Edit: Welcome to GapGate

Sorry for all the screenshots I’m operating on half a phone. I mean this can’t possibly be how they will handle this in the end right? what a pain the ass their support can’t really do anything

By the way. All I did was open the device (like everyone else reporting this). I was not opening it in some weird way or man handling it.

I noticed 2 days ago the hinge is protruding. Didn’t think much of it but it seems to have gotten a tiny bit worse. Either way I spoke to Apple Support who asked me a bunch of irrelevant questions like “do I use it in a case? How do I hold the device?” Etc.
They gave me 2 options, go to the store and get a replacement (confirmed that they may or may not have stock and they don’t know). Option 2, an AppleCare + claim for $99 and obviously the full amount held on my card. I asked why this is the case it’s not accidental damage and he had no idea just said that’s a good point. I’m not paying $99 more to get a device that possibly might have the same issue. Makes no sense.

Such a great device but crippled. I usually don’t care and these things don’t bother me a whole lot, but spending $2k to wait for it to break or pay $99 more for a replacement with no fix guaranteed is a wild experience.

To those claiming it’s a small handful of devices don’t forget it’s literally week one of release and there are a good amount of issues. We still have many many more people waiting for their devices to deliver.

Update: The retail store told me to bring it back if/when the display cracks as it’s “cosmetic” at the moment. Waste of time I’ll be returning it.

Posting to see if any other Duo owners experienced this. Picked up my Duo in store on launch day, October build date on batteries. No drops, apple folio case, easily 200+ folds since and former Fold6 user. Last night I was using my phone normally, went to open it and it opened slightly then got stuck. Literally stuck — I could feel that I’d have to force it open. I YOLO’d it and pushed past, heard a loud pop, and it opened fine. No cracked screen. No bulges. Hasn’t happened since, and easily another 100 folds just testing it. Don’t want to take it to the Apple Store since I can’t reproduce it again, but just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

Have owned the phone since release day, seen all the other issues people have been having with the hinge. (So far no hinge issues)

I was using my phone to see some YT while cooking my second steak ever. The phone was probably ~2 feet away from the pan.

After finishing, I noticed there was ~5 tiny tiny specs of grease on the inner screen. I tried wiping it with my hand and noticed it “smeared”, after trying a bit more forcefully I noticed that those parts of the screen felt smooth, almost as if the grease ate threw or peeled those parts.

Worst part is if I try to rub those areas it continues expanding.

Will probably take to apple to get opinion, but found it weird that if it was the grease, apple didn’t think people would put their grimes hands while eating?

Edit 1: I have tried isopropyl alcohol with a microfiber towel, and although it cleared it a bit, the spots in the pictures remain, I can feel the matte to smooth change when I slide my finger

TL;DR:Me cook steak, tiny grease spots hit phone screen, me wipe, screen coating go bye-bye and spots get bigger.
Me confused why expensive phone no survive greasy fingers.

Picked up the Duo on release day (10/23) and have maybe opened it 20 times. First noticed a bump at the top of the crease on Sunday and by Monday it had this permanent white line coming from where the bump is pressing into the screen. Taking it into Apple today (10/27) and will update. Wild for a $2000 device. Anyone else have damage at this same location?

Credit - 'theweekendwatch' on threads

And no issues here! Saw a comment on another post here that the silent majority with no problems are enjoying their Duos and I have to agree.

My iPhone Duo screen gave out on me last night. I was one of the “small number” or people who are experiencing this according to Apple. I know they’ve acknowledged it I just hope they treat me right when it’s time to get me a new phone.

Mild venting incoming. Preordered right at the start through the Apple Store App, picked up in store on launch day in store. Absolutely loved the phone, was the hybrid of the 13 mini and Air that I always wanted. After three days of use the hinge started pressing out on the inner display. It had not broken the display yet, but it appears that other users have had this issue and had the display broken by it after some time. No problem, bad units happen and I live really close to an Apple Store. But the support experience was just awful.

- I started a support chat, gave some background info, and they initiated a phone call and said I should expect to receive it in a few minutes.
- When I got the call, the agent appeared to have no context on the situation. They then forwarded me to the sales department, which was just the standard order checking phone number.
- I gave the information the automated system requested, and it just gave me order status info (which as I already knew, was picked up on release day). When it asked if there was anything else I had questions about, I said “I have a defective iPhone duo unit” and it hung up on me.
- After reinstating the chat conversation, a different representative told me to go into a nearby Apple Store and to told to call in ahead of time to check replacement unit availability.
- Calling the phone number of the Apple Store led me through two layers of automated systems before a human picked up, who was just a general support rep and didn’t work at the actual Apple Store. They said that actually calling and getting hold of a store employee isn’t really possible, especially right now to avoid people calling to ask about stock.

