The iPhone Duo launched last week, offering anyone willing to spend $2,000 a chance to experience Apple’s first foldable phone. For some early buyers, the morning after isn’t going great. Despite the company’s big talk about its “precision-engineered” hinge, some devices appear to have a hardware flaw that destroys the device’s impressive internal display within hours (or minutes) of use.
The Internet is currently overflowing with images of busted iPhone Duos, all sporting almost identical damage. The OLED is marred by several bright lines originating just below the midpoint of the display. These bands of damaged pixels extend all the way to the bottom and right edges. Some units also show lines of dead pixels following the crease from the top to the area where the bright lines begin.
Anyone who has seen a damaged OLED panel will be familiar with this type of defect. When the layers of the display are damaged, the pixels no longer receive the correct voltage to illuminate them. Instead, they get the full driving voltage and are permanently on at maximum brightness. Some pixels can get no voltage, leaving them totally black. The only fix is to replace the OLED, but swapping the iPhone Duo’s screen reportedly costs half as much as the device itself.
It sounds like most affected devices are failing within about a day of use. But a few unlucky buyers note they only opened and closed the phone a few times , and in some cases, they hadn’t even finished the initial setup process. Some customers have reported success taking their defective phones to Apple stores for replacement, but spares may be in short supply right now.
In the absence of any official explanation, iFixit may be the next best thing. The site has already torn an iPhone Duo apart and taken a close look at the affected area. After years of seeing other foldables fail, there are a few suspects to check. Since foldables need to pass data and power across the hinge, there’s always a cable tucked in there that could press on the screen. The iPhone Duo has a wide cable with “accordion-like pleats,” according to iFixit, but this doesn’t quite match the accounts of the damage.
