iPhone Duo

Early owners report the inner display cracking near the hinge, and Apple says it is aware of the reports and is investigating, with tests showing a crack at 75,001 folds in one lab rig. Demand is strong but supply is short, with delivery dates slipping into 2027 and reviewers questioning the $1,999 price.

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iPhone Duo… a whole new way to iPhone. Pre-orders start today.John Ternus

Mark Gurman says the iPhone Duo screen-cracking issue "is real."

On Oct 26 Mark Gurman posted that Apple was investigating but hadn't yet given stores or customer service guidance. The same day, CNBC reported Apple had responded to user complaints about the inner screen showing "horizontal bright lines" near the hinge, and 9to5Mac confirmed Apple told them it was "aware of" the reports after a handful of users flagged cracking over the prior weekend. By Oct 31, r/apple was upvoting a post headlined "Apple Alerts Stores to iPhone Duo's Display Cracking Issue" (1,561 upvotes). In r/iPhoneDuo's replacement thread (4,940 upvotes), a self-described Apple Store Genius wrote, "We have guidance that states this symptom would normally only happen due to Accidental Damage to the Hinge" (150 upvotes). On TikTok, @lifewthesmiths_ said his wife's day-one unit cracked open "like an egg" and that T-Mobile told him it couldn't replace parts until January (2.1M views). Adding to the durability worries, MacRumors reported the Duo failed JerryRigEverything's scratch test, with the inner display only scoring a level 2 on the Mohs hardness scale versus the outer screen's level 7, prompting tester Zack Nelson to say "I've been testing these folding phones since the first generation seven years ago, most do survive. The iPhone Duo did not."

A post claiming the Duo screen broke after 75,001 folds pulled 85,589 upvotes on r/mildlyinfuriating, and the real-world fold tests have since kept going

The top reply on r/mildlyinfuriating was just "When the factory only tests to 75,000 folds:" (35,679 upvotes), and u/fonk_pulk added the classic "never buy the first generation" warning (23,640 upvotes). The 75,001 figure traces to a specific crack, per Gizmodo, which reported "a line formed down the middle of the inner screen" on fold 75,001, well below the fold counts Samsung's foldables have historically survived in similar tests. iThinkDiff had tracked the same Louisville, Kentucky lab rig crossing 75,000 folds at 8:30 a.m. ET on Oct 27, and CNET kept its machine running around the clock at 900 folds an hour, livestreaming past 200,000 folds without a repeat failure, while Gizmodo's live tracker separately noted the unit had reached 121,000 folds by Oct 30. Android Authority's earlier stress-test roundup, citing YouTubers Tim Pan (10,500 folds plus sub-zero testing) and Joanna Stern, found Apple's titanium hinge itself held up well even as the inner display crease showed wear over time. Per TechTalkTV (625,103 views), Samsung is running ads mocking "Crackgate" while pushing the Z Fold 8. iJustine's dry Threads line, "My iPhone Duo has been working great because I have not actively tried to break it," drew 10,787 likes.

Gurman says Apple sent roughly 80% of launch inventory to walk-in sales

The r/apple post (697 upvotes) quotes him tying that 80/20 split to the "subpar preorder experience," which matches @hunterjisaacson's Oct 16 complaint to @johnternus that the Apple Store app glitched and he now has to "wait until December." CNBC reported that same day that launch-day pickup inventory sold out fast, with some delivery estimates already slipping into late January, and cited IDC projecting Apple will ship roughly 7 million units this year, about 3% of its total shipments. That's close to Bloomberg's earlier Counterpoint-sourced estimate of 6 million Duo sales in 2026. TrendForce likewise flagged that delivery dates were stretching into January 2027 within less than a week of preorders opening, framing demand as strong but noting "polarized" early feedback on fold-area reliability and software integration. A separate r/apple post headlined "Apple CEO Ternus Says iPhone Duo Shortages Have No End Date in Sight" hit 650 upvotes. MacRumors adds Gurman's report, "Apple Initially Aimed to Release iPhone Duo in November," in the U.S. and China only.

Apple's $1,999 foldable hit stores Oct 23, and reviewers keep circling the price

Ternus's preorder post pulled 28,932 likes, and Tim Cook's "Welcome to the world, iPhone Duo!" added 19,582. The Wall Street Journal's review (874,093 views) called it "$800 more than the iPhone 18 Pro" with only 2x zoom versus 8x on the Pro, even though Apple pitches the 48MP Fusion Main camera's "optical-quality 2x Telephoto." Macworld's roundup still calls the first-wave response "overall very positive," and MKBHD's unboxing reel hit 2.3M views.

"This is impressively terrible UX," u/GaiaMoore wrote on a 31,517-upvote r/mildlyinfuriating thread

The thread is about how hard it is to get the Duo into a viewing position, and u/reemgee123's "They were years late to the fold business and somehow cant capitalize on the others mistakes" got 19,578 upvotes. On TikTok, @hitomidocameraroll's "We don't even get proper split apps" drew 27,144 likes. @perla.nemo's side-camera skit hit 2.86M views, with a top comment from @itsjordanlaws saying they "cancelled my duo order" over how "half baked" it felt (32,791 likes).

iOS 27.2 adds Apple Pencil support to the Duo

Andrew Ethan Zeng flagged the update in his one-week review (711,502 views). @louie_shearon's Procreate demo pulled 117,116 views, and The Verge called the Duo "my new favorite notebook," while one MacRumors Forums poster argued "Apple should have offered a smaller pencil." Developers are moving too: Apple's newsroom shows Instagram Edits and Detail on the inner display. On GitHub, berkaycatak/foldable (21 stars) brings hinge-angle support to Flutter and doan-labs/duo (20 stars) offers a browser simulator.

r/iPhoneDuo's Samsung Fold screen comparison drew 7,210 upvotes, and owners are split

"Less contrast for less glare, less fingerprints and less crease. To me its well worth it," wrote u/SmellyJockstrap (522 upvotes) in the r/iPhoneDuo thread, while r/iphone's "IPhone Duo Returned in less than 24h" hit 3,880. In r/iPhoneFold, one buyer said their Apple Store confirmed a faulty unit and replaced it. Max Tech says the Duo "somehow feels lighter" than the heavier 18 Pro Max. amanderwoman's 1,379-view reel tagging @heillyraices claims its design beats the Galaxy Fold Z8. Meanwhile, Pinterest's "Apple Products" board still circulates a 7.8-inch display figure, which doesn't match Apple's 7.6-inch spec.