iFixit Identifies Possible Cause of iPhone Duo Malfunctions
iFixit specialists disassembled the foldable iPhone Duo and suggested why some owners experience cracked hinges and damaged screens. Meanwhile, the smartphone received the highest repairability score among foldable models tested by the team—5 out of 10.
The iPhone Duo teardown revealed how Apple conceals the fold in the inner display and which design features may be linked to malfunctions. The primary concern for iFixit was the complex hinge mechanism: specialists believe that one of its components sometimes may not fully lower.
Above this area runs a folding accordion-like flex cable, and nearby lies the edge of the battery. The team hypothesizes that this arrangement of parts could create excessive pressure at a single point. This might explain user reports of audible cracking and subsequent screen damage. For now, this remains a hypothesis rather than a confirmed cause. At the time of publication, Apple had not responded to a request for comment.
How Apple Hides the Fold
The inner screen is coated with a matte layer featuring a nanotexture. This not only improves readability in bright sunlight but also scatters reflections, making the fold line less noticeable.
Under a microscope, specialists also discovered oval subpixels arranged at different angles. iFixit suggests that this structure helps reduce visual distortions and further masks the fold at the center of the display.
The outer nanotexture layer can be comparatively easily replaced separately from the OLED panel. This simplifies the repair of the surface coating. However, damage to the display itself still requires a complex and expensive replacement, as with other foldable smartphones.
Dust Still Gets Inside
During testing, dust penetrated the USB-C port, speaker grilles, and hinge. Afterward, a crunching sound appeared in the mechanism's operation. However, significantly less test luminescent dust was found inside the iPhone Duo compared to the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
The final repairability score was 5 out of 10. For foldable devices disassembled by iFixit, this is the best result, though repairing the inner screen remains a significant challenge.
