Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the Duo, is facing a verified early defect that has left some owners with cracked inner displays, while extreme production constraints are complicating both new purchases and replacements. Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that the cracked-screen problem — widely dubbed “Crackgate” — is genuine and has affected real customer units during normal use, not just edge cases or user error.
Gurman has pushed back against claims that the reports are exaggerated or fabricated, noting that the failures he reviewed involved actual devices that developed cracks along the central fold area shortly after ordinary opening and closing. He suspects a batch of units shipped with a faulty hinge component that fails to unfold correctly, putting pressure on the flexible display from underneath and causing it to crack. Apple has acknowledged an issue impacting a “small number” of devices and directed affected owners to contact AppleCare for replacements. The problem tends to appear quickly rather than over long-term use.
iPhone Duo cracks might start with the hinge.
Gurman says affected owners report:
An unusually tight hinge
A crunch when opening
Then a cracked inner screen
His theory: the hinge didn’t fully unfold.
A bad batch is fixable. A bad design isn’t.
Yours feel stiff?
#iPhoneDuo— Kai Leaks (@kaileakss) November 2, 2026
Replacements are proving hard to obtain because of the same supply constraints that have made the Duo scarce since launch. Apple prioritized getting the product out in October — partly to support new CEO John Ternus and capture holiday-quarter sales — despite low manufacturing yields and complex hinge assembly involving more than a hundred parts. Reports indicate most initial inventory (around 80 percent in some accounts) went to physical stores, leaving online delivery estimates stretched months out and many stores with limited or no replacement stock.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, this calls into question Apple’s and/or Apple suppliers’/assemblers’ iPhone Duo quality control measures. AppleCare may offer better options than in-store swaps in some cases, but overall inventory remains tight and may remain so for months.
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Even if we’re just talking several hundred or several thousand units at most it still creates anxiety among ALL Duo owners. ‘How long before mine breaks?’ ‘Is this the fold that cracks the screen?’ On the opposite side CNET has a machine that has been folding a Duo repeatedly since launch. It’s up to 185,000 folds without breaking.