Buyers of the foldable iPhone have complained about screen damage. How does this affect the stock price?

Users of the iPhone Duo, one of Apple’s most significant new products in recent years, have begun complaining that the device’s foldable display cracked after just a few hours or days of use, according to Bloomberg. The news agency was able to confirm the defect with six owners of the new iPhones. Some users found that Apple stores did not have enough devices in stock to immediately replace the defective iPhones. The company’s stock fell more than 1% in Monday’s trading, bucking the broader tech market’s upward trend.

According to iPhone Duo buyers interviewed by Bloomberg, when they opened the smartphone, they heard a crunching sound, after which a large crack appeared along the center crease of the screen. Some users also experienced a white spot or other display malfunctions on the right side of the screen. The first reports of the issue appeared on Reddit and on the social media platform X. Users provided photos of the damaged devices or screenshots of their correspondence with Apple Support.

“I started opening it and felt like it was stuck—it was harder and slower to open than usual. And when I finally opened it, lines appeared on the screen,” Tom Battle, an Apple customer from San Diego, told Bloomberg. “You could feel a bump or some kind of loose part under the display.”

iFixit, a platform that takes devices apart and examines their components, believes the problem is caused by a failure of one of the hinge parts, which then damages the screen, rather than a defect in the display panel itself.

Users who encountered the defect also told Bloomberg about a problem with replacing the iPhone Duo: stores acknowledged the defect but were unable to provide a new device because there were no units in stock. One iPhone Duo owner, Surya Mangi of Allen, Texas, told Bloomberg that the inner screen of his smartphone cracked about 30 hours after purchase. Since there was no Apple Store nearby, the company initially suggested that he send the smartphone in for diagnosis, which would leave him without a phone for over a week. Ultimately, however, Apple decided not to wait for the device to be returned and sent Mangi a replacement iPhone Duo via express delivery.

Apple employees told Bloomberg that the company has not yet issued official instructions to its retail stores or support staff regarding this issue, but a special team is already investigating it. In some cases, Apple engineers are trying to obtain the affected devices for analysis.

Apple shares fell 1.2% to $343.5 during trading on October 26, while the Nasdaq Composite technology index rose 1%.

Since the beginning of the year, Apple’s stock has risen 26%, outperforming the other tech giants of the “Magnificent Seven.” Amid sharp swings in sentiment surrounding artificial intelligence, betting on Apple has become one of the safest plays on the stock market: no matter what happens to the stocks of AI companies, Apple’s shares move in the opposite direction, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Although the issue appears to have affected only a portion of the devices, it has been an unpleasant setback for Apple, according to Bloomberg. The company has been developing a foldable smartphone for more than ten years and has particularly emphasized its enhanced durability. The Duo went on sale on October 23. It is Apple’s first foldable smartphone and the most significant redesign of the iPhone in its history. The iPhone remains the company’s main source of revenue.

Apple CEO John Turnus called competing Android foldable smartphones “cheap and shoddy” in an interview with *Time*, while the head of the company’s hardware development division, Tom Marib, urged customers in September to “hold Apple accountable” for the durability of the screen’s fold.

Apple has faced problems with the release of new iPhones in the past. In 2014, the iPhone 6 Plus’s case bent easily, and in 2010, the iPhone 4 sometimes lost signal when users touched the antenna band along the edge of the case. In both cases, the company weathered the issues without significant damage, Bloomberg notes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor