Key Points
- Some iPhone Duo owners report inner displays cracking days after Friday's release, a phenomenon dubbed Crackgate.
- Apple says a small number of units are affected and is offering AppleCare replacements, with no recall announced.
- The $2,000 device is the biggest iPhone design change in nearly 20 years and new CEO John Ternus's first major test.
The latest:
Owners of Apple’s first foldable iPhone have reported inner screens cracking within days of its release last Friday, in a social media backlash now labelled Crackgate. Apple acknowledged an issue affecting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units and directed affected users to AppleCare for a replacement. No recall has been announced.
Details:
- The defect pattern: Social media posts from multiple countries over the past week have shown iPhone Duo units with the same horizontal crack roughly two-thirds of the way down the inner screen when the device is open. Apple has not disclosed how many units are affected.
- Apple’s response: Apple said it is aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units and that affected users should contact AppleCare for a replacement. The company has announced no recall on any foldable, having historically relied on service and replacement programmes instead.
- The price and the stakes: The Duo, launched this month at upwards of $2,000, is the biggest design change for the iPhone in its nearly 20-year history. Apple entered the foldable market seven years after Samsung’s first Galaxy Fold, a delay Ternus defended as the time needed to avoid shipping a cheap and crappy device.
- Pressure on the new CEO: The reports are a setback for John Ternus, who replaced Tim Cook as chief executive last month and whom investors have looked to for a revived product roadmap. Ternus is scheduled to hold his first quarterly results call on Monday, days after the complaints surfaced.
- Analyst assessment: Francisco Jeronimo, a vice-president at research firm International Data Corporation, assessed that even a company with Apple’s engineering resources and supply chain discipline faces a steep learning curve in foldables. He said the consistency of the reports points to possible sensitivity in hinge tolerances or display support during folding.
- An engineer’s theory: A former Apple screen engineer with knowledge of its design and manufacturing processes suggested the likeliest explanation is a very small number of units with faults too rare to surface in testing, noting that even testing 1,000 units at a time requires at least one failure before an investigation can begin. A defective supplier batch is another possibility, the engineer added.
- Samsung moves in: Samsung responded with an advertisement promoting its thinner and lighter foldables and claiming it is years ahead in the category. The South Korean manufacturer faced its own reliability problems in 2019, when some Galaxy Fold review units suffered screen breaks tied to then-new display technology.
- Supply and delivery strain: Early Duo buyers have already encountered order delays, with Apple attributing projected delivery times slipping into next year to unprecedented demand. The company has not indicated whether the display issue will affect those timelines.
- Not the first fault this year: Some AT&T customers who bought the iPhone 18 Pro Max experienced permanent cellular network losses earlier in this year’s launch cycle. Apple issued a software fix to stop the problem spreading to additional devices.
Background:
Apple faced a comparable launch crisis in 2010, when iPhone 4 users reported dropped calls and weak signal in an episode dubbed Antennagate. Then-chief executive Steve Jobs initially dismissed the complaints by saying customers were holding the device the wrong way, before the company issued free protective bumpers.
Between the lines:
Two explanations are on the table and they carry very different costs. A rare manufacturing fault or a single defective component batch, as the former screen engineer suggested, is containable through replacements. A design sensitivity in the hinge or display support, which Jeronimo flagged, would reach every unit sold. Apple’s choice of AppleCare replacements over a recall signals it is working from the first explanation.
What’s next
Ternus faces questions on Monday’s quarterly results call, his first as chief executive. Watch whether Apple expands beyond AppleCare replacements to a formal service programme or recall, and whether delivery dates already slipping into next year move again.
