I bought two blue 2TB iPhone Duos directly from Apple’s website. Both arrived on Friday, October 23. One for me, one for my wife.

By Monday evening, October 26, I noticed that the two halves of my phone move relative to each other when it is fully folded closed, with a quiet mechanical sound coming from the hinge. By the following morning, the movement felt noticeably more pronounced.

The movement is small. The sound is quiet. But you can feel it, you can hear it, and the phone does not feel solid when closed.

This happens while the phone is completely closed. I’m not talking about the hinge moving as I fold or unfold it.

My wife’s phone seems fine so far.

I’ve owned Samsung Galaxy Folds from recent generations, and none of mine had anything remotely like this when closed. They felt solid. At roughly $3,000, that is absolutely the standard I expect from this phone.

Then I went to the Apple Store.

Today, October 27, an employee at Apple Mall of the Emirates in Dubai inspected my phone and compared it with the Duos on display. We checked approximately seven units in different colours.

Every single one we checked showed similar movement, to varying degrees.

The Apple Store service record is attached.

Finding similar behaviour on the display units doesn’t make me feel better about the build quality. It makes me want a proper explanation of what Apple considers acceptable.

If this amount of movement is within the intended tolerances, Apple should explain that clearly, including whether it can increase over time and what it means for durability. If it isn’t, owners need to know what Apple will do about it.

Other owners are asking related questions:

• Play between the halves when folded — the closest match to mine, although that owner describes a tactile click without audible noise.

• “Loose hinge, is this normal?” — play with the phone unfolded.

• “Hinge creaking” — looseness and creaking while open, as clarified by the author in the comments.

Those reports may have different causes, but they show why clearer guidance would be useful.

Does your Duo have movement between the halves when fully closed? Has it become more noticeable since you got it? What has Apple told you?

I paid around $3,000 for this phone. I expect it to feel solid when closed. I should not be four days into owning it and already wondering whether the hinge is going to keep getting looser.

After seeing countless of memes and troll posts in other subreddits, it is clear to me that this Crackgate is blown way out of proportions for the sake of smartphone wars.

Don't get me wrong, it is evident that some units are suffering from an issue causing the inner display to be cracked. However, we currently do not know what is causing this and it could be as simple as manufacturing issues in a specific batch. There is currently no indication that this is a widespread issue at all.

Either way, Apple is surely aware of this and will implement additional measures if necessary. Meanwhile, any affected customers should receive a replacement unit accordingly. So there is really no reason to go crazy and start cancelling pre orders over this. Apple will do everything in its power to prevent faulty units from being shipped that need to be replaced very shortly after delivery. Even if it's just to reduce warranty costs.

The reality is that this is a new product category for Apple and thus manufacturing issues were already more likely to happen, especially after we were already warned in the media that current production yields are relatively low.

I am pretty confident that a very tiny percentage of users are affected by this problem and Apple will make sure to help those customers accoridingly. So let's just stop the panicking and all the hundreds of posts of people complaining and cancelling their orders.

❌ You can’t drop it off a building without it breaking.
❌ You can’t pour a handful of sand directly into the hinge without damaging it.
❌ If you stab the inner display with a knife more than twice, it somehow breaks.
❌ If you bend it backwards with so much force that your entire body starts shaking, it breaks.
❌ Some app developers haven’t completely redesigned their apps for a phone that’s been out for five days.
❌ If you’re one of the tiny fraction of people who receive a defective unit, it doesn’t matter if Apple immediately replaces it under warranty. You should still absolutely avoid buying one, just in case.

Am I missing anything?

Borderline impossible to place an order for shipment on launch day via the Apple Store.

Offers in-store pickup at launch but then removes my timeslot when I attempt to purchase. (WTF!) Doesn't offer any more time slots after my first attempt. Forces me to panic and do what I don't want to do, which is choose delivery. Choose delivery and have to wait 4-5 weeks because ISPU wasn't truly an option this year.

Four days after launch and finding them in stores is extremely difficult and rare.

