Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Early adopters have reported seeing vertical and horizontal lines of defective pixels after hearing a cracking sound, followed by trouble opening and closing the phone at the hinge. The outer screen, on the other hand, works just fine. Third-party analysis, however, suggests that the hinge mechanism is to blame. The folks over at iFixit recently gave the foldable iPhone their signature teardown treatment.
Their findings suggest that the inner flexible display is breaking in the area between the central hinge support and the underlying cable. Apparently, the central support bar fails to drop completely when the phone is folded, so it presses against the display. That added stress eventually cracks the panel, and the defective pixels appear. However, another user said that a ring-style hinge link snapped on their iPhone Duo, which they believe caused the cracked screen.
So far, Apple hasn’t offered any technical explanation for why a small batch of iPhone Duo units is breaking, and if the company’s history is anything to go by, we won’t get one. For now, what we know is that Apple will replace iPhone Duo units with broken screens. The wait for a replacement could be long, though, given how short the supply of the device already is in stores.