Crackgate? Apple iPhone Duo owners report screen cracks along the hinge
Some Apple iPhone Duo models are already experiencing hinge problems that are leading to cracked displays, as photos on Reddit and the MacRumors forum demonstrate. Almost all of the display defects are located directly at the hinge and usually manifest as a row of bright pixels on one side of the screen.
An owner of an Apple iPhone Duo in Australia reported that his device cracked after fewer than 20 opening cycles, and that there had been no visible damage beforehand.
“I’d had my iPhone Duo for about six hours and probably opened it less than 20 times. I showed it to a friend, and when I opened it, I felt something in the area of the inner hinge under the display.
As I opened it further, I heard a distinct crack, and the display broke right at the hinge. There were no marks or damage visible on the inside of the display or on the outer hinge to indicate that anything had been pinched or damaged.”
Apple iPhone Duo exchanged in store
The user visited an Apple Store, and Apple promptly replaced the defective device. The company is presumably collecting defective Apple iPhone Duos to research potential sources of error. The results of these investigations could lead to manufacturing improvements and reduce future problems.
Several images of defective displays from demo units in China, where the Apple iPhone Duo was released hours before its US launch, are circulating. The circumstances surrounding most of these images are unknown, and it’s possible that user damage is a factor. Some testers who received an iPhone Duo in advance subjected it to folding tests and found no screen issues, but this is a small sample size.
Now that the first foldable iPhone is on the market, some failures are to be expected. It’s unknown how widespread the problem is or whether the number of complaints will increase over time. Hinge defects under normal use should be covered by the one-year warranty, and customers who already own one of the Apple phones also have two weeks to return it.
