Apple's iPhone Duo faces early criticism as screen cracks emerge, despite iFixit's detailed disassembly revealing both innovative design and repair challenges.
iPhone Duo screen cracks reported
Soon after its release, the iPhone Duo has drawn attention due to reports of cracks appearing on some users' screens, raising concerns about the durability of Apple's first folding smartphone. iFixit disassembles the iPhone Duo
iFixit, a well-known tech repair and analysis website, has fully disassembled the iPhone Duo to investigate its internal components, focusing particularly on the hinge mechanism and the causes of the reported screen cracks. Hinge design and potential issues
The hinge, a critical part of the folding mechanism, has been identified as a potential source of the problem. iFixit suggests that a movable part in the hinge may not fully retract during closing, leading to localized pressure on the inner screen, though this remains a hypothesis. Dust and crackling sounds
During its analysis, iFixit used fluorescent dust to track movement inside the device. While the electronic components appear well-protected, some dust particles reached the hinge, causing crackling sounds, a known issue in folding phones, though the iPhone Duo performs better than some competitors in this regard. Repair-friendly features
Despite the concerns, the iPhone Duo includes several repair-friendly features. The inner screen's nanotextured layer can be replaced separately, and components like the outer screen and batteries can be removed without major disassembly, earning it a provisional repairability score of 5/10 from iFixit. Challenges remain for repairs
However, repairing the inner screen or working on the hinge still requires delicate procedures, and the repairability score remains provisional until spare parts are available. Apple now faces the challenge of addressing the early reports of screen cracks, despite its claims of a durable design.
