Polish YouTuber Kuba Klawiter livestreamed people folding an iPhone Duo by hand, in a video titled "iPhone Duo After 75,000 Folds by Humans". Two outlets report trouble around fold 75,000: one describes lines on the inner display and calls the cause unknown, the other says the hinge failed. Apple has published no fold rating.

The hand-folding livestream

According to Notebookcheck, different people folded and unfolded the phone. It says the phone ran trouble-free through 50,000 folds, then dust was added, and the crease looked much worse by 60,000.

Cold came last. The report says the phone was chilled on ice, and the inner display developed lines at 75,003 folds.

Where the reports differ

iPhone in Canada says the hinge failed at 75,000 after the ice stage, not that the screen cracked on its own. It says viewers in Poland took turns, an hour at a time. It adds that Klawiter says the damage is not mainly about the inner display.

The outlet cited in the livestream section above reports lines on the inner display and says the cause is unknown, noting a teardown that points to the hinge. Both attribute the dust and cold stages to the same stream.

The other tests

  • Robot test: Joanna Stern had a servo-driven machine fold a Duo 32,640 times over four nights, reportedly with no noticeable deterioration and a slightly stiffer hinge afterward.
  • Lab machine: CNET's lab in Louisville, Kentucky runs a machine at about 900 folds an hour. iThinkDiff reports it passed 75,000 folds as of 8:30 a.m. ET on Oct. 27, with the test still going.
  • Apple: its launch announcement gives no fold-durability rating or fold count.

What these tests can't tell you

Each test used one phone, and the methods differ: hands against a machine, with and without dust and cold. A single unit failing, or passing, says little about how common problems are. None of these reports gives a failure rate.

What this means for you

Treat 75,000 folds as one unit's result, not a prediction. The reported failure came after dust and cold, which may not match typical use. The cold stage simulated a harsh Polish winter, which may not match your climate.

The crease looked much worse after the dust stage, but no report says the dust caused the failure. Apple has given no fold rating to compare against, so the tests are the only public signal. Warranty coverage for a hinge fault is covered in our iPhone Duo hinge crack story.