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Hinge failure suspected as iPhone Duo screen complaints mount

A South Korean report examines why free replacements may not resolve buyers' immediate problems, with the cause and scale of the defect still unclear.

Channel: KBS News ·

South KoreaStory of October 28, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of KBS News's most watched videos since yesterday, with 581,245 views.

KBS News: The news division of KBS, South Korea's public broadcaster. 3.7M subscribers and 12B views.

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A damaged or displaced hinge component is among the possible explanations for cracked iPhone Duo screens, according to South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) News. Its report distinguishes a suspected mechanism from a confirmed cause: Apple has yet to establish whether the problem lies in the design, particular components or quality control.

Presenter Kang Su-min shows online reports of damaged pixels, lines and cracked displays less than a week after Apple's first foldable phone went on sale. Patrick McGee, author of Apple in China, describes buyers posting evidence of breakage after doing little more than unfolding the device. The report puts its South Korean price at 3.29 million won.

Apple has acknowledged a screen defect and promised free replacements, the report says. But depleted launch inventory could make replacement devices difficult to obtain, leaving affected buyers waiting even after their claims are accepted.

The segment cites repair specialist iFixit on possible hinge damage or dislodgement, then shows footage from JerryRigEverything's durability test, which the Duo fails. Neither establishes how widespread the fault is among phones used under everyday conditions.

The report also revisits a Samsung advertisement depicting an apple struggling to fold, alongside coverage of the Galaxy Z Fold 8. The apple sequence is a commercial, not a durability test.

For John Ternus, who became Apple's chief executive in September after leading hardware engineering, the issue has a particular connection to his career. McGee notes that Ternus was named on an Apple hinge patent in 2011.

The segment cautions against declaring the product a failure, noting that Samsung and Huawei also encountered difficulties with early foldables. Its central unresolved question is whether this is a design problem affecting the product broadly or a more limited manufacturing or inspection fault. That distinction matters both to Apple's response and to buyers wondering whether a replacement will solve their problem.

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