Repair site iFixit tore down Apple's foldable iPhone Duo and scored it 5 out of 10 for repairability, the highest it has given a foldable, The Verge reported, while offering a possible mechanical explanation for early inner-screen cracks^1,2.

The Verge said iFixit found a matte nano-texture cover on the inner screen that can scatter reflections and help hide the crease, plus oval subpixels at varied angles that the shop thinks reduce artifacts down the fold¹. The nano-texture outer layer can be replaced without swapping the OLED, but repairing the display itself remains expensive, as with other foldables¹.

Dust reached the USB-C port, speaker grills and hinge, making the hinge somewhat crunchy, but less of the glow dust seen in Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8 and Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold, according to The Verge's account of the teardown¹.

On reports of damaged screens and cracking hinges, iFixit suspects part of the complex hinge sometimes does not descend properly, The Verge said, with an accordion cable over that spot near the battery edge possibly concentrating pressure¹. Techmeme's summary of iFixit News likewise pointed to a hinge support bar that may not drop far enough².

In an earlier story, The Verge said some units already showed inner-screen damage along the hinge and bright lines on the right side of the display, based on Reddit posts as the phone went on sale³. One user in Australia said the inner screen cracked along the hinge after fewer than 20 opens in about six hours, with no marks on the surface or external hinge, and that an Apple Store replaced the phone on the spot³.

The Verge said Apple did not immediately return a request for comment on either the teardown theories or the early crack reports^1,3. How common the failures are, and whether Apple will change the hinge or offer a broader repair program, was not established in the accounts reviewed^1,3.