Apple has acknowledged that some customers who purchased its foldable iPhone Duo have seen the screens on their new smartphones break under regular use.

The device, which Apple announced in September and launched in dozens of countries earlier this month, is the company's first-ever foldable iPhone, and starts from $3,499 in Australia.

In the days since the iPhone Duo's release on 23 October, some buyers reported on social media that their device's internal screen had broken or cracked along the centre crease after they opened the phone while feeling increased resistance from its hinge.

Many of these users also said they experienced a patch or line of bright pixels appearing across the right side of the internal screen, while some said they heard an audible 'pop' sound when the breakage occurred.

Apple said in a statement this week that it is "aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units".

The company, which suggested "the response to iPhone Duo from early users has been incredibly positive", said customers who experienced screen issues "should contact AppleCare for a replacement".

Investigations begin

While Apple has not commented on what may have caused iPhone Duo screen breakages, the company has reportedly tasked its engineers with examining faulty devices.

Repair platform iFixit carried out a teardown of an iPhone Duo, and found what it believes could be an issue in the hinge, which contains more than 100 separate components.

Lead technician Shahram Mokhtari said the area where some users have seen breakages appears to be where a flexible cable and "a lot of edges" coincide.

A central support bar under the display may be failing to get out of the screen's way as it bends, "creating a small stress hotspot near the reported break location", iFixit suggested in a blog post.

"Even the best durability strategy still runs into entropy eventually, and a flexible OLED [screen] makes for a big fragile entropy magnet," Mokhtari said in iFixit's teardown video.

He also found dust can get into moving parts of the iPhone Duo's hinge, despite the device having the highest IP68 rating for dust resistance.

While some YouTubers captured iPhone Duo screens breaking after the phone was covered in dust or bent backwards, some buyers said they experienced breakages soon after unboxing the device – with some even occurring during the setup process.

"Didn’t even make it through setup before I had the screen crack," wrote Reddit user 'leftyhyzer16'.

"Maybe folded it four times, hinge got tight and then made a loud pop when I pushed past it."

Fragile foldables

Foldable smartphones are more likely to experience screen durability issues, largely due to their flexible displays and the many moving parts in their complex hinge mechanisms.

Apple competitors such as Samsung and Google have also seen reports of internal screen breakages on their foldable devices.

Despite relatively low inventory, Apple reportedly decided to release the iPhone Duo in more than 70 countries at launch, instead of only the United States and China.

This has led to delivery times in many countries (including Australia) blowing out to early 2027, but the company has reportedly decided to ramp up production to keep up with demand.

Australian technology analyst firm Telsyte estimated that foldable devices accounted for around 5 per cent of local smartphone sales prior to the iPhone Duo's launch, but expected the device to help bring the foldable form factor into the mainstream.