iFixit dismantles Apple's Duo: 'You'd better baby that screen'

Apple's iPhone Duo scores higher than its foldable rivals for repairability, but don't let dust get into its delicate workings.

iFixit teardown crew put a spudger and screwdriver to Apple's flagship phone and reached a provisional verdict: its repairable, up to a point, and the batteries can be replaced. The inner display and hinge, though, look daunting.

The foldable inner screen is the Duo's party trick, yet reports suggest it isn't going smoothly for every owner. Some describe dead-pixel lines around the hinge, and others see horizontal lines on the right-hand side of the display.

iFixit's analysis point to the Duo's clever hinge as a possible culprit, rather than a straightforward broken cable.

"The damage we're seeing in photos isn't right where the display cable passes through the hinge, but slightly lower, at a point where several edges meet and change how the thin display is supported as it bends," iFixit said.

There's a center support bar which, the team speculates, might not be dropping far enough. The result is stress on the screen, near to where it reportedly breaks.

As for how that could happen, iFixit dropped the Duo into a bag of glowing powder, and opened and closed it a few times. "The hinge," they said, "started crunching."

To be clear, the Duo performed better than rival brands' foldables in terms of dust ingress, however, there was still enough in there to make the hinge crunch. Removing that flexible display to clean it isn't for the faint-hearted.

The trim around the screen wasn't much trouble, and the thin film behind the Duo's seemingly creaseless appearance peeled off fairly easily. Removing the inner screen itself, though, took heat and a pick, and was far from easy.

The outer screen was much easier to remove, and accessing the batteries (there are two) was relatively straightforward, we're told. The teardown team applied voltage, and the adhesive released the power packs. The cameras, logic boards, and other components were similarly simple to extract, although iFixit notes that five different screwdriver types were needed to finish the teardown.

Aside from the inner display and hinge, the Duo is relatively repairable. "Replacing them takes a lot of work," iFixit noted, "and the price could put owners off repairing the phone at all." With the kind of money the Duo demands, AppleCare+ coverage looks like a sensible safeguard, especially given the trickle of screen-failure reports.

"For a first attempt, Apple has done well," iFixit observed, having provisionally given the device five out of ten, its highest score yet for a foldable. Conventional phones, such as the latest Fairphone, have, however, scored far higher.

"You'd better baby that screen, Duo owners," concluded iFixit, "And maybe quit carrying around that pocket sand." (R)