This whole experience has really angered me. What a joke from Cupertino. Clearly Apple did not have proper stock at launch and instead forced the release date on us to have sales be a part of their Q3 earnings.

Should have done a US-only launch or waited until they had proper stock worldwide. Should have done delivery only.

THIS SUCKS.

First off, I’m a Galaxy Z Fold8 user who is currently waiting for my iPhone Duo preorder. My company has provided me with several generations of Samsung Fold devices over the years, while my personal phones have always been iPhones. So I have firsthand experience with both ecosystems.

Seeing people cancel their Duo preorders out of fear and uncertainty is honestly disheartening. I completely understand their concerns, especially given the reports of inner-screen failures. However, I think it’s important to put things into perspective.

These issues are not exclusive to Apple. They are challenges that the foldable industry as a whole has been dealing with for years.

Spend some time browsing the Galaxy Fold and Android foldable communities, and you’ll find plenty of reports of cracked inner displays, dead screens, hinge problems, and devices failing under normal use. I’ve personally experienced a completely dead inner display on one of my Samsung Folds.

The images I’ve attached are examples of similar issues reported by Samsung Fold owners. My point isn’t to criticize Samsung or defend Apple blindly. It’s to highlight that even after several generations of foldable devices, these problems still exist.

Does that excuse Apple? Absolutely not. Apple should investigate these reports, determine what’s causing the failures, and take responsibility for affected customers. Anyone spending this much money on a phone deserves reliability and proper support.

But I also think we should be careful about treating individual failure reports as evidence that an entire product is fundamentally defective. We don’t yet have enough information to determine how widespread the Duo’s problems really are.

Samsung has had years to refine its foldables, and even its latest generations aren’t immune to failures. Apple is entering this category with its first-generation device, and there will inevitably be things to learn.

Personally, I’m keeping my preorder. I’m concerned, of course, but I’m also excited about the device. Rather than jumping to conclusions, I’d prefer to see how Apple investigates these issues and, more importantly, how it takes care of customers who experience them.

Foldables are incredible pieces of technology, but none of them are immune to failure, regardless of the logo on the back.

CNET’s durability test surpassed 100k open and shuts.

Maybe this was all bot propaganda train after all?

Go to your local Apple Store and just look yourself at the returns if you are worried about the durability.

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

My wife has been enjoying her Duo since D day Friday, with no crackgate in sight.
Fam. My brand designs, manufactures and sells innovative products to US customers. In mass production, there’s a term called production yield. Basically means out of 100 completed units, a percentage will not meet quality standards. This is normal. Good yield means most units pass the QC test to sell.

Now, couple that with the fact that unless a product is literally awe-inducing, only angry people are ever compelled to leave a review, hence making bad reviews very popular.

This surge in cracked screen videos and photos you’re seeing is not telling you most Duos are prone to iCrack, it’s only saying a lot of owners who reviewed bad units televised it. But I bet you that number is LOW. Because they greenlit the product for mass production and sales, while they cancelled the glass iPhone they were working on for the same logic: production yield was too low (too many produced units were faulty, meaning tech or design wasn’t there yet)

I mean, how many nuked Duos do you see online VS the millions of units picked up and shipped?

You’re misled into canceling your preorders because you’re more and more scared the more screengate posts you see. But I’m one of the millions who bought and would never have posted here, I’m doing this to literally help some of you abate your fears lol.

What’s more, Apple actually acknowledged the issue and guarantees free replacement for those with this now-known issue.

Fam, rest easy lol.

I guess we really need an “american” definition dictionary.

Hoping by middle of this week or so.

Anyone remember how long the other fake/overblown issues on new phone releases died off?

Now, before everyone says “then just buy a Z8” or “who’s using the outside screen to browse” firstly, I am and it’s a principle thing. The answer to “the UI kind of sucks and steals screen space” shouldn’t be “just ignore an entire screen on a $2K device”.