Really odd and annoying, but again I live close to an Apple Store. Wasn’t expecting too much, but wanted to at least get the process started. I was especially surprised that there wasn’t any sort of “let me transfer you to an expert on these defective duo units”, but I guess it might as well be handled like a standard issue? I went into the store the next day with the box and my old phone in case they couldn’t get me a new unit right away.

- I went in, explained the issue, and a few employees seemed to have conflicting info about the path forward. Some mentioned in store stuff, some said I had to open a case online, but after a while I was told to wait for a Genius Bar person to assist me.
- I was told that none of the stores within 100 miles had any replacement units available. That’s fine I guess, I didn’t trade in my old phone so I could easily move my old number back and continue using it. But it does seem to go against the notion that the stores have units in reserve for quick replacement of defective units.
- A Genius Bar person came over and started the process. It appears there is no category in the system for inner screen issues like this. They spent a lot of time on each step of the process trying to find the right thing to press for this situation, it appears there’s no sort of procedure issued for these defects yet.
- They then began running some software diagnostics. Despite this being a hardware only issue, they said it was a part of the process. They spent 10 minutes staring at and reopening a settings page before asking another employee for assistance. They had not connected the phone to the store WiFi, which is a requirement for the diagnostics to actually be initiated from their iPad.
- Once the initial diagnostic was complete, there was a warning that some diagnostics couldn’t be run while outside of diagnostic mode due to the iOS version (27.1 and 27.2 were both listed as needing this, my phone was on 27.2). They did not know how to boot the phone into diagnostic mode.
- Once the process started, the phone was running the process extremely slowly. It sat on the first step (multi touch iirc) for a while with no progress bar movement. After about 15 minutes of waiting, the employee restarted the process.

At this point I just said I’d like to return the phone instead, as what I thought would be a quick process to turn in the defective unit had turned into over an hour of mixed messages and confusion. Hopefully the hardware issues will be fixed in a few months, and hopefully Apple can give their employees the info and processes they need to actually deal with this.

For the curious:
- The crease had no visible defects for the first three days of ownership. This was an area I was monitoring pretty closely.
- It hadn’t been dropped or mishandled. I closed it the “right way” without pressing on the hinge area of the screen. I never flung it open aggressively or snapped it shut really quickly.
- The bulging was only in the top section, not the middle where most people have theirs.
- I do have AppleCare, though this was stated as being handled under standard warranty as it was a manufacturing defect.
- The Apple Store I went to is the same one I picked up the phone at.
- It appeared that mine was the first defective phone the store had seen, so it doesn’t seem to be a super widespread issue (or at least isn’t yet)

Again I really did love the phone, but after dealing with all of this I’d rather just return and potentially get a new one when general availability happens. Unfortunately if your phone doesn’t have hinge issues right now it doesn’t mean it can’t happen to it over the next few days.

Edit: I’m not a bot lmao, will provide verification if the mods dm me.

To whoever shared the iPhone Duo stock radar, thank you. I had a T-Mobile preorder for October 23 that remained on backorder, plus an Apple order scheduled for December 21–29. I encountered a scalper and challenged him after he cleared the inventory at my first store; I saw him again at the second location, where he took the final 512 GB model right in front of me. Thanks to the website I was able to find the last 512GB at another store that’s 50 mins away. Got lucky on the app and secured my pickup today!

My Duo fell off my bike while I was riding today. It had an Apple case on it, but when it hit the ground, the front portion of the case popped off. The phone must have bounced and landed face down because there are some pretty significant scuffs along the left edge of the front display and some damage around the hinge area.
Thankfully, the screen and glass are completely intact, and the phone is still fully functional. But I couldn’t be more upset, especially since I was already debating whether to keep it or return it before the 14-day return window expires. I also have AppleCare+, but I’m not sure what my options are since the damage is cosmetic. Pretty frustrating that Apple’s own case didn’t do a better job protecting it.

wtf ..

This seems to be the component that presses into the screen and causes the cracking. Screen grab from Jerry Rig Everything’s latest video.

You can’t develop a crease or crack your screen if you never close it in the first place. 👍

Edit: For many of you, all I have to say is, WHOOSH! I do have AppleCare so yes I will be using my phone as intended.

managed to get some Nintendo Switch 2 games, running natively on the iPhone duo, performance has been pretty good. This chip is a beast. Still some optimisation to do, but man is this a great experience

Finally was able to secure my duo today! (Bay Area) Huge shoutout to everyone that recommended using Daryl’s iPhone stock checker! Within 24 hours of signing up for the notifications I was able to secure an in-store pickup! I did have to pay but it was well worth it. My Apple pre-order was originally set for November 6-13 but I couldn’t wait lol. Excited and still does not feel real! Had to bring my iPhone 2g for the pickup! Excited for this new journey. Let’s gooooo!!!!

