| Product | Price in India | Reviewed by | Consensus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone Duo | India pricing is not announced in the reports | No published reviews in the reports; coverage is news reporting from Gizmochina, AppleInsider and SammyFans | Reports focus on display failures along the hinge and the supplier's denial of responsibility, with Apple offering replacements while the root cause is not confirmed |
Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, is already cracking. Literally. Days after it went on sale, owners in multiple countries reported splits and bright lines right down the middle of the inner display, along the crease. And now the blame game has started.
iPhone Duo reviews: what critics say about the hinge and display failures
Don't look for star ratings or lab results yet. There aren't any. What exists so far isn't reviews at all, it's straight news about broken screens, a supplier pushing back, and Apple trying to contain the fallout.
What FineMTEC Said
On October 26, South Korean parts maker FineMTEC, also listed as Fine M-Tec, put out a statement titled “Official Position Regarding Customer’s New Product Quality Issue.” Gizmochina flagged it first, and AppleInsider, citing The Elec, plus SammyFans picked it up too.
FineMTEC's message was blunt. The quality problems showing up on some foldables didn't come from its hardware. The firm builds the internal backplates and hinge linked metal plates that brace foldable OLED panels, and market and securities reports have tied it to the iPhone Duo. But as Gizmochina and SammyFans pointed out, FineMTEC never actually named Apple or the iPhone Duo.
Here's the thing, you can't pin a failure on one part without real proof. That's FineMTEC's line. According to Gizmochina, it said a foldable is a tangle of parts and tight mechanical tolerances, so calling out a single component without a full teardown isn't fair. It also said its parts clear the customer's specs and quality standards through tight control processes.
And it wasn't done there. The company said it's weighing civil and criminal action against anyone who publishes or knowingly spreads false claims that dent its reputation and credit. Gizmochina and SammyFans carried that warning, while the eSIM STUDIOS YouTube channel framed it as a flat denial that its hinge parts broke the screens, paired with a threat to sue over unproven claims.
What Apple Said
Gizmochina said Apple has owned that a small number of iPhone Duo units are seeing inner display faults and is pointing owners to AppleCare for free swaps. SammyFans reported the same acknowledgement and the same promise of free replacements for faulty units.
Apple hasn't said what's actually causing the breaks.
What Users Reported
Gizmochina said complaints rolled in within hours of the first sales, with people in several countries seeing cracks on the center crease or bright lines after just a handful of folds. SammyFans echoed that, saying the panel seems to fail after a set number of open and close cycles.
AppleInsider called it hinge failures that crack the screen, and noted the pile on across social media hasn't let up. The eSIM STUDIOS channel has been labeling it “Crack Gate” on day four and day five post launch.
One Facebook group post floated an unverified claim attributed to a Foxconn employee, that Apple eased some quality checks to hit launch demand. Apple hasn't confirmed any such change.
Price and Availability in India
India pricing and availability for the iPhone Duo hasn't been announced in the reports.
The Takeaway
Apple can't afford a crease that cracks, not on a first ever foldable with this much hype. If FineMTEC's right, the real flaw is somewhere else in that sandwich of glass, plate and hinge. If it's wrong, Apple’s got a supplier fight and a hardware recall brewing at once.
Source: this story was first reported by gizmochina.com.
See more GadGeek stories in Google's Top Stories.
Add GadGeek as a preferred source on Google