below are indeed the result of a manufacturing issue, but only for a "small number" of units. Exactly how big that number is remains to be seen...

Original story follows...

While there has been a lot of excitement around the iPhone Duo, its launch hasn’t been faultless, with high demand leading to shipping delays and — more worryingly — some users reporting that their phones are already breaking.

Specifically, a small number of users have reported the hinge cracking and causing the screen to break, but is this the start of ‘crackgate’, or are these just isolated incidents?

Going by social media, we’d lean towards the latter — there have been a fair few reports across Reddit and elsewhere, but relative to how many people have received an iPhone Duo, it’s a drop in the ocean.

A cracked iPhone Duo screen

A fragile flagship

It’s also possible that some of these cracked hinges were caused by careless use of the phone. Foldables are inherently more fragile than standard handsets, but the iPhone Duo will be many people’s first foldable, and they may not all be used to how it should be treated yet.

Indeed, YouTuber CuriousHagi was able to replicate the issue but — as some Reddit users pointed out — only by intentionally bending the phone backwards as part of a durability test. So it’s not yet clear whether most of these cracked screens are from similar (albeit perhaps less extreme) misuse or normal handling of the phone.

Either way, with all the screens seemingly breaking at the same point, it suggests there could either be a design flaw present in the iPhone Duo — which would be a big problem for Apple — or simply a defect in some units, which would be a more isolated and easily fixable issue.

We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update this article if we hear back, but for now, if you have or are getting an iPhone Duo, we wouldn’t worry too much, as there aren’t a vast number of reportedly broken phones yet.

But you should probably treat it a bit more gently than a standard iPhone, and — surprise! — definitely not bend the hinge backwards.

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