IFixit has put the iPhone Duo through its teardown process and landed on a repairability score of 5 out of 10. That's not a flattering number on its own, but it's the best mark the site has ever handed a foldable phone, according to Android Headlines' writeup of the teardown.
The score comes down to a handful of design choices that make Apple's first folding phone less miserable to open than its rivals. The battery uses an electrically releasable adhesive, meaning a technician can apply a small charge to loosen the glue instead of prying and risking a puncture or a fire. IFixit also found the internal layout flat, with components laid out rather than stacked and buried, which cuts down on the number of parts that have to come out just to reach one.
Apple used clips rather than glue for the bezel trim, so it can be pulled off and put back without destroying it. The outer screen is held down with screws and brackets instead of adhesive too, which lowers the odds of cracking it during a repair. And Apple shipped day-one repair manuals alongside the phone, giving independent technicians documentation from launch rather than months later.
Where the score falls apart
None of that touches the part of a foldable that actually breaks most often: the hinge and the inner display. IFixit calls the hinge an "incredibly complex" mechanism to service, and the flexible inner OLED panel is bound up with it closely enough that separating the two without damage is a fiddly job. The teardown also flags what it calls a "zoo of screws" scattered through the chassis, different sizes and lengths that make reassembly slower and easier to get wrong.
Dust is the bigger long-term worry. IFixit found the hinge still lets in dust and particles over time, the same failure point that has plagued other folding phones, where grit works its way in and eventually causes the screen to crack or the hinge to bind up. Apple's repairability gains don't change that physics.
So a 5 out of 10 reads less like Apple cracking repairability and more like Apple clearing a bar that every other foldable has tripped over. The electrically releasable battery and the day-one manuals are real wins, the kind that make an out-of-warranty repair cheaper and less destructive. But the hinge is still the hinge, and iFixit's own conclusion is blunt: buying AppleCare+ on this phone may be worth it, given what's still exposed to dust underneath that fold.
Apple hasn't commented on the teardown. IFixit's report is the first independent look inside the iPhone Duo since it went on sale, and it will likely shape how other repair shops and insurers price service on the phone going forward.
MDFiled by The Mobile Desk
Phones from leak to launch to price cut: what was announced, what it costs where, and when it goes on sale. Indian launches and prices included, not appended.
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