A teardown of the new iPhone Duo shows multiple components that are easier to repair than on any previous foldable, but also many problem points. When iFixit tore down the iPhone 18 Pro, it gave it a repairability score of 7/10. By comparison, the iPhone Duo manages just 5/10, despite saying that there is much to admire in how Apple has designed it.
The features that make the iPhone Duo better than all previous foldables include how the top layer of the screen can be relatively easily replaced. That compares to how with the original Samsung foldables, customers were destroying the screen by peeling off what appeared to be a packaging cover. Plus iFixit praises Apple for how it is charging only $19 to replace that top layer of the screen.
Also, Apple has made it so that the iPhone Duo's two batteries can both be quickly removed and this is called the best battery-removal experience in a foldable to date. Plus the iPhone Duo's inner display trim lifted off easily and intact. By comparison, the similar trim at the edges of the Galaxy Z Fold8's inner screen crumbled when removed.
Overall, the iPhone Duo scores as well as it does because its motherboard is so flat. Unlike most iPhones, it isn't necessary to remove multiple components to get to the one that needs replacing. On the bad side, iFixit stresses that this is not an endorsement of repairing the Duo.
In particular, it says that fixing the inner screen is slow and difficult. The iPhone Duo's inner screen has an advantage that, unlike ones such as the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, there's no need to open both sides of the phone to disconnect the display. But still Apple uses extensive adhesives that are delicate, finicky work to deal with.
As previously reported, the iPhone Duo's inner screen is made up of ten layers and iFixit also notes that there is an accordion-like cable joining the two halves. This arrangement is reportedly a weak spot in foldables, and could cause screen problems. Except in the case of the few screen failures seen so far, iFixit agrees with the consensus that the problem lies with the hinge.
Still, hinge breaks appear to be typically near where the cable passes through the assembly. This is also, though, where several edges of hinge components meet. In a 3D model created from examining the hinge and taking CT scans, iFixit suspects that the center support bar of the hinge fails to drop far enough.
Source: AppleInsider · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing