Crackgate? iPhone Duo Owners Report Screens Breaking Along the Hinge

Friday October 23, 2026 11:05 am PDT by Juli Clover Some iPhone Duos are already experiencing hinge issues that cause display cracks, based on photos shared on Reddit and the MacRumors forums . Almost all of the display faults are right along the hinge, and most result in a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen.

An iPhone Duo owner in Australia said his device cracked after being opened fewer than 20 times, and there was no visible damage beforehand. Had my iPhone Duo for about six hours and had probably opened it fewer than 20 times. I was showing it to a friend, and as I opened it, I felt something around the internal hinge, underneath the screen.

As I continued opening it, I heard an audible crack, and the screen broke right along the hinge. There were no marks or damage on the inner screen's surface or the external hinge to suggest anything had been caught or damaged. The user visited an Apple Store , and Apple replaced the broken device right away.

Apple is likely collecting defective iPhone Duos to research points of failure, and that research could lead to manufacturing improvements to reduce future issues. There are several images of broken displays from demo devices in China , where the ‌iPhone Duo‌ launched hours ahead of the U.S.

The backstory for most of the images is unknown, and it's possible user damage is a factor. Some reviewers who got an ‌iPhone Duo‌ early subjected it to folding tests and didn't experience screen issues, but that's a small sample. With so many people getting iPhone Duos today, some failures are expected.

It isn't known how widespread the issue is or whether we'll see an uptick in complaints over time. Hinge failures from normal use should be covered under the one-year warranty, and customers receiving an ‌iPhone Duo‌ today will also have two weeks to make a return. Popular Stories Apple Retail Staff Told to Warn Against iPhone Duo Walk-In Purchases Some Apple retail employees have been told to warn customers against visiting to purchase an iPhone Duo without a pre-order on Friday, October 23.

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Behind the scenes, the App Store now has screenshots of Apple's built-in apps running on the Duo. We've seen some apps in marketing materials, but images of the ones we haven't seen give us an idea of what it will be like using the iPhone Duo day to day. Many apps are shown in landscape...

Mark Gurman: Apple Made 'Major Mistake' With iPhone Duo Pre-Orders Despite knowing that the iPhone Duo would face "severe supply constraints" due to manufacturing challenges, Apple chose to begin iPhone Duo pre-orders on Friday instead of waiting until it had more inventory ready, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

In his Power On newsletter today, he called this decision a "major mistake." "Let me cut to the chase: Apple made a major mistake here," he...