Apple's $1,999 folding iPhone has a cracking problem, and Samsung noticed

Apple's first folding iPhone has been on sale for barely a week, and some of them are already breaking.

Owners of the $1,999 iPhone Duo have reported inner screens cracking right along the hinge, and Apple has now admitted there's a problem. MacRumors has already asked whether this is "Crackgate".

Cracked in six hours

The reports started on Reddit and the MacRumors forums the weekend the Duo launched on Oct. 23, MacRumors reported.

Almost every fault runs straight down the fold, and most show up as a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen. One Australian owner said theirs cracked about six hours after buying it, having opened it fewer than 20 times, with no sign of damage beforehand. They said they felt something "around the internal hinge, underneath the screen" just before it broke.

Not every photo online is real. 9to5Mac found that some of the Reddit reports were fake and AI-generated, though a number are genuine.

Apple breaks its silence

On Oct. 26, Apple told 9to5Mac it is "aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units."

The company says the problem affects very few phones and tends to show up quickly, and that most units are fine. If yours is affected, contact AppleCare for a replacement. You don't need AppleCare+, and if you bought through a phone carrier, go to AppleCare directly rather than the carrier.

What Apple hasn't said is why it's happening, or whether a fix is on the way. Repair experts iFixit took a Duo apart and pointed to a few possible causes, suggesting some parts may put too much pressure on the display, 9to5Mac reported.

And as MacRumors notes, a hinge failure from normal use should be covered by the one-year warranty anyway, and buyers have two weeks to return the phone.

Samsung couldn't resist

Samsung, which has been selling folding phones for years, wasted no time. A sponsored Instagram ad shows a green apple sliced in half, its two halves trying and failing to fold back together, before the Galaxy Z Fold 8 appears, Android Headlines reported. The tagline: "Years ahead in Foldables."

The ad claims the Fold 8 is 1.6mm thinner and 53 grams lighter than the Duo, and Gagadget says those numbers check out. Retailers have kept the Fold 8 at $200 off while the Duo stories spread, 9to5Google reported.

To be fair to Apple, the Duo isn't worse on paper everywhere. It carries an IP68 rating for dust and water, ahead of the Fold 8's IP48, according to Canaltech.

For now, the advice is simple. If your Duo's inner screen shows a line along the fold, go straight to Apple. For a $1,999 phone, a free replacement is the least you should expect.