CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple first folding iPhone had barely reached customers before some owners began posting photos of inner screens that had split along the hinge, an early worry for a phone that sells for about $2,000.
The iPhone Duo went on sale Friday, Oct. 23, reaching buyers in China and Australia hours before the United States because of the time difference. Nearly every reported failure sits in the same place, along the fold line, and most show up as a streak of bright pixels running across one half of the display.
One buyer in Australia said the screen gave way with an audible crack after about six hours of ownership and fewer than 20 openings, with no scratch or mark on the glass or hinge beforehand. An Apple Store replaced that phone on the spot. Many of the other images came from demonstration units in China, and how those devices were handled is not known, so mishandling may explain some of the damage.
Reviewers who received the phone early put it through repeated folding tests without the screen breaking, though their units showed some wear after thousands of folds. It is too soon to tell whether the cracks point to a design flaw, a bad batch of parts or isolated mishaps, and Apple has not said how many reports it has received.
Buyers have some protection. Hinge failures from normal use should fall under the standard one-year warranty, and anyone who bought the phone this week has two weeks to return it.
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