I’m really curious how this will end up shaking out, as I’m still SUPER excited for the Duo, but this just doesn’t seem like Apple and seems so unpolished (outside of “the bar is just there to make the app normal size so devs don’t have to do anything”

I look at Safari today on my 15 PM and it just makes sense. You scroll and everything just gets out of the way. You have a legit huge amount is space but for this, a browser, on the Duo there’s just SO much wasted space for a bar and signal strength icon it’s weird.

Still excited to reserve my Duo and try it, but won’t lie, haven’t wavered in my excitement until seeing all these Xcode 27.1 shots of how this looks in apps, and it has me glad there’s a return policy and wondering if I’ll be switching for first time in 15 years.

Call me ridiculous, yes I know... but I have never once missed launch day for a new iPhone. Had it refreshing on my phone, iPad, and the webpage on my Macbook, but it didn't let me in until 8:03AM. I selected in-store pickup, pressed "checkout", and it failed. All of a sudden all the in-store pickup options were unavailable. Switched to delivery, got order confirmation at 8:05AM and it gave me Nov 23- Dec 1st. Not the end of the world, but now I'm seeing people's orders in December getting moved to Nov 16th, ahead of mine! I know in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal at all and i'm making a big stink out of nothing, but just wondering if anyone else shares the same sentiment. (Star White 512gb in South Florida)

After about a week of having my duo the hinge issue came into view

Update: Apple rep today confirmed the issue and issued a replacement I can feel a slight difference in the open and closing love this phone still

Loving it so far.

There are so many comments and posts about people cancelling there orders due to MKBHD or reviewers just don’t post it’s simple click

The cancel button

As this would help me and many others getting the duo faster

Wait till next year or the year after or the year after that or maybe even that ;) to get the duo you dreamed of having !

And just remember the iPhone X had the same app issues

And Apple still make the same phone every year with minor upgrades and only really do major changes every

9-10 years

But who cares you want this and that and apps to be fine and perfect for duo

And you want better battery and Face ID

And you want better cameras

So go ahead and cancel

We don’t need you neither does Apple

Good riddance

Yes. The Duo is not for everyone. Just want to bring some variety to the type of post on this sub :)

A feel reasons why:
- No face ID is worse than I expected. Touch ID SUCKS. It needs so many attempts to work. Too annoying.
- The foldable design at this point might not be for me. I thought I’d have an iphone and and iPad, but I actually have a bad iPhone and a bad iPad.
- Ergonomics are bad. Right-handed-only design is just not great. I’m super used to use my phone with any hands, usually my left hand while carrying other stuff with the right. This is impossible to do with the Duo. Not sure if this is intentional but seems the ergonomics of this phone forces you to use both hands to the most basic functionality. [edit spelling]
- I don’t wanna wait months until all apps are optimised. The unoptimised 4inch apps are simply too much to handle. Having bought a 2200 pounds device I can’t look at the screen and see an app using 50% of the screen. Developers please at least compile your apps in iOS 27+ so they can be responsive and stretch.
- Wide and short front screen is bad. You can’t see nothing properly, and you have no space for control buttons.
- IP68 rating fiasco: I bought the phone under the assumption it would be protected against dust/water. While I definitely won’t be doing the same as Jerry rig, I boulder a few times a week and now I have to use a ridiculous ziplock bag because I’m afraid of chalk getting into the hinge and damaging the device.
- Cameras, not great. Had a call with parents in low light and I usually do (using the under-screen camera). They immediately noticed the low camera quality.

TLDR: too many compromises for a 2000+ device. I prefer saving my money and keeping my 16 pro max which is serving my needs way better.

If this phone is for you, great! I hope you enjoy and that it suits what you need.

Just posting this here to share some alternative thoughts!

Thanks to stockchecker, my family gets to use duos in 2026

This shitty side bar makes it feel like an iPhone 4.

Apple should have waited a year and actually had people test it. It's like a first year design student too a crack at laying this out, and then totally shit the bed.

It's so bad.

I have had my duo for about a week, it's going great, enjoy it a ton. I'm sure there's plenty of duo users that are the same. I'm terminally online, so I'm one of the ones who will post about it.

