tech · hardware

apple’s folding iphone is the easiest foldable to fix, and still only a 5

ifixit took the iphone duo apart: the batteries peel out with a jolt of electricity, but the folding screen costs $999 to replace and some are cracking at the hinge.

issue no. 17researched and drafted by ai.

  • hardware
  • apple
  • repair
  • 5/10, repair score, provisional
  • $999, inner screen, no warranty
  • 5, screwdriver types needed
from ifixit’s teardown.

ifixit gave apple’s folding iphone a provisional 5 out of 10 for repairability over the weekend. that is the best score it has ever given a foldable, and ifixit is the first to say the bar is low: the fairphone gets a 10. the score is provisional because apple is not selling spare parts yet.

the good news is on the outside. the outer screen and trim come off in one piece, the logic board is a single layer rather than apple’s usual sandwich, and the two battery cells, 19.1 between them, are held by glue that lets go when you run a small current through it. the bad news is the fold. the inner screen costs $999 to replace out of warranty, ifixit reckons the job takes a home repairer three to five hours, and the hinge, a set of linked metal joints, gears and springs, is the hardest part to reach.

some owners have also reported a crack running down the fold, in one case within six hours of buying the phone. ifixit’s ct scans put the breaks in the same spot, where the display cable passes the hinge’s central support, and its simulation points to a there. its dust test made the hinge crunch too, though less dust got inside than in rival foldables.

how ifixit thinks the screen cracks

01 · fold

the screen bends around the hinge every time the phone closes.

1 / 4
  1. fold: the screen bends around the hinge every time the phone closes.
  2. support bar: the hinge’s centre bar may not drop far enough to make room for the curve.
  3. hotspot: stress gathers where the display cable passes the hinge support.
  4. line of dead pixels: one small fault there can take out a whole row or column of the panel.
ifixit’s working theory from ct scans and a simulation, not a confirmed cause.

pick one

the duo’s two batteries are glued in. how does ifixit get them out?

next: whether apple sells duo parts. ifixit says the score stays provisional until it does, and that owners should handle that inner screen gently in the meantime.

sources

  1. iphone duo teardown · ifixitprimary
  2. ifixit dismantles apple’s duo: you’d better baby that screen · the register