Owners of broken $2,000 iPhone Duo devices report unusual resistance—and sometimes a clicking sound—when closing the phones, followed by a line appearing on the display. A CT scan by iFixit suggests that the failure begins beneath the point where a ribbon cable passes through the hinge. The support mechanism also changes width at that location, indicating a possible mechanical-alignment problem.
The animation above shows iFixit’s best guess about what may be happening. A support bar in the narrower section of the hinge may become stuck, preventing it from lowering far enough to accommodate the OLED panel’s bend as the device closes. That could place additional stress on the display and eventually damage its pixels.
YouTuber Interesting Hagi also examined the area and identified locations where thin links may have broken during operation. The YouTuber speculates that the component could be physically attached to the support plate.
If this small hinge component is responsible, there may be no way to prevent OLED failure in affected devices. The damage could occur after five minutes or five days, but continued pressure on the panel would eventually cause permanent damage.
A familiar foldable-phone problem
Apple has not acknowledged the issue and may not comment until its investigation is complete. The scale of the problem is impossible to determine. Because Apple sells so many devices, even a low failure rate can produce a large number of reports on social media. Adding moving parts to a phone also introduces additional opportunities for hardware failures. Apple is not the first manufacturer to encounter problems when launching its first foldable device.
In 2019, Samsung released the original Galaxy Fold with a more primitive hinge design. Before launch, reviewers began reporting OLED damage after only a few days of use. In that case, openings in the design allowed particles to enter the hinge and damage the screen from underneath. Samsung delayed the launch while it redesigned the hinge.
Samsung’s foldable devices are not immune to problems, but there have been no widespread reports of current models being defective straight out of the box. Other foldable-phone manufacturers ship far fewer units, so occasional defects may receive less attention online. Apple’s large installed base could therefore make any failure pattern more visible.
Source: arstechnica.com
