Apple said it is replacing iPhone Duo handsets for a small number of customers after photos began circulating online showing lines, cracks and other faults appearing on the foldable phone's inner screen, just over a week after its launch.
Apple said it is aware of "an issue impacting the inner display on a small number" of the devices and is urging affected users to contact the company for a replacement. One user, Justin Lokos, posted images of a device with lines running across the right side of the display, then later shared a photo of a replacement handset alongside the broken one, thanking an Apple store in New York for its help. Other owners have posted photos showing cracks along the screen's central crease, and some have reported hearing a crunching noise when opening the device. Apple did not say how many devices have been affected in total, and noted that some images circulating online showing faulty units may have been generated using artificial intelligence.
A familiar foldable problem
The Duo's 7.6-inch inner display is held together by a central hinge, a complex piece of engineering that has produced similar flaws in folding phones from several of Apple's rivals in the past; Samsung's first foldable, the Galaxy Fold, suffered a comparable screen controversy at launch. The Duo marks Apple's first major iPhone redesign in close to two decades and was unveiled last month by new chief executive John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook in September. Closed, the device resembles a wider standard iPhone; opened, it becomes a small tablet.
"Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together," Ternus told an audience at Apple's California headquarters when he introduced the device, adding that the Duo would "redefine the experience of using a foldable phone." It is Apple's most expensive iPhone to date, with top-specification models costing up to £3,199, and its launch had attracted crowds at Apple stores around the world, part of the company's broader effort to reinvigorate its device lineup against a now-crowded field of Android foldables.