I was conflicted on which color to choose and was leaning towards the white one because of the chrome finish. I’m not going to lie the night sky is beautiful! It blends in well with the screen and just looks super aesthetic and classy. I had preordered the white duo but it was coming in very late so I decided to stop at T-Mobile and get the Night Sky 512GB. Never been happier and no my screen is not cracking because I’m not actively trying to purposely break it.

So far no issues and loving it. Front screen protector fits and cheap case fits also but back a bit loose. Both bought on Amazon till I find a better case.

I thankfully was one of the lucky few who managed to score a DUO on launch day after waiting in line at my local Apple Store. So that is to say that I’m now on day 5 of using this phone as my daily driver phone. I knew this phone wasn’t going to be perfect, I knew there were going to be bugs of being a Gen 1 product, and I was fine with that.

I work in the IT industry, so that is to say that a lot of my coworkers are also tech savvy people. who immediately asked about my phone and have been seeing all the posts on reddit about the issues people are having, but I have also shown non-tech people as well who didn’t even know the Duo existed. Between that lot of people, I’d say it’s a 75/25 slip of tech savvy/not, and all but one of those people have never used a foldable phone before. Each of these people I’ve let hold my phone and play around in apps and open and close the phone without me saying anything to get their initial thoughts. Here is the average things I’ve been hearing from those people:

•This is about as heavy as my Pro, I would have thought it would have been heavier.

•Dang this thing is thin when opened.

•The build quality seems really nice.

•I can see a crease when the screen is off or I’m off to the side, but looking straight when the screen is on I can’t even see it.

•I can feel the crease but barely, idk if I’d notice it when actually using it that it would even bother me.

•There’s a camera under the screen? I didn’t even notice, I feel like it blends in really well.

•Obviously the under display camera isn’t as nice as my Pro but it’s much better than what I’ve been reading online.

•Actually using it, this seems really smooth in terms of using apps and flipping it open and close.

•I love the matte finish of the inner screen.

•I knew the outer screen would be small but it actually seems pretty usable even with the keyboard open.

With all that being said, common questions I’ve gotten from that same group of people:

•Have you had any issues with the screen? I’m hearing some of them are breaking.
Answer: Not even a little bit. And if I did, I have AppleCare. I know some of those that are having issues are likely manufacturing defects. But I’m not convinced some of those with broken screen aren’t doing the one-hand flip open method and flicking their phone open which is breaking their phone.

•How are the apps, have you noticed any that are fixed yet?
Answer: For sure, but I expected that. I’d say at least 40% of the apps I daily use aren’t configured (looking at you Microsoft Teams). But even not being configured they are still completely usable that I don’t even think about it. A few apps that weren’t configured on Friday have since been configured as of today.

•How’s the battery?
Answer: I use my phone WAY more than I should and I’ve been doing a solid 60/40 of screen closed to open, and so far I’ve been ending my day at around 45%-50% battery. I’m not watching movies or gaming or anything, but my 16 Pro Max I was ending around 20% doing the same stuff. So I’m happy with that.

•Do you miss FaceID?
Answer: No. Sure it was convenient at times (like the other day when I was painting my house and I had paint all over my fingers and a touch ID wasn’t working properly), but so far I’ve been noticing that the touch ID is almost faster to unlock when I’m pulling my phone out of my pocket and my thumb is already on the button. I really have yet to have any instance where not having face ID is a hindrance other than the one paint scenario noted earlier. We will see this winter as I’m wearing gloves, but I usually take my gloves off to use my phone, even with face ID.

Overall this is to say that from all the posts/comments and articles people have been reading online who are complaining about things, I have yet to experience them personally and first impressions had those same 20(ish) people not relating to what they were reading online. Take with that as you will. User experience will vary. But so far I’m really happy with this phone because I went into it with clear expectations of what I was getting and what it could or could not do. My best advice is to just go try the phone yourself rather than reading the opinions of those on here. I guarantee half the people complaining about the weight of the phone or the visibility of the crease haven’t even used the phone and are just going off of photos they see online. It won’t be for everyone, and that’s okay. Of the people who played around with my phone and genuinely liked it, only one or two would actually consider buying the phone (especially given the price). And that’s okay, it’s not for everyone for a variety of reasons.

Almost hit 24 hours. I opened it, was looking for an app, and this patch of dead pixels appeared about 1-2 seconds after it was fully opened.
Apple is sending me a replacement, but no tracking number yet.