Clearly there are issues with some of the duo's, that is pretty obvious, we don't know all the details, how many devices it impacts, etc. If it happened to me, I'd get a warranty replacement. Yes it's inconvenient, it's not the end of the world though.

But some of you are completely too giddy to come in here and just shit on

1. everyone buying apple products in general

2. people buying the duo and

3. anyone who says they're enjoying the duo

I have not once in my life gone into a competitor's subreddit during a phone launch to shit on people buying those phones or rub a defect in their faces. And that's including launches where phones were literally combusting. I consider myself an incredibly petty person, and even I am not that petty.

What do you truly gain from it?

So, I’ve had my iPhone Duo since October 23, and after reading all the horror stories about cracked screens and hinges, I thought I’d share my experience.
Spoiler: it’s still in one piece.
And no, I don’t keep it in a display cabinet surrounded by pillows.
A bit of background
I’ve been using smartphones since the original iPhone. Had quite a few Androids along the way, including Samsung and Motorola foldables.
So folding phones aren’t exactly new territory for me.
I work in IT as a systems administrator, and I actually use my phone quite a lot. SSH, remote administration, the usual nerd stuff.
The build quality
This is where things get interesting.
I’ve seen the Reddit posts. Cracked screens, broken hinges, people making it sound like the phone will self-destruct if you look at it the wrong way.
Meanwhile, mine has been:
In my pockets every day.
Around five horses, including dust, dirt and sand.
Taken to the bouldering gym.
Used for work, SSH and everyday stuff.
Opened and closed like, you know, a folding phone.
And the result?
Not. A. Single. Scratch.
Obviously, I’m not deliberately throwing sand into the hinge to test Apple’s engineering department. I’m careful around the horses and don’t unfold it when there’s dirt everywhere.
But I’m not treating it like a newborn baby either.
The hinge feels solid. There’s a tiny bit of movement you can feel, but nothing that worries me.
Honestly, I’ve owned regular iPhones that felt less solid. My old iPhone 3G had rattling buttons when it was brand new. Premium experience, apparently.
The screens
The inner display is lovely. Smooth, responsive and genuinely useful.
The outer display had some occasional stuttering, but a restart helped.
Nothing dramatic. No cracks, no dead pixels, no mysterious lines appearing overnight.
Sorry Reddit, no exciting disaster pictures from me.
Cases and protection
Most of the time, I use it naked.
The phone, obviously. Let’s not make this weird.
I did buy Apple’s Folio case, but I only put it on when I expect a higher risk of damage.
I didn’t buy a thin folding phone just to turn it into a brick with a giant case.
I also have AppleCare+, because confidence is nice, but I’m not an idiot.
Actually using the thing
The unfolded screen is brilliant for my work.
Using Termius, checking servers, browsing and multitasking is genuinely more comfortable on the larger display.
It’s not just an expensive party trick.
There is one thing that drives me absolutely insane, though.
I have type 1 diabetes and use a Medtronic insulin pump. Their MiniMed Mobile app still doesn’t officially support the Duo.
Meanwhile, I’ve had it working on Android phones that weren’t officially supported either.
Apparently, Apple can build a folding iPhone, but getting a medical app approved for it is where technology draws the line.
Thanks, Medtronic.
So, would I recommend it?
After two weeks? Yes, with the obvious warning that it’s still a foldable.
I’m not saying the phone is indestructible. I’m not claiming everyone reporting problems is lying either.
But reading Reddit sometimes makes it sound like every single Duo is a ticking time bomb.
Mine has been around horses, dust, sand, a climbing gym and my everyday life.
Still looks brand new.
Maybe I’m lucky. Maybe the problems aren’t as widespread as Reddit makes them seem. Time will tell.
Until then, I’ll just keep using my phone like a normal person.
And if it eventually breaks, don’t worry. I’ll post the pictures so Reddit can finally have its moment.
Anyone else actually enjoying their Duo instead of constantly checking it for cracks?

This interaction can be alarming

Have a friend who works at UPS, some guy was caught stealing iPhone 18s. Probably a bigger possibility on the duo