This Video Of Someone Destroying The iPhone Duo Shows Just How Much Damage It Can Take

Foldable smartphones aren't known to be the most durable of devices. With a mechanical hinge and a flexible glass inner display, there are many areas where a folding phone's structural integrity can be compromised. Samsung surprised us recently with how durable the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is, but user reception on the durability of Apple's first foldable, the $1,999 iPhone Duo, hasn't been as great. Some Duo owners have taken to social media to post photos of the new device's internal screen cracking and showing green lines with minimal phone use, causing "Crackgate," as it's being called, to trend on social media.

In theory, the iPhone Duo should be just as durable as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, if not more. Samsung reportedly provided custom-made screens for the Duo that compare to those on its own phones. Apple also boasts an impressive IP68 dust- and water-resistant rating for its first foldable, notably better than the Z Fold 8's IP48, which effectively omits the dust rating. YouTuber Zack Nelson from JerryRigEverything put the phone through a variety of tests to figure out just how strong the iPhone Duo is, and some of the findings are quite surprising–especially the phone's weakness to dust and the fragility of its hinge.

The iPhone Duo's Samsung-provided screens appear, quite unsurprisingly, just as durable as ones in Samsung's own foldables. The outer screen only starts showing the faintest scratches at level seven on the Mohs hardness scale. For reference, diamonds carry a Mohs hardness value of ten. The inner screen, like in other foldables, isn't nearly as durable. Scratches appear on the screen at levels as low as two, which means anything from keys to fingernails will leave permanent marks on it. However, the Duo's matte finish makes these less visible while the screen is turned on.

Foldable phones are significantly more vulnerable to dust than traditional slab phones, particularly at the hinge, which manages different parts of the device and attempts to "fold" the screen without creating a crease. This is why most foldables, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, warn users that exposure to dust may damage the phone. That made the iPhone Duo's IP68 dust resistance rating impressive on paper, but the Nelson in his recent videos show it to be misleading. Fine particles easily seeped into the phone's hinge in his test and prevented the phone from closing normally. Debris also managed to get inside the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold in Nelson's test – another foldable with an IP68 rating — but the hinge still worked fine. Surprisingly, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 also fared better here, despite its lower IP48 rating.

The iPhone Duo also failed Nelson's backward bend test with the phone unfolded, showing several green lines on the screen afterward. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, on the other hand, showed no such thing. It's worth nothing that other devices, including Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold, have performed even worse in that specific test. 

Owners of the iPhone Duo, meanwhile, say their green lines indicating likely broken screens have appeared after mere hours or a few days of normal use. Those reports have made "Crackgate" even more interesting, and suggest the problem may extend even deeper than potentially opening or closing the device incorrectly.

In most user-reported cases, the line appears from just folding and unfolding the phone without any dust-related issues or extreme spine flex. Furthermore, photos that affected users have posted online show the green line emerging from a specific part on the screen, nearly one-third from the bottom. In his videos testing and then tearing down the device, Nelson theorized that the problem was a specific component located in the hinge at that spot behind the display. This hinge part doesn't have a specific name, but it's a part of the overall mechanism and some online theories are that it likely punctures the internal screen from within.

While there appear to be many users reporting Crackgate, data shows this likely doesn't affect every iPhone Duo. For instance, YouTuber Tim Pan tested the the iPhone Duo for 10,000 folds without any major issues apart from a more visible crease. CNET meanwhile is livestreaming its ongoing test, with no green lines even after folding the phone 80,000 times. This suggests that the issue may be a defect in certain batches rather than a design flaw affecting every phone.

Apple spokespeople haven't commented on what is causing the issue and whether it is batch-specific. However, the company has acknowledged the problem to outlets including CNBC, saying it is aware a small percentage of foldable iPhones are suffering from it. Additionally, if an iPhone Duo shows green lines or a similar internal screen issue, Apple is offering replacements to users through AppleCare.