Cracked iPhone Duo screens: iFixit points to the hinge

Reports of damaged inner screens on the iPhone Duo are prompting scrutiny of its hinge. According to The Verge, Apple has acknowledged a problem and is replacing affected devices. The company says a small number of units are affected, but the number of reported cases is not specified.

Shahram Mokhtari, lead teardown technician at iFixit, offers an explanation after taking the device apart. The flexible display could come into contact with a metal part of the hinge. At a point where the central support allows a flexible cable to pass through, the assembly’s geometry could create a stress point on the folded screen.

The proposed mechanism involves, in particular, a support bar that might not lower sufficiently during folding. This hypothesis aligns with the location of damage seen in some images, but it does not constitute a definitive determination of the cause of all failures. The reported observations combine ordinary use with a particularly severe durability test; they do not allow a failure rate to be calculated.

Apple is not conducting a recall, according to The Verge. At this stage, the distinction between a defect affecting some devices and a more widespread problem therefore remains unresolved. The teardown provides a specific hardware lead, while the available data are insufficient to establish the extent of the problem among devices in circulation.