Just days after Apple’s highly hyped first-ever foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, hit global retail shelves, the tech giant has publicly confirmed that a small subset of the premium devices are experiencing critical inner display malfunctions. Priced starting at £1,999 ($2,668) in the UK and topping out at £3,199 for highest-spec configurations, the landmark product represented Apple’s most ambitious iPhone redesign in nearly 20 years, unveiled by newly appointed CEO John Ternus shortly after he succeeded Tim Cook in September.
Social media posts from early adopters have circulated widely in recent days, showing visible vertical line artifacts across the Duo’s 7.6-inch inner foldable display, alongside user reports of unexpected crunching sounds when unfolding the device and structural cracks forming along the central hinge crease. One New York-based user, Justin Lokos, shared photos of his flawed unit alongside a full replacement provided on-site by local Apple store staff, thanking the team for their fast support. Apple’s official statement advised all affected customers to reach out directly to the company to arrange free replacement services, but declined to disclose exact figures for the number of impacted units.
Notably, some of the circulating imagery of damaged Duo devices has been flagged as AI-generated, clouding efforts to quantify the scale of the manufacturing defect. Francisco Jeronimo, leading technology analyst at global market research firm IDC, emphasized that stakeholders should exercise caution before drawing sweeping conclusions about the entire production run, but noted that the early fault reports underscore that even a company with Apple’s unmatched engineering resources and rigorously managed global supply chain faces a steep learning curve when breaking into the foldable device segment.
The complex central hinge mechanism that enables the Duo to flip open like a small tablet is a well-documented pain point for the entire foldable industry: Samsung, Apple’s top rival in the space, faced a major public setback with its original Galaxy Fold back in 2019, when pre-launch reviewers reported widespread screen failures on early test units. Jeronimo added that as Apple has positioned the iPhone Duo as a far more polished, premium alternative to the years-old lineup of Android-powered foldables already on the market, the company’s response to these first-generation teething issues will not only shape its own sales performance, but also long-term consumer trust in the entire foldable smartphone category. With the iPhone Duo set to launch in 28 additional global markets on October 30, the analyst urged Apple to formalize and communicate its explicit warranty coverage for hinge and screen defects quickly to avoid eroding confidence among its large, loyal customer base.
Apple to replace iPhone Duos affected by screen problem
