He Paid 17,999 Yuan for an iPhone Duo. It Cracked Before Dinner.

A Shanghai buyer paid 17,999 yuan for an iPhone Duo. Hours later, she says the inner screen split along the crease. Her case is one of several complaints centered on the hinge, and it has raised questions about Apple’s inspection process and the size of its repair bills.

The crack

Ms. Zhang picked up her new iPhone Duo, in the Night Sky color, at the Apple flagship store in Shanghai IFC Mall in Lujiazui on launch morning. She had reserved it online and paid 17,999 yuan.

At the store, she opened and closed the phone several times. The hinge felt smooth. The crease was not obvious. She left satisfied.

At around 2 p.m., she went to a carrier store to set up an eSIM, because the iPhone Duo uses a no-physical-SIM design. She opened the screen to check something. She heard a crack.

A black vertical line, about 3 centimeters long, appeared at the fold. A thinner crack ran across the right half of the screen.

Zhang says she did not drop the phone and did not bend it hard. She says she was opening it normally.

At around 4 p.m., she returned to the Apple store and asked for a return or exchange. Staff told her they could not confirm whether the damage was “human-caused,” so they could not process a return or exchange on the spot. The phone would have to be sent back to Apple for inspection.

Staff also told her that AppleCare+ would lower the repair cost. Without it, if the damage was judged human-caused, the repair bill would be higher.

“If I don’t buy AppleCare+, does Apple not care about me?” Zhang said.

The store did not give her a further response, according to the report.

By evening, a reporter visited the same store. It was busy. Customers were looking at phones. The iPhone Duo drew particular attention. Staff said the model had no stock and customers would have to wait for later reservations.

When asked about Zhang’s cracked screen, staff said the case needed “specific analysis.” They advised consumers to bring the device and purchase receipt to the store for inspection by technicians, or to send the phone back to the company for further testing.

Apple’s customer service said after-sales rules follow the official website. By press time, Apple had not given another explanation.

Not the only one

Zhang’s case is not isolated.

On social media, several users have posted photos of new iPhone Duo units with cracked inner screens. One user said the phone cracked within an hour of use. A blogger who disassembled the phone found a nano-texture coating on the inner display. After peeling it off, the crease looked more visible.

The damage posted online is not all the same. Some phones show signs of drops or impacts. Some failures appear related to folding force. Most users say they did not deliberately damage the phone.

One Australian user described a case similar to Zhang’s. He said the device was about six hours old and had been opened fewer than 20 times. While showing it to a friend, he felt something odd under the inner hinge, then heard a clear crack. The screen split along the hinge. He said there were no dents or pinch marks on the inner screen surface or the outer hinge. At an Apple Store, Apple replaced the faulty unit.

Photos collected from multiple cases show almost all failures directly above the hinge. Most show a bright pixel line on one side of the screen.

The pattern points to the hinge area. The number of cases is too small to call it a widespread design failure. It is large enough to put hinge assembly tolerance at the center of the questions.

The hinge and the yield

A folding phone differs from a slab phone in one basic way: the screen bends. The hinge and the flexible inner display share the mechanical stress. A small error in tolerance can concentrate force near the crease.

One analysis now circulating is that the problem may come from hinge assembly tolerance, meaning small dimensional deviations during production. If the hinge does not distribute force evenly when the phone opens and closes, the screen can take too much stress at the fold.

Another analysis points to a structural compromise. An IT media report said Apple may have made the screen above the hinge thinner to hide the crease. That improves the look, but it can reduce strength in the area that bends.

There is also a production signal. Reports said that before launch, the final assembly yield at the plant was only slightly above 60%, and that key panel and hinge components also had yield problems. That does not prove a link to every cracked screen. It does show that early production quality was not stable.

If Apple’s after-sales inspection confirms the damage was not human-caused, the company will replace the phone with a new unit, according to the reported process. If the inspection finds impact damage, the user pays for repair.

The repair bill

The repair cost turns the case into a consumer story as much as a hardware story.

According to Apple’s website, for the iPhone Duo, an out-of-warranty inner-screen repair without AppleCare+ is estimated at 7,998 yuan. With AppleCare+, the service fee for inner-screen and other accidental damage is 628 yuan.

The same damaged inner screen can cost more than ten times as much depending on whether the buyer paid for AppleCare+.

The website lists other differences. Outer or back glass repair is about 1,598 yuan without AppleCare+ and 188 yuan with it. Nano-texture surface damage is 398 yuan without and 139 yuan with. Battery service is 1,898 yuan without and 0 yuan with.

Zhang’s complaint centers on timing and cost. The phone cracked within hours, and the first response she got was a process that could end with her paying a bill larger than many people’s monthly income.

The burden of proof

Qin Yubin, a senior partner at Shanghai Shanfa Law Firm, told Xinmin Evening News that if a product has a quality problem, consumers have the right under China’s “three guarantees” rules and related laws to ask for repair, replacement, or return.

If the merchant claims “human damage,” it should bear the burden of proof and explanation, Qin said.

He also said AppleCare+ is a voluntary value-added service. It cannot replace the operator’s basic responsibility for product quality. If a phone shows an obvious fault within a short period of normal use, the consumer has the right to ask the seller for an inspection result and the basis for its judgment. Consumers should keep purchase receipts, communication records, and photos of the device. If talks fail, they can complain to the consumer council or go through legal channels.

The practical problem is the word “normal.” A folding phone has more ways to be damaged than a slab phone. A drop, a key pressed against the inner screen, a hard close, a peel. Each can leave a mark. When the phone shows no such mark and the crack sits above the hinge, the consumer needs the evidence behind “human damage.”

What buyers can do

Industry insiders gave several practical suggestions for folding-phone users.

Do not press hard on the crease. Do not put the phone in a bag with keys or coins. Do not apply force to the body when the phone is closed. If the screen shows an abnormality, stop using it and contact official inspection. Do not peel the film, press the screen, or fold it again, because that can enlarge the damage and complicate responsibility.

For a buyer in Zhang’s position, the first steps are evidence and a written inspection result. Keep the receipt. Keep the chat records. Photograph the phone from several angles, including the outer body, the hinge, and the crack. If staff say “human damage,” ask for the standard and the evidence behind that judgment. If the answer is only a verbal conclusion, ask for it in writing.

At the store

At the Apple store in Shanghai IFC Mall, staff kept telling customers the iPhone Duo had no stock. Customers waited and asked when new units would arrive. The store was full.

Zhang’s phone was waiting to be sent back. Apple’s customer service repeated that the after-sales rules are on the website. The screen had a crack about 3 centimeters long, and another thinner line across the right half. The phone was a few hours old. The inspection result had not come back.