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?

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.

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.

Edit: Welcome to GapGate

Credit - 'theweekendwatch' on threads

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.

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.

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.

wtf ..

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.

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.

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.

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

Jokes aside, I think the real thing I'm afraid of is the amount of greasy fingerprints I've seen.

I'm going to start requesting people wash their paws first at this rate.

I built a Pokédex for iPhone Duo! It features an on-device AI model that can recognize all 151 Generation I Pokémon.

Both the app and the AI model are open-source!

GitHub: https://github.com/zihang-huang/iDex

Was playing around with adapting my app for the Duo and stumbled upon this.

I do believe the sidebar approach is the way to go. I'm just wondering if this state could be a better in-between than what we have now with the black bars.

As expected (or at least hoped) YouTube just pushed an update that moved the controls into the side panel. I am feeling all the more confident that software things are looking up.

Most definitely isn’t IP68. All that green is dust. It isn’t sealed tight.

I was very excited to see duo coming and if this is how am i going to use my phone, I think I still have to think about my decisions.😭

It's like I am paying for the 8k resolution and getting only 360p.

Based on how much sand seems to be entering the hinge, it would seem Apple's IP68 dust certification likely only tests the phone under a specific lab-like environment. Which would explain why a stress test like this would have it underperform so much.

Having said that, I've been surprised at how defensive people seem to be getting around hinge durability discussion. Yes, the test was unrealistic. That shouldn't really matter if you're advertising IP68 (besides, he used sand which is larger/easier to protect against than the smaller dust particles IP68 is certified to protect against). Imagine complaining they used too much water to test waterproof levels.

I wonder if people don't realize how fragile most modern foldable phones are to even a single particle getting in? including pocket lint.

Michaell Fischer's (MrMobile) was honest enough to admit a single trip to a beach caused his Z Fold 7 to have a loud crackling sound and sand make its way under the display. And he's the biggest foldable phone fanatic in the world. That should tell you how important a test like this is, even if completely unrealistic.

Honestly, the biggest takeaway from that video should be that either a case that protects the hinge, and/or Apple Care are a must for it. Since its clear the hinge isn't as well sealed, even if you don't go to the beach. And Jerry is honestly kind of right to say Apple should offer extended warranty beyond 1 year on screens to mitigate outrage, like Nintendo extended Joycon stick drift warranty repair window indefinitely. Free screen repair being limited to the first year seems unacceptable for how widespread the the problem was even within just the first 24 hours of launch.

Also a bit random, but why do people hate Jerry so much? He basically openly attacks and mocks every single company, its literally his shtick. While also respecting and praising engineering when it makes sense. He sung nothing but constant praises in the iPhone Air durability test and how shocked it took a machine to destroy it, and the iPhone Duo teardown video had half the video's "Duo Hardware goes hard" section glaze Apple's engineering chops where they area ahead of everyone else.

Anyways, wanted to post this video comparison since I found it quite interesting to see how Apple/Samsung do hinge design differently and because I know most people just downvoted his teardown video and hid it from everyone when its quite a interesting story.

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.

This is my first foldable. Seeing all the cracked screens due to the hinge issues, I am thinking I might be joining that group soon. What do you guys think? Take it back to Apple or ride it out until maybe the inevitable happens. I do have AppleCare+, just wondering on what to do.