Samsung mocks iPhone Duo display defect

Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, went on sale in late October 2026 after years of hype. Within days, though, a familiar complaint started popping up. Owners were hearing a crunch or pop when they opened the phone, followed by cracks or bright lines of dead pixels running right down the crease. The internet, of course, wasted no time calling it “Crackgate.” Reports have come in from the US, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere.

Apple has admitted there’s “an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units” and is swapping them out under AppleCare. Popular YouTube creator JerryRigEverything pointed to stress points in that first-generation hinge after inspecting it in his teardown video. As he noted, a sharp corner of a hinge component seems to put extra pressure on the ultra-thin glass in some units during folding and unfolding.

Samsung didn’t waste any time. Accounts in Canada, Malaysia, Australia and other markets started posting ads that very deliberately echo those crack patterns. You’ll see a glowing horizontal streak cutting across everyday scenes. The message is clear: Samsung has been shipping foldables since the original Galaxy Fold in 2019. This is generation eight. They’ve had years to refine the hinge and the structure around it.

It helps that Samsung Display still supplies a lot of the ultra-thin glass and flexible OLEDs the industry uses, so they know this technology inside out. The Fold 8 also happens to be thinner and lighter than the Duo, something Samsung’s messaging has been happy to point out.

Apple will almost certainly fix whatever’s going on with the hinge in a future revision. But right now, every cracked Duo is basically free advertising for Samsung’s more battle-tested platform. For anyone shopping in this category, the takeaway is pretty simple: experience still counts.

(Sources: Samsung Canada, Samsung Saudi)

Read more

• iPhone Duo hinge supplier rejects blame for display failures
• iPhone Duo vs Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Which One Should You Buy?
• iPhone Duo vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: $2,000 Foldable or Smarter Buy?

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