Apple Will Replace iPhone Duo Phones With Screen Faults
Days after launch, Apple says it is aware of an inner-display issue on a small number of its first foldable iPhones and will swap affected handsets.
Apple has said it will replace iPhone Duo handsets that have developed screen problems, only days after its first foldable phone went on sale.
Photos on social media show lines across the screens of some units. The company said it is aware of "an issue impacting the inner display on a small number" of phones and asked affected owners to contact it for a replacement. Apple did not say how many devices are involved.
What owners are reporting
Other owners have posted pictures of cracks along the central crease, and some describe a crunching noise when the phone is opened. Justin Lokos shared an image of a Duo with lines across the right side of the display, then a second photo of a new handset next to the broken one, thanking an Apple store in New York for its help.
How widespread the fault is remains unclear. Some of the images circulating of faulty devices may have been generated with artificial intelligence.
The phone
The Duo starts at £1,999 ($2,668) in the UK and rises to £3,199 for the best-equipped models, making it Apple's most expensive iPhone. Its 7.6-inch inner display is held together by a central hinge. Crowds gathered at Apple stores around the world when it launched last week. Closed, it looks like a wider iPhone; opened, it resembles a small tablet. It is Apple's first major iPhone redesign in almost two decades.
Chief executive John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook in September, presented the phone at Apple's California headquarters. "Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together," he said, adding that the Duo would "redefine the experience of using a foldable phone".
The design has a history of early problems elsewhere. Samsung's first foldable, the Galaxy Fold, ran into trouble in 2019 when reviewers reported broken screens.
Source: BBC News